I didn't see this posted. Toys R Us is closing all of its stores. Sad to see, the mecca of my childhood, all those toys, gone. There was nothing more exciting than a trip to Toys R Us and getting something shiny and new.
Kids don't really play with toys anymore, and online shopping and other retailers have finally killed the toy store. What a bummer.
Don't weep for the stupid, or you will be crying all day
Posts: 10722 | Location: TN | Registered: December 18, 2005
Originally posted by Lord Vaalic: I didn't see this posted. Toys R Us is closing all of its stores. Sad to see, the mecca of my childhood, all those toys, gone. There was nothing more exciting than a trip to Toys R Us and getting something shiny and new.
That's a bummer. I too have fond memories of my childhood visiting Toys R Us.
quote:
Kids don't really play with toys anymore...
Haha, I guess my daughter didn't get that memo.
Though she's not even two years old yet.
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Growing up, I never got to go to Toys R Us because we did not have one close. I still relate to the commercials though. But everyone knows, Hills is where the toys are (were).
I am actually surprised online sales have impacted the toy market so much. Toys are one thing I would expect kids to see and want in person.
Posts: 17880 | Location: SE Michigan | Registered: February 10, 2007
I’m sad to see them go. One of the fondest memories of my childhood was the occasional trip to ToysRUs for LEGOs, they always had an excellent variety of sets. I am glad my kids got to experience the ToysRUs. They are NOT happy to learn ToysRUs is closing all of its stores.
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The price of liberty and even of common humanity is eternal vigilance
Posts: 21100 | Location: San Dimas CA, the Old Dominion or the Tar Heel State…flip a coin | Registered: April 16, 2007
I was already in high school when they built store in my area, so I didn't get toys for myself, but I recall they used to have a pretty good selection of video games, and got a few hundred of my dollars for them. I also did a lot of Christmas shopping for cousins and nephews there.
Charles Lazarus, the founder of Toys R Us, passed away at the age of 94. Charles Lazarus’ passing comes just a few days after the announcement that Toys R Us is closing its doors for good. The toy chain has been struggling lately to deal with massive amounts of debt and declining sales.
Originally posted by recoatlift: I was a teenager when Toys r Us came around.
I miss the 5 & Dime stores. All the good balsa wood airplanes & AMT model cars, Revell model ships, airplanes & slingshots were there.
Our toys r us had a whole model section, anything you could imagine, all the brands, paints, stickers, etc. There must have been hundreds of models to choose from.
Don't weep for the stupid, or you will be crying all day
Posts: 10722 | Location: TN | Registered: December 18, 2005
Combination of factors leading to the demise. Failure to keep up with on-line competition. Investors concerned more with immediate profitability than long term success. My own personal theory, retailers forget what made them great and try and compete by being everything to everyone. They abandon their niche in the market to chase bigger sales numbers. The end result they end up being a, "Victim" to online sales and large chains like Wal-Mart.
My daughter can deflate your daughter's soccer ball.
Posts: 11762 | Location: Eagle River, AK | Registered: September 12, 2006
Around '75 or '76 an aunt sent me a gift certificate for christmas. It was probably $25 or $35 bucks, but it seemed like a million dollars to me. I can still remember pushing the cart through the isles just filling it.
I'm not shocked though, later we had a store just up the road, it was grocery store sized. By the late 90's it was 3/4 of the size. The last time I was in it, they'd walled it down to less than half that. Then moved to an even smaller location.
_____________________________________________________ Sliced bread, the greatest thing since the 1911.
Charles Lazarus, the founder of Toys R Us, passed away at the age of 94. Charles Lazarus’ passing comes just a few days after the announcement that Toys R Us is closing its doors for good. The toy chain has been struggling lately to deal with massive amounts of debt and declining sales.
My ToysRUs story is decades ago, I gifted two nieces with actual stock certificates. I forget the value. But one niece got Disney stocks and the other, ToysRUs stocks. The value of the ToysRUs got wiped out about a decade ago when it went into bankruptcy. This wasn't the first time they filed. Guess which niece loves me more. LOL
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
Posts: 19646 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011
I tried to shop for my grand daughters on their web site. It was terrible. I ended up buying the presents off of Amazon because I could quickly find what I was looking for. Toys R Us did not play the internet game very well.
Like a lot of brick and mortar stores they never adapted to the internet. Their website has always been terrible.
I’m going to miss them still. I can remember how awesome it was to go as a kid. And as a parent nothing quite compares to taking a kid to a real toy store. The look in their eyes will never be matched by the toy aisles at Target or WalMart and nothing close on a webpage. My kids are almost too old anyway but I’ll hold out hope that by the time I have grandkids I’ve got a place like Toys R Us to take them.
“Everybody wants a Sig in the sheets but a Glock on the streets.” -bionic218 04-02-2014
Posts: 15251 | Location: Florida | Registered: May 07, 2008
Originally posted by Bytes: Toys R Us did not play the internet game very well.
That's the bottom line. Much like many of the other big name big box stores (e.g. Sears, K-Mart, etc.), they were simply dinosaurs who failed to change with the times.
