Is Toys R Us doomed to close all stores?

Ok, so many of us in the toy collecting world have known about the 184 TRU store closings for a while now, but this is new. One of the options that is on the table now, is that Toys R Us is now considering closing all of their stores in the United States. I know that they are guilty of inflated pricing. I know that you can find things cheaper online through Amazon or Ebay. I get that... How many of us have memories of walking around the store as a child, our interests absolutely piqued by what we saw? I remember full aisles of GI Joe and Transformers. These days, 75% of the toys are dumb as hell, but still. Those of us that who collect things like Transformers, GI Joe (which has barely released anything in a few years), or Hot Wheels, are pretty much screwed. We will now have to rely on Target (not bad) and WalMart (meh) for finding our collectibles. Makes me think of the days when K-B Toys was in every mall in the country, and then suddenly disappeared. The following link tells what is going on, and also contains a more in-depth link as well. www.seibertron.com... Bankruptcy, liquidation of assets... Bad times for those of us who still love this store, and the many good things that it has brought us over the years.

I feel like someone will buy them out because of all their locations. :/

originally posted by: TheBloodRed
I feel like someone will buy them out because of all their locations. :/

Possibly, but that is a lot of real estate and product to purchase, when the standard brick and mortar business model seems to be falling out of favor, due to online vendors.

originally posted by: venom79x


Possibly, but that is a lot of real estate and product to purchase, when the standard brick and mortar business model seems to be falling out of favor, due to online vendors.

Might solve the housing/migrant crisis?

Like buildings of multiple occupation

I just want to be able to walk into a store, pick something up, look at it, and be able to enjoy my purchase. Online sales are taking the genuine enjoyment away from the toy collectors. Yeah, it is easy to make a couple of clicks to get what you are looking for, but what about the awe factor of finding that one really cool item? That item that you find in front of your face. The one that makes you say "screw it, I'm taking this thing home"... You can't get that genuine satisfaction of discovery from buying online.

originally posted by: eletheia

originally posted by: venom79x


Possibly, but that is a lot of real estate and product to purchase, when the standard brick and mortar business model seems to be falling out of favor, due to online vendors.

Might solve the housing/migrant crisis?

Like buildings of multiple occupation

A toy store doesn't seem like a valid location to move vagrants. There are tons of empty houses in this country, and it is a problem all in itself. That has nothing to do with commercial real estate, or the trend of online purchasing killing other businesses.

Just another casualty of the internet and the senseless habit of disposability. That and the chase to get cheaper and cheaper. Kids toys are cheap plastic tat, designed to be used twice and then chucked in landfill.

originally posted by: paraphi
Just another casualty of the internet and the senseless habit of disposability. That and the chase to get cheaper and cheaper. Kids toys are cheap plastic tat, designed to be used twice and then chucked in landfill.

Sad but true. I remember many toys of the past that stood up to the torture of fireworks, etc.

originally posted by: venom79x


A toy store doesn't seem like a valid location to move vagrants. There are tons of empty houses in this country, and it is a problem all in itself. That has nothing to do with commercial real estate, or the trend of online purchasing killing other businesses.

High ''high street' rents are partially responsible along with internet shopping

leaving large commercial units empty.

Like huge old houses to big to heat for smaller families of today, conversions

are done to accomodate smaller faniilies so why not the same for large

commercial units? I think this is what would be called brown field areas?

I never mentioned *vagrants*

a reply to: venom79x

lol more than one of my matchbox cars met its early demise due to an m80.

Ive got to say, many arenas have suffered the same fate. Im a book collector of sorts and antique knives and guns...I have started going to auctions and flea markets, but its not the same.

Sure, I can go to a store still for guns and for that Im thankful albeit the new ones dont hold the same appeal, but bookstores are almost extinct. Only thing I miss from living in a big city is the used and new bookstores and a slice of pizza.

I feel your pain.

originally posted by: eletheia

originally posted by: venom79x


A toy store doesn't seem like a valid location to move vagrants. There are tons of empty houses in this country, and it is a problem all in itself. That has nothing to do with commercial real estate, or the trend of online purchasing killing other businesses.

High ''high street' rents are partially responsible along with internet shopping

leaving large commercial units empty.

Like huge old houses to big to heat for smaller families of today, conversions

are done to accomodate smaller faniilies so why not the same for large

commercial units? I think this is what would be called brown field areas?

I never mentioned *vagrants*

Those large houses were easy to heat when everyone had coal fires. They employed a whole staff to run those homes; maids to keep the fireplaces clean of ash and to light the coal fires each day. They had cooks, laundry maids, butlers and nannies. The downside for the cities was the smog outside. Then cities declared themselves "smoke free zones" and banned coal/wood burning, so everyone was forced to move to gas central heating and electric heaters, sometimes with the encouragement of SFX. Grants were offered to install wall insulation, double glazing and cladding. Then those homes became so luxurious that the next generation couldn't afford them.

We're really going back to the old "steam-punk" way of doing things. Back in the 1900's, all the produce of the world was imported and stored in giant warehouses in the docklands of the coastal cities. Department stores were in every city. When someone wanted to order something from the catalog, they called up the store, made the payment, and then waited for the items to be delivered the next day. They would be loaded from the warehouse onto a steam train that traveled overnight. Because of the cost of transportation, those items had to be built to last.

Toys'R'Us always seemed to be in the out-of-town industrial estates and wherever I've been in the world, you always need a car to drive there. There are high-street stores like Argos which have catalogs and sell toys as well. Frequently they would be sold out of the popular items and have oversupply of out-of-demand items.

I remember "King Norman's" toy store in Fremont,Ca. during the 70's....I was very young but I remember that Evel Kenievel motorcycle launch toy thingy. You crank it and with a quick reverse crank Evel and his bike would take off and jump make shift encyclopedia ramps in my living room. Hahha..

Toy stores are great, people are just lazy and the toys frankly suck these days. What ever happened to the Tyco racetrack isle with all the trains as well?

Gone.

It's practically ALL about video games these days.

The golden age of decent products and niche stores are gone.
This deep, monster of a recession we have been in since 2007 isn't done yet and never was.

Watch the bond market..... that's where the end will present itself.

a reply to: venom79x

The real losers will be the kids. My kids felt like they were in paradise walking through the Toy's R Us isles, lol.

Sad to see them go but I think the stores were just mismanaged. I don't think it is so much Amazon, which seems to be the defacto excuse for any failing retail outlet these days. They have a ton of debt from an LBO (about $5 billion) that is weighing them down. They were still doing $11 billion in sales.

Another issue is that I think parents simply aren't buying toys like they used to. I grew up in the 70s / 80s and we bought a ton of GI Joe, Transformers, GoBots, video games, etc. Board games. Parents seemed to be more concerned about buying more educational toys, etc.

My town has a small toy store that appears to be doing well. Same with a small book store. I think the days of the big box store are numbered.

I took my 3.5 year old to Toys R Us I think he thought he died and went to heaven. I don't think he knew so many toys existed. We couldn't walk 10 feet without him stopping look at some toy.

For a retro-visit to the toys of the 70's, 80's and 90's

retromash.com...

Capitalism at work. I know sites like Amazon were probably taking their toll on them but it also seems like people are moving away from the national chains. Sure stores like Walmart and Target are pretty much too big to fail. But outside of them I've noticed people moving back towards buying from local stores and brands. I don't know if this is something that has affected the toy store industry but I wouldn't be surprised.

I certainly have a lot of good memories related with Toys 'R Us. I remember getting their giant catalog/ad thing around Christmas time and making my whole list just from looking through it. I still use the phrase, "I don't wanna grow up! I just wanna be a Toys 'R Us kid!" on a fairly regular basis to this day. That said, the last time I drove past the shopping center that had my local Toys 'R Us I asked my girlfriend if it was still there or if it had closed years ago. Neither of us knew. As a company they became obsolete a while ago and it seems like they never really changed their business model to adapt to the modern climate.

It's sad to see it go but at the same time I thought it was dead years ago.

originally posted by: [post=23212917]eletheiaHigh ''high street' rents are partially responsible along with internet shopping

Government is a big reason too and all the taxes. Taxes on this taxes on that. Tax your sales tax your labour tax your profits tax your building.....................insurance accountants red tape. At least that's how it is here in the UK, sure it's the same at our overgrown child the other side of the pond. Why would anyone want the hassle?

Our little town of less than 2000 they built a strip mall with 4 stores that never have been rented. The owners out of Chicago wrote a nasty letter to the paper complaining that people should take advantage of the building and open a business and make lots of money. 1000Square feet for $3000 a month are they crazy. Now somebody shot the windows out and the drive was blocked till the fire department fined them. Simple greed

Only been in there a few times and it was to visit a friend who worked there at the time and also they had printers that had HP compatiable cartridges for £25 when the same carts from HP were for into the £50+ range so buy printer, stick it in bin and use cartridges.

Here in the UK along with other places things have changed and they have not and thus time for them to die

Toys has been in trouble thanks to your favorite, and my favorite, vulture capitalists, Bain Capital.

fortune.com...

Brief blurb:

"So how did Toys ‘R’ Us get here? While Amazon is an easy scapegoat, it’s not all about the rise of e-commerce.

It started in 2005, long before e-commerce started pinching profits of brick and mortar stores. That year, Bain Capital, KKR & Co., and real estate investment trust Vornado Realty Trust bought the toy chain in a $6.6 billion leverage buyout.

The deal left Toys ‘R’ Us with a $5.2 billion albatross of debt around its neck. The interest payments—$400 million a year—left the company weak and ripe for toppling."