Goodbye Toys R US (1 Viewer)

[Bryan^H]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...-stores-and-file-liquidation-paper/426292002/


As an employee there in the 90's, this is sad news. Of course it was the best place I ever worked. I met a lot of friends, loved the party like atmosphere there around Christmas time(I worked 60 hour weeks there, and they supplied Pizza and pop to keep us going, it didn't feel like work). As far as retail goes it was at the top in every regard for employment purposes. Earned hours, and paid vacation got me about 6 weeks off a year, and even though the pay wasn't great, it was still 6 weeks off paid!


I will post more later.

 

[MatthewA]

This affects me even more than the death of Radio Shack. This really feels like a part of my childhood dying. Even my Dad had a sweater that said "I'm A Toys 'R' Us Kid".

 

[DavidJ]

Makes me sad too.

 

[rmw650]

Just so sad to see and hear of this news, but they can only blame themselves for being put into this kerfuffle to begin with as they had mostly dirty run down stores (like Sears and Kmart have now, whom i feel will be the next two to declare bankruptcy and then start liquidating all their assets in the fall is my prediction), overpriced items, low quantity of popular items and such and just bad customer service all-around, but the pricing is what got them as they never expected Amazon or Wal-Mart or Target to take off in the toy divisions as they have in the last several years time and bad retail sales for the holidays only nailed the death blow for this once-proud entity.

Just a sad day to be a TRU kid or adult.

 

[Malcolm R]

I think it's also the changing times. Most kids today don't really want a bunch of toys. At younger and younger ages, they all have electronic devices and want games and apps, not a toy box.

 

[TravisR]

As a former toy collector (they were taking up too much space so I had to give it up), I have fond memories of early morning runs to Toys R Us with other crazy friends 15 or 20 years ago. I still have a distinct memory of my grandmother buying me some Return Of The Jedi action figures in 1983 or '84 at TRU. My grandmother was a kind and lovely lady but she wasn't one to spoil her grandchildren so for her to buy them for me on a non-holiday was a memorable moment.

 

[Bryan^H]

I think it's also the changing times. Most kids today don't really want a bunch of toys. At younger and younger ages, they all have electronic devices and want games and apps, not a toy box.

So true. i have seen it first hand from many nephews, nieces, friends kids, etc. it actually breaks my heart to see 8 year old kids with eyes glued to the tiny screens of their devices. I think of me at that age imagination running wild with action figures, creating my own little world.

Are they missing out?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The company got saddled with over $6 billion in debt obligations when it was sold to private equity firms, and it could never dig itself out of that. Similar thing happened with KB Toys in the storefront market (with some of the same players involved) a decade ago. Right out the gate, the chain's profit margin was less than half its debt payments. Money that should have been spent developing an online web presence that could compete with Walmart and Amazon instead went to paying debt. And the value of the real estate for its stores plummeted when the economy tanked and online shopping started killing brick and mortar.

If the company had stayed public, it would still be facing challenging times right now. But it probably wouldn't be bankrupt.

 

[Mike Frezon]

 

[MatthewA]

And the inevitable sequel 14 years later, with a notable omission:

 

[Bryan^H]

If the company had stayed public, it would still be facing challenging times right now. But it probably wouldn't be bankrupt.

Yes. The private equity firm that bought them out a dozen years ago was the road to ruin. Suddenly the relaxed, fun atmosphere for employees became a tense 'add on sale' environment. Buyer protection plans, up selling, TRU credit cards. If you didn't meet a desired number of one or the other you could get written up.

These new draconian rules soured my friend that worked there (once he even signed up for a TRU credit card toward closing so he would meet his number, and not get written up).

I haven't seen him in a couple years, I'll have to visit the store one last time(my store was announced for closing a couple months ago. I believe early summer is when they shut the doors)
and will have to talk about old times and get one last look at the place.

I don't know what he is going to do...jeez he has been there since 1995

 

[Mike Frezon]

I don't know what he is going to do...jeez he has been there since 1995

That's sad.

 

[TravisR]

That's sad.

Yeah, over 30,000 jobs are going to be lost. Not to get on my soap box but as automation and the internet continues to grow and jobs disappear, what exactly are people supposed to do support themselves and their families? It's tough for someone to walk into a similar job at Target or Wal Mart and get the same pay rate as they have been getting if they worked at Toys R Us or Sears or K Mart for a decade or more.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Yeah, over 30,000 jobs are going to be lost. Not to get on my soap box but as automation and the internet continues to grow and jobs disappear, what exactly are people supposed to do support themselves and their families? It's tough for someone to walk into a similar job at Target or Wal Mart and get the same pay rate as they have been getting if they worked at Toys R Us or Sears or K Mart for a decade or more.

If I worked in certain sectors of retail as a career, I'd be thinking that I might need to start thinking about getting myself trained and qualified in another field. And I don't mean that to sound stupid--as in, duh, retail is suffering so I'm gonna be screwed--but as actual strategy to find a different trade or, at least, a viable retail sector that maybe is going to be able to thrive in the current environment.

 

[Bryan^H]

When I reached top pay at TRU in the late 90's($10) I was told I coiuldn't get another raise as an average employee in my annual evaluation.
The store Director asked If I wanted to be a manager. The offer was tempting(bonuses, and really decent pay and benefits) but I decided against it. I had witnessed many times how many "problem customers" they dealt with. Yelled, and cursed at, even spit on. Especcially during Christmas time when tempers are short, and items in ads are out of stock.

 

[Walter C]

Yeah, over 30,000 jobs are going to be lost. Not to get on my soap box but as automation and the internet continues to grow and jobs disappear, what exactly are people supposed to do support themselves and their families? It's tough for someone to walk into a similar job at Target or Wal Mart and get the same pay rate as they have been getting if they worked at Toys R Us or Sears or K Mart for a decade or more.

There is a part of me that does not like the advancement of technology, mainly due to the loss of jobs. As it is tough enough to find a job as it is.

While I do understand the convenience of online shopping, there is a part of me that needs to go to the store and look at the product before buying. And there have been times when I chose the slower checkout line with a person over the faster self-checkout, whenever I see a person just standing around. I hate to think that one day, that one person's job will someday be eliminated forever, due to technology.

As for Toys R Us, I did not get to shop there as much, as my family often went to either Kay Bee Toys or Kiddle City (if anyone remember that toy store chain). But still, even if I did not get a lot of toys, it was still fun looking at the different toys on store shelves. And when Nintendo came out, looking at the different games that were currently out. And I definitely remember the commercials, with that jingle and that stupid giraffe!

 

[Stan]

Yes. The private equity firm that bought them out a dozen years ago was the road to ruin. Suddenly the relaxed, fun atmosphere for employees became a tense 'add on sale' environment. Buyer protection plans, up selling, TRU credit cards. If you didn't meet a desired number of one or the other you could get written up.

These new draconian rules soured my friend that worked there (once he even signed up for a TRU credit card toward closing so he would meet his number, and not get written up).

I haven't seen him in a couple years, I'll have to visit the store one last time(my store was announced for closing a couple months ago. I believe early summer is when they shut the doors)
and will have to talk about old times and get one last look at the place.

I don't know what he is going to do...jeez he has been there since 1995

That's so typical. These people come in, strip the company to ruins, take the cash and destroy it.

There was one about two miles from my home, closed down probably ten years ago. No reason, it was always busy, lots of customers, but just closed the doors. Eventually somebody else bought the property.

 

[MatthewA]

Toys R Us is broke and so is Joey Lawrence.

"Whoa" doesn't even begin to describe it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I was thinking about this, and realizing that as legendary a place as Toys R Us was when I was a kid in the 1980s, I didn't actually have a lot of experience with the store itself - I think my parents had taken me maybe two or three times. I imagine they did toy shopping there for holidays and birthdays, but they were smart enough not to bring me or my little brothers along. So while I have the nostalgia for all of the commercials, I don't actually have a strong memory of the store itself.

As a teenager, when online ordering began gaining steam, instead of asking my parents for rides to stores like Toys R Us and FYE/Sam Goody/Tower, I would instead ask if I could use their credit card for an online order and pay them in cash. I've been an online shopper pretty much ever since. And I realize I may be part of the problem. But when I'd see news reports of people lining up for Black Friday sales at the crack of down, or waiting hours in line for a popular new toy or game or movie, I would wonder why anyone would want to do that when they could just as easily go online and make the purchase there.

I can understand how Toys R Us could be especially vulnerable to that. If you're someone who wants to shop for toys for your children without them knowing what you're up to, online shopping is probably easier both for secrecy and for convenience. If your child doesn't need to see the toy up close before buying it, ordering online can take the hassle out of the lines and the mystery of whether or not the item will be in stock. Frankly, I have a hard time understanding why people today would go to a physical location that may or may not have the item they want, when they can order online and get the item on the first try. Obviously that won't work for a last minute or an impulse purchase, but for the majority of planned purchases, it just seems so much easier to compare prices online and then order than it would be to go to a retail locations with fingers crossed that they'll have the thing you want.

It's not necessarily that the toy itself is any less valuable or desirable - but that our own time has become more valuable, and if the same item can be found without having to invest any time or effort into acquiring it, doesn't that make more sense for most people?

There are some things that I still want to see in a store. I want to pick out fresh food myself rather than having it selected by someone else and shipped to me. I'd rather try on new shoes at a store to see if they fit rather than ordering a bunch online and having to ship back the ones that don't fit. Indeed, any kind of purchase that involves trying something out and physically interacting with the item before committing to it is something I'd prefer to do in person at a store. But for the type of goods that Toys R Us would sell, that doesn't seem to really fit into that category of things worth going to a store for me personally.

On the other hand, I don't know how this works out long term if all of these jobs go away and aren't replaced by an equal or greater number of new jobs in another field. I know stores like Best Buy and Barnes & Noble try to balance both brick and mortar and online by encouraging you to visit the store, but offering free shipping if you order something at the actual store to be shipped to your house, and will also arrange to ship an item from their warehouse to the store for pickup. And I do miss browsing in retail stores back when they were all giants, but I don't necessarily miss everything else that came with that.

 

[MatthewA]

It's still going to hurt the toy industry regardless.