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Toys R US shutting down


Art_de_Cat

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Other than the fact that staying on working guarantees a paycheck and benefits until the end I can almost guarantee that most people sticking around are dong so for each other.  When you've been with coworkers long enough it really becomes more like a second family.  Heck, during the holidays I probably spent more time at work around these people than I did my own home and family.  There's always good and bad days and especially now with liquidation starting tomorrow customers are going to be a lot more unreasonable about certain things than ever before and it's gonna be tough to deal with, but for those of us sticking around we'll manage it together.  Even a lot of the managers we're really cool with up to a point for obvious professional reasons, but outside of work, or rather outside operating hours we joke around and have fun while working just the same.  One of my assistant managers is a huge gamer/anime nerd so we always have stuff to talk about on the daily and I've known him almost as long as I've been with the company.

 

It's very easy to be disenfranchised with the company, but the family that grew up under that umbrella still sticks together and that goes for former coworkers who have since moved on to other jobs, too.

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Supposedly, we're supposed to know by Friday what will come of that proposal but no idea just yet what all the factors are that play into the 200 stores that may be picked if things go through.  Had this discussion with one of my managers earlier this week and he said despite our performance the biggest obstacle for us being chosen is the fact that we are in a shopping center and therefore don't own the property.  Since any buyer would want to mitigate as many additional expenses as possible that would be a big hurdle.  But we are one of the newer stores from when the company was doing remodels and creating super side by side stores over the past ten years or so and we are in a prime shopping location in the city, so there's a lot of other perks in that regard.  Business wise, after the closure announcements, from Thursday-Sunday our store did nearly half a million in sales which is pretty insane outside the holiday season.  When you have daily budgets around this time of year for our store size that hovers around 28k-36k and we're smashing that multiple times over on the daily it's a pretty wild thing to consider.  And mind you, all we had at the time was the closure announcement, even now there aren't even any liquidation sales starting at my location yet so all those numbers were pulled on normal business as usual operation more or less.

Edited by Kezay
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6 minutes ago, Kezay said:

Supposedly, we're supposed to know by Friday what will come of that proposal but no idea just yet what all the factors are that play into the 200 stores that may be picked if things go through.  Had this discussion with one of my managers earlier this week and he said despite our performance the biggest obstacle for us being chosen is the fact that we are in a shopping center and therefore don't own the property.  Since any buyer would want to mitigate as many additional expenses as possible that would be a big hurdle.  But we are one of the newer stores from when the company was doing remodels and creating super side by side stores over the past ten years or so and we are in a prime shopping location in the city, so there's a lot of other perks in that regard.  Business wise, after the closure announcements, from Thursday-Sunday our store did nearly half a million in sales which is pretty insane outside the holiday season.  When you have daily budgets around this time of year for our store size that hovers around 28k-36k and we're smashing that multiple times over on the daily it's a pretty wild thing to consider.  And mind you, all we had at the time was the closure announcement, even now there aren't even any liquidation sales starting at my location yet so all those numbers were pulled on normal business as usual operation more or less.

I wish you the best. Hope it works out. Those are some great numbers post holiday season!

 

Liquidations start for most stores tomorrow. We will see what happens on Friday. 

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8 hours ago, Fuzzer1 said:

RIP Mr. Lazarus. Hope it wasn't from sadness and that he passed away peacefully.

 

 

6 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

 

That's crazy. Liquidation also got delayed to at least Friday. Rumors about KB toys are starting to surface more. This is going to be an interesting year in the toy industry for sure.

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13 minutes ago, Eliwoodman12 said:

RIP Mr. Lazarus. Hope it wasn't from sadness and that he passed away peacefully.

 

 

 

That's crazy. Liquidation also got delayed to at least Friday. Rumors about KB toys are starting to surface more. This is going to be an interesting year in the toy industry for sure.

Yea it is. But in a way, it was respectful of them to delay it for a bit. As for KB, it'll be something if that pans out.

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I guarantee you, they didn't delay it because he passed away.  There was a hold up in court between claims from creditors and Toys R Us.  It's a shame all the same though, I still remember he came through our store when we had our grand opening back in 2008.  It was just neat seeing the man behind it all make an appearance if nothing else.

 

 

 

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On 3/23/2018 at 7:28 PM, Kezay said:

I guarantee you, they didn't delay it because he passed away.  There was a hold up in court between claims from creditors and Toys R Us.  It's a shame all the same though, I still remember he came through our store when we had our grand opening back in 2008.  It was just neat seeing the man behind it all make an appearance if nothing else.

 

 

 

 

Wow that's amazing that you were able to see him. Do you know if he was still doing anything with the company with his final days? 

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Went today and bought a shelf to put my pops on. Liquidator was nice, but had to take the TRU logos off of what I was buying. I get why they are doing that, but I really wouldn't mind paying to have more history come home with me. Guess the signs outside are getting destroyed to. It makes more sense for that, but I really don't see the harm with selling cardboard. 

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On 3/25/2018 at 10:47 PM, Eliwoodman12 said:

 

Wow that's amazing that you were able to see him. Do you know if he was still doing anything with the company with his final days? 

 

That I don't know.  Never really heard much about what he or his family were involved with after the fact.  I know the company used to have an internal newsletter that went around that might have had some stuff but that ended not long after I was hired.

 

On 3/26/2018 at 10:00 PM, Eliwoodman12 said:

Went today and bought a shelf to put my pops on. Liquidator was nice, but had to take the TRU logos off of what I was buying. I get why they are doing that, but I really wouldn't mind paying to have more history come home with me. Guess the signs outside are getting destroyed to. It makes more sense for that, but I really don't see the harm with selling cardboard. 

 

Seems to be a case by case kind of thing.  Our liquidator hasn't had a problem with people wanting to buy anything with the company logo/branding on them.  Even some of the inserts that go into fixtures like the four ways/H racks that had trading cards and other small knick knacks people could get if they ask for them specifically.

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@Kezay yeah the fixture I bought was a four ways rack with shelves on all sides that can easily fit my Funko POPS on. I do have to go back and pick it up, but when I chose it, the liquidator took them off saying I can't have them and that they have to be thrown out. 

 

Didn't really ask or want to ask for a full explanation as it was a losing battle, but I was kind of bummed out. But still happy I bought the fixture and something to remember the store by. It has probably been there for so many years. 

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Aye, I remember when going to Toys R Us was the best thing to do as a kid. Like, if I behaved really well that week my mom would take me to buy that Ben Ten action figure I always wanted or one of the new Toa Mahri sets from Bionicle. One of my local stores actually used to have a small card shop next to it, and whichever parent had custody of me that weekend would let me stop by to check out all the rare Yugioh cards on display before taking me to the main attraction.

 

That card shop was replaced by a laundromat sans 2012 or 2013, though the sun-bleached, partially torn logo, "Kittyworld", can still be seen above one of the entrances to this day. I thought that was the only painful reminder I had to pass by when I traveled down that street. Now I'll have to deal with another once the accompanying Toys R Us eventually crumbles, if it hasn't already. 

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