Toys 'R' Us could go bankrupt within weeks as it struggles to pay debts

We don't go in TRU much and my kids do certainly still play with toys. BUT, they play more outside with the other kids in the neighborhood than they do playing with toys indoors, sitting online, or even watching TV.

When they're not outside with half the neighborhood, the toys & activities my kids prefer to play with run the gamut, so I do have to eyeball more than just TRU to cover the interests of both.
For example, my older kid loves Monster High and will play with her dolls & dollhouse often. I can get that just about anywhere, but TRU sometimes has things less frequently carried elsewhere. However, she's also an artist and is VERY PICKY about her materials' quality. Therefore, some of our "playtime" art supplies aren't pulled from the Crayola isle, but rather, an actual arts & crafts store like Joann or Michael. I'm not going to find Winsor & Newton paints in TRU, nor will I find her Prismacolor pencils there.

My younger kid is fairly easy to pick toys for -- if it's Star Wars, a superhero, a dinosaur, a car, or outright nerdy, she will love it (dolls, no so much) For that, TRU is a great one-stop kind of place if we're willing to pay a premium on common brands. If we're not, we can usually find the same thing at Meijer, it's just a choice between distance or price.
If it's an oddly specific toy request, such as a very specific dinosaur nobody carries or unusual animal toy, then I hit up Amazon. It's a sure bet they'll have it, and at a reasonable price.

The one thing TRU was great for was picking out their bikes. They've always managed to get exactly what they love & can feel dedicated to maintaining. As my younger kid says, it's not just a bike, it takes care of you if you love it & take care of it back (yes, this kid washes and waxes her bicycle)

I don't think it's a universal retreat (so to speak) from playing with toys due to only electronics today, because I think it's a highly regional/locality thing that isn't all that new. In Florida, most kids started staying indoors in the late 90's onward thanks to game consoles and cable TV. The high heat and humidity also didn't help much, nobody really WANTED to be outside when it was 95 degrees with 80% humidity in the summer (which down there is like most of the year)
I think I stopped playing with toys in general around 10 or 11, I simply lost all interest. Aged out of toys, I suppose.
Kids down there today still play games & watch the boob tube for pretty much the same climate & aging-out reasons now.

Up here in MI in my area, kids sitting on their ass inside all day is looked at oddly. There's really no high heat & humidity excuse, save for maybe a week or two of it spread out over the summer, at most. The kids around me are expected to go outside, enjoy the day, and socialize with their peers, not hunker down inside with their toys. An example of that mindset being one kid down the block mine play with says her mom and dad say kids should make their own fun outside, and her toys are for between bath time & bedtime while hair dries. Whatever works. And to be honest, I kind of agree -- we have a major childhood obesity problem going on in this country. We should be encouraging more active play, not nudging kids into a play room/bedroom with toys all day to stay out of the adults' hair. Both forms of play ARE developmentally important, but it's highly disproportionate now with sedentary play being far too commonplace.

originally posted by: violet
a reply to: Sillyolme
I think they're affiliated with Buy Buy Baby, who's affiliated with Bed, Bath & Beyond. I hope bed bath beyond isn't going under.

Maybe you're thinking of Babies R Us, which is part of the Toys R Us family? I think the Bed Bath and Beyond / Buy Buy Baby conglomerate is unconnected with this.

a reply to: Black_Fox

I think toys might have died period in a way.

With the easy access to electronics, I think the age range for action figure type toys has dwindled to just a handful of years..

Then add the big box competitors like Walmart and the internet..

Sadly I think we are on the cusp of losing 80% of jobs to automation.

Our ToysRUs was a filthy unstocked germ factory.

No board games, no Star Wars sets, no anything I would have actually purchased. Actually I gladly pay the shipping fee's to avoid whatever creeping crud is going around.



Kiddo got this, & this, some books and some socks. If retailers want my business they have to sell more than cheap Chinese junk.

a reply to: Caver78

"Filthy unstocked germ factory" is the best description I've heard for them.

Its on par with those pizza/arcade places. Dark rooms that smell like mildewed feet is the last place i want to eat.

originally posted by: JoshuaCox
Sadly I think we are on the cusp of losing 80% of jobs to automation.

Without a doubt. I think we've got maybe a quarter century at most (and I'm being generous here) before today's idea of a job is very obsolete and old-fashioned. There's always going to be some industries that will never die or lose the need for people -- farming (food doesn't grow itself) healthcare, coders, electricians, plumbers, etc. But there's a limit to even those, you can't flood an industry & expect ample work still left over if efficiency is tip-top.
My husband's employer makes medical supplies, for example. They DO need machine operators, but most of their machines can be easily manned by 1 person. Some occasionally need 2 if running at max output, and only one machine needs 3 at max output. That operator does everything between when the machine spits out the goods, to spot QC checks & sending off randoms for more thorough QC checks, and packaging. It's not rocket science, just efficient, streamlined go-go-go.

They don't even have a need for many mechanics for the machines, not because they fix themselves, but because they just don't break down often. Each shift has 2 mechanics/technicians. They usually don't have to get off their duff because other than a very infrequent repair, output alteration, or mold change, they just aren't needed that much. As much as people tout the need for industrial mechanics -- like my husband, who used to be one before being management -- they're also starting to admit they're not going to be as lucrative as they used to be. Kind of like IT techs. Back in the 90's, that used to be a lucrative job. Until everyone figured that out, too, and the market was flooded with newbies. Not so lucrative anymore. There's always going to be a need for mechanics and ITs, but...with the efficiency of tech and machinery climbing higher, there isn't going to be a need for as many in quantity after a while.

originally posted by: makemap
I've been to Toys R Us. Most of the toys are garbage because all you see now is a bunch of super hero junk in which you can buy from EB Games. They don't even sell all the board games.

Here, Here.

I drive by the local Toys R Us probably a couple times a week. I have noticed recently (perhaps within the last year or so...) that there may be 8-10 cars parked in the lot. Maybe...

I look because the "strip mall" that they are in has closed two big retailers with the past few years (Big Lots and Hancock Fabricks)

I have often wondered if this particular location was gonna go away...granted it's not holiday season...but...

Toys R Us got on the gun grabbers' wagon, adopted P C. Crappolo. Not an American Toy Store!! No cowboys and Indians toys, so no N R A. We boycotted them for decades over this.

The malls are dying because it's unsafe to go there at least the local one. Lowlife hangout just not worth the visit.

a reply to: xuenchen

Toys R Gone

Amazon strikes again, indeed!

The question is whether this is all by design, some kind of sinister social engineering, or just technology and internet prevalence run amuck

The world has a future where technology may make it that a few billion people aren’t needed anymore

Sounds familiar...

I know the super conspiracy theories about the elite wanting to trim the population hugely aren’t to prevalent like they use to be.

But is there some truth to them after all?

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan


Actually you bring up a great point, if you want the latest bug that's going around just go to a public place and wait, especially supermarkets. In the old days an infected person might just have made it to one store, now days he still makes it to one store but its where everyone goes.

Toys are is gone


maybe in the end


Human beings are us are gone too!


hahahahahahahahaah

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

Now even little kids have the ultimate toy. The cell phone!

Dolls an Lego's can't even come close to the interaction moving image on the screen. 3 year olds now have facebook accounts...

It's a brave new world....

reply to: Black_Fox

Our closest TRU went OOB in 2009. I figured they all were on borrowed time.

Seriously, I really think its sad what’s happening.

I guess its progress.

I was in a Kmart the other day; you could count the people in there on one hand

I wonder what the negative social ramifications may be

Maybe nothing…

Or will this help dry up the low paying jobs that still today millions have to do to survive.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

HEB was a go to while I was stationed in Texas.

originally posted by: Monsieur Neary

originally posted by: violet
a reply to: Sillyolme
I think they're affiliated with Buy Buy Baby, who's affiliated with Bed, Bath & Beyond. I hope bed bath beyond isn't going under.

Maybe you're thinking of Babies R Us, which is part of the Toys R Us family? I think the Bed Bath and Beyond / Buy Buy Baby conglomerate is unconnected with this.

Oh right you are. I got them mixed up.

And even Wal-Mart ain't what it used to be.

Every Wal-Mart has like 50 checkout lines but only 2 people working the registers.