Toys R Us closing in United States and UK

[Baconjack]

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/14/592882488/game-over-for-toys-r-us-chain-going-out-of-business?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180314

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43401674

Decided to post this here because it is a very topical and relevant issue regarding Sonic merchandise collecting. Toys R Us has collapsed, and are closing down all their stores, for the moment, in America and the UK.

Which means, liquidation sales with Sonic goodies at a fraction of the cost!

 

So far there are no other confirmed countries where all their Toys R Us stores are closing down. However there are reports Australia, and parts of Europe may be liquidated as well.

For the fellow Aussies it will be significantly harder to obtain Tomy stuff down here if all of our stores close down, considering that no other store down here stocks Sonic things anymore.

[Your Vest Friend]

Oops, I don't think the Sentinel were wise to run the story the other day then. 

[Eurisko]

Saw this in the news , their websites are still up but you cant buy anything from them. The store local to me has a clearance sale but the highest reduction on any one thing is like 30%, I would have though it would be higher or maybe they are just trying to make as much as possible before the doors close.

[mikeblastdude]

Sad news indeed. I grew up going to Toys "R" Us constantly as a kid. That place is even where I got my Sega CD system with Sonic CD way back in '94. I'll also never forget how much I got there in 2011 when they had all of the Sonic 20th Anniversary stuff.

I was even just there a few days ago, and they still had a lot of great stuff.

[Diz]

This is a store I never before had seen anywhere in my country (only knew about it due to foreign movies and TV series), and they literally just opened up a big Toys R Us store in my city. Someone did tell me that they wonder how long they will actually stay there, considering they seemed to be doing bad elsewhere. Interesting.

[E-122-Psi]

Sad to hear. Toys R Us was always a joy to go to as a kid.

[Your Vest Friend]

Honestly, I'm not going to miss it that much. 

We always went once a year, even up to as recently as just a couple of years ago. It was obviously magical when I was young...but the illusion kinda wore off in my teens, and at some point any trips were consistently coming out with nothing. Doesn't help that mine was not a good stockist of Sonic stuff (bar the Jazwares era where you had the Super 3-pack and Chaotix 3-pack out at the same time). I guess I'll miss the sheer labyrinth-like structure, but eh.

RIP TRU, buying WoC will be my strongest memory of you. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

If you are going for bargains... do it quick. 

I went to my local store the day after the news was just rumoured 2 weeks ago... and it had been raided!

[KHCast]

As a former employee there, it’s ectremeky sad to see the place go. Lotta friends worked there, some of which have been there for a lot of tru’s Lifespan. I hope the best for the employees. As a store I rarely shopped there, but did like that a store dedicated to toys existed. Ah well...guess that’s what happens when you don’t modernize 

[Osmium]

50 minutes ago, VEDJ-F said:

Honestly, I'm not going to miss it that much. 

We always went once a year, even up to as recently as just a couple of years ago. It was obviously magical when I was young...but the illusion kinda wore off in my teens, and at some point any trips were consistently coming out with nothing. Doesn't help that mine was not a good stockist of Sonic stuff (bar the Jazwares era where you had the Super 3-pack and Chaotix 3-pack out at the same time). I guess I'll miss the sheer labyrinth-like structure, but eh.

RIP TRU, buying WoC will be my strongest memory of you. 

Maybe because it's not a place aimed for teenagers. I'm just saying. 

[Mad Convoy]

That's pretty sad. Yet again, its not exactly surprising for me. Last time I went was into the Babies R' Us with Mom to buy baby clothes for a relative, and the place was practically a ghost town. Shelves looked like they hadn't had any need for restocking in weeks. It was well-staffed enough, but the staff were mostly teenagers that were bored by the lack of work-- as in, I'd never actually seen a retail worker's eyes light up when my mom is having trouble choosing products and asking for the location of things well across the store from where she is until I went into Babies 'R Us that day. That nice worker, and the nice teenagers at the store in general who clearly didn't sign up for the job with the intent to slack off or do little work, were nonetheless left with little to do and it was obviously affecting staff morale. It was super super sad and a little creepy when all the cashiers looked intently at you the moment you walked in.

What a shame. Didn't go into there often as family for the most part provided my parents with plenty of toys and other childcare stuff, but I've never had a negative experience with staff or witnessed any consequences of an unqualified manager's decisions. Hope the best for the staff in finding other jobs because they are plenty qualified and deserving of them.

[Mr Loopone]

I've never been to a Toys R Us, they were way too far out like on the edge of cities and I mean really that far but always wanted to go out of curiosity when I was young. It is understanding though when you're a young age and you see all those toys/figures on the shelves, makes you all excited. Used to see it advertised over all Christmas however for the past few years none at all or just the one ad.

Sadly that's how it is like in this generation. Something that was popular with its advantage that made sense in the late 1980s/1990s but doesn't fit with today's world. As in that the out of town retail parks were cheaper rent and could hold more stuff, often near furniture stores and electronics, maybe even a supermarket there. I believe Toys R Us didn't adapt to the online market enough. Plus there's online competition as well as Argos and Smyths eating up with their advantages being smaller stores that are closer to or in a town/city and more online friendly. The latter even got 3DS/Wii U games pretty cheap but wonder how long Smyths will last too considering that they are an Irish company and have really cut back the games this year. It might affect all toy stores if there is a decline of demand for toys since there always seem to be reduced fairly quickly...

At least Toys R Us gave people notice that they were closed down (unlike Dunnes who recently closed down without any notice and gone just like that). Do feel sorry for the staff though losing their jobs and have to find somewhere else that is difficult in this day and age.

[Your Vest Friend]

Argos is in a weird position. I wouldn't be surprised if the non-Sainsbury's branches were dialled down in a major way. 

[Mick]

Too bad.  They had a good selection of toys.  Amazon and other outlets killed 'em.  R.I.P. Toys R Us.

[Kevin]

Toys R Us was my childhood, and it's going to be a shame to see it go. I made a stop at the one near me and took a bunch of pictures pre-closure for anyone interested.

[TailsTellsTales]

I used to work at Toys R Us and it was my first job. It will be sad to see that store be empty. Hope the workers can find better jobs than.

[Tara]

There's a trending campaign to help raise money for MGA Entertainment to purchase Toys 'R Us.

https://www.gofundme.com/helpsavetoysrus

Personally, I question the effectiveness of this kind of fundraiser.  The sentiment is nice, but even if they met their target goal, that wouldn't change their net expenditures or their asset/liability ratio.  Also, I couldn't find when the fundraiser ends at a cursory glance, but a billion dollars is a lot to ask for in what I assume is a relatively short period of time.  Even if the new owners do manage to turn Toys 'R Us around and make it profitable again, there's still the market implications.  MGA being a toy company itself, owning the largest toy retailer in America would certainly give them a lot of economic power which might prove unfavorable to competing brands.

But anyway, if you want to donate, please feel free to.  I'm pretty interested to see how it works out, and I certainly don't want to see Toys 'R US go, either, so hopefully they'll be able to work something out!

[PC the Hedgehog]

All the sales at my store were a paltry 10% off. I could buy a lot of that stuff online for less than that.

But my store was crammed with people. I guess 10% is considered a great deal to people.

[Ashwalking Bat]

If it's really put in perspective, it was kinda inevitable. Toys R Us is being out played by online sites such as Amazon for fair prices on toys and various products. There is that disappointment that will be felt to see a store that defined your childhood, leave. But all good things have to come to an end at some point. And sadly Toys R Us's time has come.

That store of 90s child wonders will be missed.

[Tornado]

Using Gofundme to raise money for a company that failed due to complete inability to compete (and no idea how to do so, so any money raised would be pissed through immediately) on the marketplace seems like more than a bit of a silly way to utilize the platform.

[Axl.EXE]

On 3/23/2018 at 6:56 PM, PC the Hedgehog said:

All the sales at my store were a paltry 10% off. I could buy a lot of that stuff online for less than that.

But my store was crammed with people. I guess 10% is considered a great deal to people.

Toys R Us corporate has apparently done some rather unwholesome things, so it's not that surprising that their liquidation sale in some areas is so tame.

Frankly I'm not that sad that they're going belly up - Toys R Us has always seemed pricey to me.

[Kapi]

I know I'm a bit late to the game, but yeah, Toys R Us' demise wasn't surprising. I never really went there much, but everytime I did it was rather expensive. There were only a handful of things that weren't any worse than other place, but for the most part, you could easily find it elsewhere, for less.

But still, I'm a Toys R Us kid. Too many birthdays and Christmas presents came from there. Shame the last time I was there was a few years ago.