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Toys R Us to file for bankruptcy

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  • Werewolf
    Inhuman
    • Jul 14, 2003
    • 14615

    #16
    I love the store and we be very saddened if it closes.
    You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...

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    • Hector
      el Hombre de Acero
      • May 19, 2003
      • 31852

      #17
      I hate Toys R Us...like many here already said, terrible customer service. Every time you ask for a specific toy, they act like you are bothering them. Stores are horribly laid out too.

      I say good riddance...I'll help with bulldozing the place myself...
      sigpic

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      • MRP
        Persistent Member
        • Jul 19, 2016
        • 2035

        #18
        I'd rather see them get it right than close, I hate seeing any business close, but at this point they need to step up to the plate and get it done or they are done.

        -M
        "Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato

        Comment

        • great_chandel
          Veteran Member
          • Mar 2, 2015
          • 284

          #19
          I absolutely love Toys R Us! I have so many great memories as a child growing up. So many of the great toys I have collected over the years (aside from MEGO), were bought there by my parents. While I am not a hypocrite, because I do a lot of shopping on Amazon.com as well, I do try to go to Toys R US when I can (because I like their credit card). I am sentimental I guess........I love the store.

          Comment

          • jwyblejr
            galactic yo-yo
            • Apr 6, 2006
            • 11141

            #20
            What they should have done when KBs went out is shift their stuff to malls. Sadly with malls becoming a thing of the past too,I don't think that's an option.

            Comment

            • Werewolf
              Inhuman
              • Jul 14, 2003
              • 14615

              #21
              Originally posted by great_chandel
              I am sentimental I guess........I love the store.
              Same here. I will not be happy to see it go.

              You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...

              Comment

              • Hedji
                Citizen of Gotham
                • Nov 17, 2012
                • 7246

                #22
                A lot of hate for... a toy store? I'm very saddened about a world without Toys R Us. They may not get everything right for 40 something collectors, but it's nice to have a place where you can go and it's all about kids.

                Who's to blame? Well, maybe Toys R Us carries their share of it, but I think the real problem (besides online sales) is that kids don't play with toys as much any more. They grow up faster, and the electronics industry is robbing kids of the desire for physical playthings. I think Toys R Us is doing their best to keep up, but I really believe the customer base is shrinking.

                What a sad thing.

                Comment

                • Werewolf
                  Inhuman
                  • Jul 14, 2003
                  • 14615

                  #23
                  Originally posted by Hedji
                  A lot of hate for... a toy store?
                  I don't get it either.

                  Who's to blame?
                  Same as Kaybee, Bain Capital played a part in it. Bain along with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Vornado Realty Trust saddled the company with so much debt in the buyout, TRU was never really able to dig themselves out from under it.
                  You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...

                  Comment

                  • warlock664
                    Persistent Member
                    • Feb 15, 2009
                    • 2072

                    #24
                    I, too, would be sad to see Toys-R-Us go. Hedji makes a great point about it being a place that's all about kids. As a child growing up in the 70s, I didn't live close to a Toy-R-Us or Children's Palace and didn't get to visit one until I was an adult. I dreamed often of them, though, they seemed like magical destinations. As adult collectors, we seem to forget the primary function of the toy store.

                    Comment

                    • Blue Meanie
                      Banned
                      • Jun 23, 2001
                      • 8706

                      #25
                      It's not hate for Toys R Us....it's the fact that they have no clue of how to do business anymore. I'll re-iterate : Babies R Us and Toys R Us need to be literally separate entities. I can GUARANTEE you that if you look at their books that is how they are in the corporate structure. After doing that the stores need to be either reduced in size or fill up the space that is left by separating Babies R Us from Toys R Us with more selection that you are only seeing if you go to a comic book store or a store that is geared toward more natural toys like wooden and other toys from years past. I can't remember the name of the company but I've seen these stores in malls...but have NEVER seen one of these toys at a Toys R Us. Again, you need to get rid of old stock when the new stock comes in. Child World, Kay Bee, and the old department stores that used to carry toys would do this on a quarterly basis at the bare minimum. You go to Toys R Us and it's the same stuff on the shelves that they had and couldn't sell 3 months ago. It's called clearance...they used to be the KINGS of doing that. Now, not so much because their attitude is they can put it on the website and sell them there. It's a **** poor way of doing business and is the easiest way to basically tell your customers you don't care about what the consumer wants. Today it's about moving your stock...and they don't do it. That's why they have what they have and can't pay their bills.

                      Comment

                      • hedrap
                        Permanent Member
                        • Feb 10, 2009
                        • 4825

                        #26
                        It sucks, but they've been drifting for years.

                        They're in a real no-win. If they blow prices out, it wont cover the payments to get new inventory.

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                        • Hector
                          el Hombre de Acero
                          • May 19, 2003
                          • 31852

                          #27
                          ...........
                          Last edited by Hector; Mar 9, '18, 9:12 PM.
                          sigpic

                          Comment

                          • Blue Meanie
                            Banned
                            • Jun 23, 2001
                            • 8706

                            #28
                            Originally posted by hedrap
                            They're in a real no-win. If they blow prices out, it wont cover the payments to get new inventory.
                            It's sort of a catch 22 situation that they put themselves in with the policy they have for the way they manipulate their stock. Basically it is they have to sell out the wave of toys before the new wave gets put on the shelves. And that policy has been around for at least the last 20 years. I remember it because I remember they literally had cases upon cases of Expanded Universe POTF 2 figures on the top shelves ready to be unpacked and put on the peg hooks. I asked one of the workers there why they weren't on the peg hooks and they flat out told me the store policy that I have stated. Sure enough when they refused to put them on the shelves about 2 months later they were blowing them out at $3 each when they used to clearance the figures/toys. Because of that store policy, which still exists to this day, they last $3 per figure....multiply that times 12 figures per case and then multiply that by at least 20 cases that were just waiting to be put out and God knows how many more they had in the backroom. Again, it is **** poor management and policy that has put them in the situation they are in.

                            Comment

                            • PNGwynne
                              Master of Fowl Play
                              • Jun 5, 2008
                              • 19444

                              #29
                              Blue Meanie makes some good point about the TRU business model. I miss the TRU clearance sections and the fresher product. In the 90s, I used to go to it and KayBees every Saturday.

                              But I go there about once a month to check Imaginext, and my store is clean, well-organized, and has friendly, helpful staff. I'd regret its loss.
                              WANTED: Dick Grayson SI trousers; gray AJ Mustang horse; vintage RC Batman (Bruce Wayne) head; minty Wolfman tights; mint Black Knight sword; minty Launcelot boots; Lion Rock (pale) Dracula & Mummy heads; Lion Rock Franky squared boots; Wayne Foundation blue furniture; Flash Gordon/Ming (10") unbroken holsters; CHiPs gloved arms; POTA T2 tan body; CTVT/vintage Friar Tuck robes, BBP TZ Burgess Meredith glasses.

                              Comment

                              • Spyweb007
                                Persistent Member
                                • Apr 18, 2006
                                • 1449

                                #30
                                I worked at Toys R Us for years in the past. They have been headed downhill for a decade and a lot of it is due to the leveraged buyout that happened back then. The buyers used TRU's assets to back the purchase, and from the little I understand about the process it places a huge debt burden on the company if they don't turn around and sell it again within a certain time frame. That and the current business model is concerned more with Credit Card applications, Rewards Program cards, Buyer Protection Plans and Pre-Sales on Games and movies. That is why the only people you see are cashiers, nothing else matters to them. They track the percentages of Applications, etc that each cashier gets tracked for each shift, and that's what their raises and evaluations are based on. I agree that the stores are to big to support in the current retail environment. They own most of the stores and property, but carry too much merchandise that doesn't sell. I noticed also that the aisles are too narrow, which actually helps make shoppers feel anxious especially when the store is crowded during the holidays. Most adults dread shopping there, it's just overwhelming and stressful and I'm not sure the company even realizes it.

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