I'm sure the aisles of unsold Star Wars toys didn't help matters over the last couple years.

Gee; I am old enough to remember when Toys R Us first opened, and I remember thinking, "I wonder if there is really a market for way overpriced toys, just because they are all gathered together in one store?"

Apparently not. I am really amazed they survived as long as they did!

Sad end to an American icon.

I have many memories from my childhood that had Toys R Us in it.

Yeah the one by me is totally empty. Sad.

When I was a kid there was no greater excitement than a trip to Toys R Us. (which didn't happen often, we were not a well off family)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a...toys-r-us-to-donate/

Apparently, someone bought $1M of toys from them to give to charity at the last moment.

Shopping for toys online is lame. Kids want to see toys in person, not little pictures of them on a website. Yeah, the internet is more convenient and sometimes cheaper but it makes for a boring shopping experience. R.I.P. Toys R Us, you'll be missed.

I worked for a marketing company in the mid 90's. We represented various manufacturers in several retailers. TRU was where some of our biggest accounts were. We represented Fisher Price, Buena Vista, Little Tykes, Bandai, Sega, Lisa Frank, and many others that my brain isn't pulling up now.
TRU was struggling a bit then, but nothing like after the buyout in '05. I believe the rise of Wal-Mart did way more damage to TRU than the interwebs ever did. As noted by Sigspecops above, kids want to shop for toys in person.
Although I haven't worked for that marketing company for more than 20 years, watching the decline of TRU has been sad. For a kid they were a Mecca of sorts. Sad.

quote:

Originally posted by thunderson:
For a kid they were a Mecca of sorts. Sad.

Yes they were. Man, there was nothing better than a trip to Toys R' Us.

There was one fatal flaw in their business model though. The kids don't hold the credit cards. I would've bought the whole store if I could.

Babies are where the money is, not kids. I'm guessing Babies R' Us is still doing ok...?

My wife and son visited our local Toy 'R Us store and had the pleasure of being the last customer ever for that store. The store employees took pictures of them as they checked out. Right after the transaction, the register was powered off and un-plugged, and the door locked behind them. Kind of weird.

We had them in and around Pittsburgh (maybe 25 miles away). Like others here, maybe everywhere, growing up in the late 70s early 80s, money was tight. Christmas and Birthdays were when you got ANY toys at all. And K-Mart, Murphys or Montgomery Wards was where they came from. I'm pretty sure Wards ONLY had toys on the shelves at Christmas.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

Babies are where the money is, not kids. I'm guessing Babies R' Us is still doing ok...?

Not sure about that. They were the same company. Lot's of Babies R' Us stores were downsized a while ago and sections were carved out in existing TRU's for a BRU section. The closest store to my area was a smaller 30k store. Years ago there was a remodel where about 25-30% of the store became BRU. A couple of weeks ago I went in and the BRU section had been expanded to close to 40% of the store.
You are correct in that textiles are probably more lucrative than the other product they carried in a corporate buying train of thought. It just was way too little and way too late to save them.

My first job was at Babies R Us back in 2001. I can tell you for certain that BRU was holding the entire company afloat back then and got worse after 9/11. Kids R Us was the biggest money loser in the company, and it wasn't clothing that was the money maker, but all the furniture, car seats, strollers, etc. was bringing in the money.

Had an old Atari console I bought there. Would go there from time to time whenever I had the money to buy another cartridge for it. That thing would be a collectors item now.

I'm among the Sears & Roebuck Christmas catalogue era. My brother and I couldn't wait to get the catalogue and start our "wish list". For me, that's what made the magic of Christmas come alive...the anticipation.