Toy r us in bankruptcy

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Another brick mortar in bankruptcy because they refused or leadership was outdated.

They picked an interesting venue years back leveraging amazon to be an internet face of themselves early on. They trained the us consumer to go to amazon to buy toys.

They had all sorts of retail locations they could have taken advantage of hot trends like kids and slime or legos and made play areas to drive traffic in. But instead did what they did in 1970 and sell toys in brick and mortar.

Good bye to another brick and mortar is my prediction unless they demolish leadership and replace.
 
Amazon putting lots or retailers out of business. Why waste time shopping at a B&M store ?

I remember when those ugly Cabbage Patch Kids was the craze back in the early 80's.... idiots lined up for 5 days to buy that [censored]. Now people buy junk for their kids online.
 
People blame the leadership yet hop on the internet and go to Amazon on a regular basis. No one could save these stores....including Sears. Its an uphill battle and it will end with Amazon and Walmart and a few bit players in the end.
 
It's sad indeed, but how do you compete with WalMart, Target, etc, in this segment? I'm kind of surprised they've hung on this long having been in my local store somewhat recently.
 
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There's still a lot of country that can't get same day delivery from Amazon.

When fuel prices go up, the Amazon delivery model may add costs and price to be less efficient. But at that point isn't it too late?

The thing I don't get is clothes, shoes, etc. The options if you don't know your exact fit or style are pretty clunky.

Equilibrium will shift in favor of online merchants, but the pendulum won't swing all the way in that direction either.

I also don't see fresh food going online in earnest without substantial QA improvements. Some may not care but plenty do. Minimum wage grocery conglomerators won't check produce the way you will for yourself.
 
When you have young (pre school age) kids and bring them to a toy store they go nuts! What parent wants that? Now we go on social media after the kids go to bed, see other parents' kids playing with stuff, ask what it is, and buy it with a click.

Internet shopping was made for the busy parent who doesn't want to endure the whole car seat/ mall herding experience. It's bad enough finding an hour a week to get groceries... those are still mostly B&M for now, though I get spices online to avoid ridiculous markups.

TRU should have a buying process where you shop online, they wrap it in brown paper, and you pick it up at an "ice cream window" facing the parking lot where kids don't even get to go inside.
 
A while back I predicted Sears would retreat to the small towns again ~ a new one has since opened in our little town and it is one of three I have bought appliances from in the last year ... these carry that, tools, lawn equipment...and I can get things shipped there or elsewhere
One store where I got some Kenmore gear had a very good manager that did not up sell = he really knew the equipment and it was great dealing with him.
 
The likely end of this chain has little to do with the internet and everything to do with the crippling debt load it was saddled with in a 2005 LBO in which what had been a publicly held company was taken private.
The current uninformed buzz is that online sales are killing B&M retailers.
Many seem to forget that retail chains came and went long before the internet existed.
 
We have seen online can come and go as well ~ It annoys some when the founders of certain companies become rich & famous and think everyone wants thier opinions on everything ...
I quit one of these companies over just that ... can easily do without them …
 
Toys R Us are NOT bankrupt.

Toys R Us have sought bankruptcy protection, an entirely different beast.

The purpose of bankruptcy protection is to avoid bankruptcy, by agreement with creditors to modify payment terms.

Because payment terms are contracts, it takes a legal ruling to modify them, thus the courts are involved.

If agreement to new terms cannot be reached, then Toys R Us will be in bankruptcy. If they can, they will emerge as a normal corporation, not a bankrupt corporation.
 
Toys R Us will close their doors shortly after the Christmas shopping season is over.

I do own Amazon stock and feel TRU should have closed years ago. They have expensive prices and terrible customer service, also there stores are always messy.
 
Their return policy used to be bad, i don't know if it still is. When my son was young, if you returned an item, you only got in-store credit.
 
Over paid under performing management and CEOs. All educated with the same business models.
 
My though is Toys R Us could instead of using the space to stock toys maybe actually let folks actually use the real toys instead. The retail location would be a return place, demo area and if you need item immediately you pay the extra Brick Fee(brick and mortar). The purpose is try, return, or immediate purchase(at premium) items that are ultimately delivered.

This model could be extended to clothing, shoes or really anything. Multiple online sellers could participate at try on, demo places and return places. Just carry enough stock for the purpose but greater variety.

I went to an online retailer called BackCountry.com in Salt Lake City with a "store". Nothing more then you going to normal order site with a bunch of MACs writing down with pencil no less what you wanted and after 10 mins or so a window into a massive warehouse they hand you the item.
 
Toys Our Us has always been reliant on the short Xmas buying window to survive. Online shopping from competitors has ate away from the little profit margin they once had.
 
As a kid all we had were mom and pop toy stores. Those blew away the [censored] chains of today.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
As a kid all we had were mom and pop toy stores. Those blew away the [censored] chains of today.


They exist around here and thrive. I call a local one have them suggest a toy for kid birthday party, pay over phone and they curbside deliver the gift wrapped. They sit in a busy town center with limited parking but lots of walk in traffic. All that for maybe $5-8 over amazon.
 
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Toys Our Us has always been reliant on the short Xmas buying window to survive. Online shopping from competitors has ate away from the little profit margin they once had.


Sound like excuse and they made no attempt to counter or reinvent them selves yet.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
As a kid all we had were mom and pop toy stores. Those blew away the [censored] chains of today.


They exist around here and thrive. I call a local one have them suggest a toy for kid birthday party, pay over phone and they curbside deliver the gift wrapped. They sit in a busy town center with limited parking but lots of walk in traffic. All that for maybe $5-8 over amazon.


That's awesome!! I loved those places as a kid!! My parents would take me to one and it seemed like we'd spend hours in there!
laugh.gif
I also remember this mom and pop shop that sold nothing but electric train sets. It was an old painted green house that was transformed into a shop and had this huge sign that just said "TRAINS". I was in heaven in there as a kid!!
 
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