The rise of the Megacorporations and the fall of Toy R Us

As I stated in another thread a few weeks back TrU did not adapt their business model.

People nowadays want experiences and "souvenir" reminders of those experiences. Kids are no different.

What TrU should have done was start doing in store events around toy lines like Star Wars, Lego, Barbie etc or having gamefests like Magic or Pokemon card game tournaments. This gets people to the store for an event and they will spend money there.

Here in China the better operated shopping malls do this all the time. This coming weekend a mall near me is having a big Lego display thing with lots of sets built and areas for kids to play with Legos. People will go, people will spend money. It cost the mall nothing because Lego has a marketing department that puts these things on. TrU had all the connections to make that stuff happen stateside and I seriously doubt Lego or any other major toy producer would have said no.

Idiot CEOs is the problem.

a reply to: TruthJava

I got called back a few weeks ago. A job that I interviewed for while I was off came through. I start it next Monday. I'm going back into manufacturing.

I think the root causes of TRU failing is two basic things:

1. They forgot adults are kids too. I can remember going into TRU as a kid back in the 70s and the had toys for all ages, kid to adult. Now they cater to 7 years old and under (with a few exceptions like LEGO). They lost a huge segment of their business by doing this. Adults generally shop for kids so they would also shop for other adults too, even themselves.

2. TRU sold their souls to the devil when they started taking on debt from activist hedge funds. These are the most evil forces on Earth to deal with. Borrowing money from a mobster loan-shark is less risky! At least they don't tell you how to run your business (or 'ruin' your business so they can happily liquidate it for you, stripping the profits and defaulting on the debt).

One of the problems with TRU is that they usually didn't have what I was looking for. Since it was an hour's drive away, I just stopped going there. They are not the only store like this. I used to be a regular at Barnes and Noble until it went the same way. Again it was another hour's drive one way. It is simpler and way less expensive to just order what I want online. Just North of where I live we have a toy store that is phenomenal, but, they don't like men shopping there by themselves. You know the whole every man's a pedophile bit.

I grew up in a small town. I moved back there after my time in the Navy. Downtown used to have several excellent stores. I'd love to have shopped there, but, I worked 30 miles away and by the time I got home they were all closed. Every one of them closed at 5 PM Mon. thru Fri. The Malls didn't take away their business, they did it to themselves with help from the City. I lost count of the number of times I came out from one of the downtown businesses to find a parking ticket on my car, with time still on the meter. Entire parking lots marked permit parking only with no cars in them. The Parking Authority has to guarantee an open space for every permit, so they block off so many spaces.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Nods to the theme of Arthur C Clarke's "Childhood's End"

Almost like an eerie "sign" of the times...

When the biggest symbol in the world of "childhood" (toys), dies... Then what is coming in the near future for Humanity, in regards to a grander shadow agenda?