Toys R Not Us

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:16 pm

Toys R Us is reportedly shutting down its US stores

Toys R Us is closing or selling all of its over 800 remaining US stores, according to a report from the Washington Post, signaling an end of an era for the famous toy store. The news was apparently announced to workers today by CEO David Brandon ahead of a bankruptcy court hearing on March 15th.

In a later conference call with staff, Brandon apparently pinned the blame on vendors and customers who failed to support Toys R Us during the holiday season — typically the busiest and most lucrative time of year for the company — ominously intoning that they “will all live to regret what’s happening here.”

I like how they blame the customers and vendors.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:41 pm

Pretty sure he should be blaming the private equity firms who have been bleeding the company dry for a bit over a decade now, rather than consumers and suppliers.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 7:00 pm

I've always wanted toy stores to be magical places where you can browse and play with toys before choosing to leave with one. I remember one or two growing up.

To me Toys R Us was never a toy store. It was a supermarket.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 7:17 pm

Hope I can snag some cheap Thomas crap for the boy. And maybe some diapers for the girl. When does the Everything Must Go sale begin?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 7:43 pm

But...

But now we have to grow up!

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:09 pm

Wonder how much this will affect the Canadian stores. We just got our store in town about 4 years ago.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:12 pm

I was a reliable customer when they were selling games like Squad Leader. When they made the decision to pander to children, they lost me for a whole of years, until I became owner of 2 kids. I'll miss the ready selection of kiddie shit, I will not miss my 4 year old staring paralyzed at the Thomas shelf unable to decide what he wants because of an abundance of choice.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:20 pm

Rumpy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:09 pm Wonder how much this will affect the Canadian stores. We just got our store in town about 4 years ago.

Toymaker is trying to rally the industry to bid on Toys ‘R’ Us Canada

MGA Entertainment Inc. is trying to organize a group of fellow toymakers to make a bid for the Canadian operations of Toys “R” Us Inc., the industry giant that appears to be headed toward liquidation.

The group also plans to perform due diligence on Toys “R” Us’s U.S. business, with the hope of keeping some of its more than 700 locations open, said Isaac Larian, MGA’s founder and chief executive officer.

“If there is no Toys “R” Us, I don’t think there is a toy business,” Larian said in an interview. “At the right price, it makes economical sense.”

Larian said he would put his own money into the effort and a bid will be made on Thursday. That’s when Toys “R” Us has a hearing in bankruptcy court. He declined to say how much money the group has at its disposal, but said that it hired UBS Group AG as an adviser. Moinian Group, a New York-based real estate developer, is working with MGA on an offer, CEO Joseph Moinian said in a phone interview.

The U.S. unit has stopped paying vendors in recent days, and has been making preparations for winding down the business. Toys “R” Us entered bankruptcy in September and has struggled to find a buyer or reach a debt-restructuring deal with lenders

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:58 pm

Ok, so from what I can make sense of from that is that the Canadian operations are more profitable and better run and that closure of the U.S company doesn't necessarily mean an end to the Canadian operation if a buyer comes forward. I followed your link and this story explains the situation a bit better: http://business.financialpost.com/news/ ... ain-future

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:49 pm

Jeff V wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 7:17 pmWhen does the Everything Must Go sale begin?

That is what I will be eagerly awaiting.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:47 pm

I posted this on Facebook, but there was a hilarious exchange between my daughter and wife re: this today.

Background - my daughter was in tears after I off-handedly mentioned our local store may be closing.

Wife (attempting to calm her down): "Honey, it's not the end of the world!"

Daughter: <calming down>

Wife: "It's just the end of Toys R Us."

Daughter: "WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 11:48 pm

Moliere wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:16 pm Toys R Us is reportedly shutting down its US stores

Toys R Us is closing or selling all of its over 800 remaining US stores, according to a report from the Washington Post, signaling an end of an era for the famous toy store. The news was apparently announced to workers today by CEO David Brandon ahead of a bankruptcy court hearing on March 15th.

In a later conference call with staff, Brandon apparently pinned the blame on vendors and customers who failed to support Toys R Us during the holiday season — typically the busiest and most lucrative time of year for the company — ominously intoning that they “will all live to regret what’s happening here.”
I like how they blame the customers and vendors.

This does not surprise me about Dave Brandon at all. Brandon's job prior to running Toys R Us was Athletic Director at the University of Michigan. His tenure there is widely considered a colossal failure, and he responded to one fan e-mailing him complaints by telling him to stop drinking and go to bed. Before that, he was CEO at Domino's, where they were selling pasta in a bread bowl for some reason. After he left there, Domino's revamped their pizza and started an ad campaign apologizing for how bad they had become.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 11:58 pm

Dominos still sells pasta in a bread bowl.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:06 am

How revolting.

Doesn't change anything else I wrote.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:27 am

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:06 am How revolting.

Doesn't change anything else I wrote.

No, of course not. Just letting you know they still sell pasta in a bread bowl.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 9:21 am

Yo, dawg, I heard you like carbs...

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:59 am

I enjoyed the basic childhood toys of my day so much it's hard for me to believe they're obsolete.
But then again I am hooked on video games in my olde age.
Its just too bad, that's all. Too bad.
Of course we didn't shoot each other then.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:05 am

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:59 am Of course we didn't shoot each other then.

You may not have, but plenty of others did.

Spoiler:

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:49 pm

I was talking about school kids.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:20 pm

That was the meaning of the "you may not have" portion.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 6:44 pm

In my day gun deaths were caused by the mafia.
And Alexander conquering Persia. Little known fact that he was heavily armed.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:08 pm

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 6:44 pm In my day gun deaths were caused by the mafia.
And Alexander conquering Persia. Little known fact that he was heavily armed.

Did you know that Jesus and Moses used guns to conquer the Romans?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:27 pm

Probably not the place to continue this derailment. And yes, I contributed to it.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:44 pm

Toys R Us lost me as a buyer a two decades ago. It's got the reputation just like Fry's or Best Buy... staffed by minimum wage drones who don't know **** or care **** about what you need vs. what you can afford. I'm kinda surprised it lasted this long. It's kinda like Radio Shack... There's a lot of them, but it's never got what you CRAVE in stock.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:56 pm

If nothing else, their gift cards were a sure bet as a gift for kids you didn't know very well. That void will be tough to replace.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:01 am

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:44 pm Toys R Us lost me as a buyer a two decades ago. It's got the reputation just like Fry's or Best Buy... staffed by minimum wage drones who don't know **** or care **** about what you need vs. what you can afford. I'm kinda surprised it lasted this long. It's kinda like Radio Shack... There's a lot of them, but it's never got what you CRAVE in stock.

Yeah, to be honest, I've never found them to be particularly inspiring places. I've always found them to be tiring experiences. Harsh lighting does that to me. In Canada, we have a smaller chain called Mastermind Toys which just opened a store in town in November and in contrast, I've found it to be a much more fun experience with a greater selection of toys, some of which are a bit smarter than what you'd ever find at Toys R Us.

https://www.mastermindtoys.com/

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:13 am

I read an article talking about how their massive debt kept them from doing things other stores do to make a profit. Namely, improving their stores to make them look like you didn't just walk into 1982.

I know our local store had not changed a bit in 25 years. It always had somewhat dim lighting, knocked over toys in the aisles, etc. It wasn't quite as bad as shopping in say, a Sears or a Kmart, but it was obviously a relic.

The other thing that used to really bug me as well was their so-called "clearance" prices. I'm not saying I never got any good deals there, but they were few and far between. The majority of the time the clearance sticker would be 50 cents or a dollar off the normal retail price. Clearance? That barely qualifies as a sale.

In hindsight, I probably should have known this was coming. My wife and I always do a big Christmas shopping run at Toys R Us for the kids, and this year the place was DEAD. I even remember us talking about how deserted it was compared to previous years.

As much as I talk down about it, however, I am going to miss that place. Our local store was built before I had outgrown toys, so I remember a trip there being special. And it was there long enough that I got to see my own kids light up when they went inside. Heck, even as a parent I enjoyed looking at new Lego sets or perusing the action figure aisle for some cool collectible. That fun of maybe....just maybe....finding a good deal or cool toy on an occasional visit is now gone.

I think right now we only have a couple of actual toy stores in town, and they're both "learning toys" boutique stores that are hideously overpriced.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:34 am

With toy prices raising so much online at Christmas while often being scarce in Chicago big box retailers, Toys R Us has saved me the last few years. I could go in late after work on Tuesday twice during the Christmas season to snag buy-one, get-one free/50% off deals -- at standard prices, not surge prices.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:34 am

There used to be only two toy stores in the entire town ('in town' meaning the next real town over, about 25 miles from here.) Toys R Us and a Kay-bee in the mall. Kay-bee shut down years ago, probably in the mid to late 90s. When Toys R Us shuts down, there won't be an actual toy store within 50 miles of us. It isn't a huge hit to me, as both kids are now in the mid teens and past the toystore age (

), but I have a lot of memories at that particular location. I remember going there as a kid and shopping, I remember going there as a teenager to cause trouble, I remember going there as a young adult to look at video games, and I remember going there as a parent to entertain the kids. There aren't a lot of places to take the kids around here - no zoos, no decent parks, no museums that would be of interest to kids, so going to Toys R Us was always a fun thing for them. When they were tiny it was a chance to play with the Thomas tables. When they were a little older, it was a place to dump allowance money in exchange for Lego sets (Halo and Ninjago.)

Like I said it won't really affect us much now, but I'm still sad to see it go.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:58 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:34 am With toy prices raising so much online at Christmas while often being scarce in Chicago big box retailers, Toys R Us has saved me the last few years. I could go in late after work on Tuesday twice during the Christmas season to snag buy-one, get-one free/50% off deals -- at standard prices, not surge prices.

Last year they had some November deal that yielded a $25 gift card for some amount in purchases. I bought some Xmas gifts to get the card, then a early December sale allowed me to get a $100 Thomas thing that my son was pining for since receiving their first holiday catalog in October for about $60.

JSHAW · Post by **JSHAW** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:17 pm

I'm sure there are alot of people out there wondering when they will hold their fire sale and the stores get stampeded with toy collectors looking to get
a shit ton of stuff that they can proceed to mark up 100% and make a killing on ebay.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 3:01 pm

I used to live 2 blocks from a Toys R Us. I swore it never changed for the 10 years I lived at that location. Until it went away. But then, a lot of stores disappeared from that "mall", one of the few places in the city that are still big enough to host a anchor store, albeit a small one. It used to be Sears, then it closed. Toy R Us was gone. For a while it was Mervyns, but that's gone too. It's now Target. Office Depot is gone replace by Ulta Beauty. And looks like Best Buy left in 2017. It's just not a happy place to be.

gameoverman · Post by **gameoverman** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:13 pm

I was a Toys R Us kid. Going there was like going to Disneyland, it was an event. I had an uncle who'd sometimes take us there and he'd tell us "Pick out whatever you want" and he'd buy it for us, for Xmas or bdays.

He died a while back, before online shopping became a thing. In some ways it's awesome that I can order whatever I want any time I want from any where I want. On the other hand, fewer and fewer people are taking a kid to a massive toy store these days and telling that kid "Pick out any toy you want", and that's an experience worth having at least once if you're a kid.

Taking a kid to Walmart just isn't the same thing.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 7:49 pm

I remember 20 years ago my mom telling me that one of my childhood friends was a big wig in the company over in Hong Kong.
I wonder if he jumped ship before this all happened?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:46 pm

gameoverman wrote:I was a Toys R Us kid. Going there was like going to Disneyland, it was an event. I had an uncle who'd sometimes take us there and he'd tell us "Pick out whatever you want" and he'd buy it for us, for Xmas or bdays.

He died a while back, before online shopping became a thing. In some ways it's awesome that I can order whatever I want any time I want from any where I want. On the other hand, fewer and fewer people are taking a kid to a massive toy store these days and telling that kid "Pick out any toy you want", and that's an experience worth having at least once if you're a kid.

Taking a kid to Walmart just isn't the same thing.

This. I was that kid, too. (Even taken there by my uncle, too!) I have many fond memories of going there and picking out a new NES game for my birthday.

Times have changed.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:11 am

Local toy stores are thriving as Toys "R" Us is dying

Smaller toy stores are able to offer more personalized shopping experiences. They're places where everybody knows your name. And that's a good thing.

"We know your family and what the kids in the neighborhood are into right now," said Ann Kienzle, owner of *play, a toy store in Chicago. "We also have events three days a week, things like story time and music jam. We want to make this an experience, and not an errand."

Kienzle said it's sad to see Toys "R" Us go under, but she said her store -- which has been open for almost eight years -- had a "fantastic" 2017. Sales rose at a more than double-digit pace from a year ago and the holiday season was particularly strong.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:14 am

Play is in my neighborhood, and we've gone there a few times. It's a very nice store, but it always seems far more expensive than Toys R Us. (And I'll save my rant on wheelchair accessibility there for another time.)

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:18 am

My wife works at a local toy store and the owner told her that the store had record earnings last year and that this year is actually beating last year. The store is only 5 years old. We're in the suburbs and their typical customer is someone looking for a unique gift for a kid's birthday party that weekend.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:31 am

TRU had awful pricing. They had custom SKUs for a lot of items so the could go like 10% over MSRP.

I tried there a few times but hated it. I do Amazon if I'm planning ahead. If I forget (or as is usually the case, the wife/kid forget to tell me there's a kid's party the following day) I hit the neighborhood store and gladly pay up for the convenience and quality service/selection. In a pinch, Target works too.

It also didn't help that our local neighborhood TRU is in a strip mall next to a Wingstop that stinks like a grease dumpster that hasn't been emptied in a year.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:36 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:31 am TRU had awful pricing. They had custom SKUs for a lot of items so the could go like 10% over MSRP.

I tried there a few times but hated it. I do Amazon if I'm planning ahead. If I forget (or as is usually the case, the wife/kid forget to tell me there's a kid's party the following day) I hit the neighborhood store and gladly pay up for the convenience and quality service/selection. In a pinch, Target works too.

It also didn't help that our local neighborhood TRU is in a strip mall next to a Wingstop that stinks like a grease dumpster that hasn't been emptied in a year.

The reason we liked that Toys R Us was because it was combined with a Babies R Us, so we could get baby supplies in a pinch. With Amazon Prime, though, I don't think I've set foot in that store in 2 or 3 years.