Jump to content

Toys R US shutting down


Art_de_Cat

Recommended Posts

My friend had time to kill today and I had a day off, so we went on an adventure.

 

I went to my local one today with a buddy of mine who invited me to go check it out. I was planning to go tomorrow (Wednesday) with my mom and check it out. I was told tomorrow is indeed the last day the store will be open. They will be closing at 5. Luckily me and my mom planned for Wednesday to begin with. I was told earlier that the store would be closing around the 14th, but seeing as there is almost nothing left at that store, there really isn't a need. 

 

I picked up a World of Nintendo Ganon for about 3 bucks which was good. Tomorrow they will go to 90% and will grab some last minute deals. But it will be time to say goodbye to that location and its employees for good. I talked to a few of them and they are transferring to other locations which is ok that they get longer work, but sad at the same time they have to go through the whole closing process all over again.

 

Me and my buddy went to another one a few towns over who just begun their liquidation sales the other week. The store is still intact and the signs say they are emptying their warehouse so expect more shipments to come in. I didn't buy anything from this one as we just came to see what was there and what to possibly want in the coming weeks of deals. We then headed to another one that was closing the day after tomorrow like mine. We both actually bought a lot of stuff at this one as there was more stock. It was a much larger store and it was a TRU/BRU combined. Spent around 37 dollars, but got a good amount of stuff. Couldn't believe some of the things I got were still there like World of Nintendo toys. Got Peppy and Villager for 2 bucks each. Can't beat it. 

 

Then when I went to work out tonight, I stopped at another TRU down the street. Yeah we have like 4 TRU 20 minutes from where I live which was pretty nice. Never had to travel far. So yeah 4 TRU I went to today. I was like, I will never get the chance to go to 4 in one day, so why not? This one I was just looking at potential posters and fixtures to buy.  Almost wish I had something from each of the stores but the receipts of each one are good enough for me. 

 

Link to comment

http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/13/news/companies/toys-r-us-billionaire-bid/index.html

 

The billionaire CEO of MGA Entertainment (Bratz, Little Tikes) Issac Larian is submitting a higher bid from his own earnings than he originally put forward to save over 200 well-performing stores and for control over the Canadian operations, and to control the Wayne, NJ-based US TRU headquarters.  

 

Still seems like a long shot, but hey, that'd be pretty cool if he could pull it off.  Seems like a genuine guy who really wants to do all he can to rescue and preserve TRU for future generations.  Wishing him best of luck.

Link to comment
8 hours ago, Bowser81889 said:

http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/13/news/companies/toys-r-us-billionaire-bid/index.html

 

The billionaire CEO of MGA Entertainment (Bratz, Little Tikes) Issac Larian is submitting a higher bid from his own earnings than he originally put forward to save over 200 well-performing stores and for control over the Canadian operations, and to control the Wayne, NJ-based US TRU headquarters.  

 

Still seems like a long shot, but hey, that'd be pretty cool if he could pull it off.  Seems like a genuine guy who really wants to do all he can to rescue and preserve TRU for future generations.  Wishing him best of luck.

 

Let me offer up a REAL response to your post.

 

I honestly feel like it's a cool thing that he's going this far to try and save the company.  Make no mistake, TRU's management the past couple of years has been slowly unraveling and showing itself to have been a pitfall for more than just its own employees.  Plenty of people with community efforts, vendors, general merchandise and toy companies and plenty more have been or will be adversely affected by what has happened.  However, MGA Entertainment is one of those companies whose CEO owes a lot to stores like Toys R Us helping to propel his business to where it's at so I don't doubt that there is something genuine behind this effort he's putting forth.  But make no mistake that he definitely gets something out of it though I wouldn't count it being nearly as cynical as a laughing Nichijou gif would imply.  Let's say he manages to save and thus have control over what remains of TRU he manages to secure, you can bet that he would leverage that to his advantage. Is there something wrong with that?  Not really, though depending on how that's managed things could certainly go very wrong.

 

But like you, I also think it's a long shot but I do hope there is a chance he can pull it off.  Talking with coworkers and other customers about the situation even back when he put up $200m of his own money there were plenty hoping that something could come of it.  There's still a lot that would be lost in the end when you figure the company will be downsizing from nearly 1000 stores to 200+ in addition to the canadian arm (though that's total RUS stores which includes Babies R Us, not sure what the individual breakdown is for just TRU) but something of it would remain. Whether or not it's saved I'm already using all that has happened as an opportunity to move on but I'd love to still be able to walk into a TRU to buy toys for family/friends if I could.

Link to comment

Went last Wednesday with my Mom one final time to our location. They brought out two versions of Geoffrey one last time. Picked up some last minute deals. As we left the building there were people trying to come in, but a end buyer wound up coming and buying the rest of the stock of toys, so there was officially nothing left to buy. And this was around maybe 1-2 in the afternoon. The store was supposed to close for good at 5 that day. Good thing I went when I did. Crazy that I was one of the last customers of that store. Many if not all of the employees are transferring to the other locations for the next couple of months which is good temporarily, but I still feel bad that they will be jobless in a few months. 

Link to comment
On 4/14/2018 at 2:42 PM, Kezay said:

 

Let me offer up a REAL response to your post.

 

I honestly feel like it's a cool thing that he's going this far to try and save the company.  Make no mistake, TRU's management the past couple of years has been slowly unraveling and showing itself to have been a pitfall for more than just its own employees.  Plenty of people with community efforts, vendors, general merchandise and toy companies and plenty more have been or will be adversely affected by what has happened.  However, MGA Entertainment is one of those companies whose CEO owes a lot to stores like Toys R Us helping to propel his business to where it's at so I don't doubt that there is something genuine behind this effort he's putting forth.  But make no mistake that he definitely gets something out of it though I wouldn't count it being nearly as cynical as a laughing Nichijou gif would imply.  Let's say he manages to save and thus have control over what remains of TRU he manages to secure, you can bet that he would leverage that to his advantage. Is there something wrong with that?  Not really, though depending on how that's managed things could certainly go very wrong.

 

But like you, I also think it's a long shot but I do hope there is a chance he can pull it off.  Talking with coworkers and other customers about the situation even back when he put up $200m of his own money there were plenty hoping that something could come of it.  There's still a lot that would be lost in the end when you figure the company will be downsizing from nearly 1000 stores to 200+ in addition to the canadian arm (though that's total RUS stores which includes Babies R Us, not sure what the individual breakdown is for just TRU) but something of it would remain. Whether or not it's saved I'm already using all that has happened as an opportunity to move on but I'd love to still be able to walk into a TRU to buy toys for family/friends if I could.

First off, I appreciate the well-thought out response to my post.  So, thank you for that.

 

I do agree, he would probably get something pretty big out of it and yes,  it's fair to say he would probably use a big part of it in the interest of his company.  I never even knew the guy's name until all the TRU stories started springing out of the media.  The fact that he's actually digging into his own pockets for something that seems like a long shot effort even if most other toy companies didn't see the benefit in helping to invest in his effort due to their own understandable reservations about the long-term prospects is pretty cool, one should admit.  He's been lobbying a lot on Twitter by reaching out to other figures in position of power and wealth to aid him in his effort, and he's also refunding the few who donated to his GoFundMe rather than using those mere funds to add up in his bid for saving the company.  Of course, common sense says he (or anyone for that matter) should be refunding those who donated in any case considering his massive wealth, but just saying...considering some campaigns like that just decide to keep your money even if the crowdfunding effort fails.  He at least seems like a kid at heart himself and sees the value in having a historic gargantuan toy company like TRU around for future generations, so although I'm doubting the effort will succeed as much as I'd love to be wrong about it, I don't doubt his overall sincerity aside from the obvious corporate gain having a brand like TRU under your control would be. 

 

It's been a saddening although interesting chain of events, seeing TRU go from what it was to what it is now and what it won't be much longer.  I haven't been to a TRU in a few years myself, but I did purchase a few things from them online over the years including a few amiibo back in February and ultimately a 'one last hurrah' order back in March so I feel like I've gotten some sense of 'closure' myself from the whole thing.   TRU was a big part of my childhood and I always enjoyed looking around the stores or even going through their catalogs, as overpriced as they were.  I think having brick-and-mortar toy stores are still important to have in today's landscape, and there's something to be said about actually walking around inside a store like that having a hands-on experience rather than just seeing a bunch of products displayed on a screen in front of you to choose from.  Ultimately, I'm not sure if stores like that will still be around in the future, but it's nice to know I've been part of a generation that's been able to experience that for themselves.

Link to comment

That's too bad. I wonder how far he is willing to go or if he will increase his bid. At least he tried. If I were him and a couldn't get TRU, I would honestly just start my own company and have some brick and mortar stores, maybe one in each state and take it from there. Easier said than done though obviously.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...