Toys R Us Is Closing All Its U.S Stores

harbingerofdoom said:
while i agree with the general idea of your post... you clearly have not been to the toys r us near me.
there is no reason to go to your local big box when
  • They do NOT have good service, in fact they have horribly rude people who consistently do not care about their jobs and go out of their way to be rude at times
  • they are not really a local business... your dollars spent there do not stay local (maybe the local salaries but you know what i mean on that)
  • the local people being employed there can get a job in several other horrible places where they can insult their customers and make just as much money (mcdonalds?)
this is not going to be the average for every toys r us, but there is no reason for me to spend more money there as opposed to .... well ... anywhere else on the face of the earth.
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I had good experience there. I remember one time my wallet fell out of my pocket in the car before I went in the store. When I made it to checkout and couldn't find my wallet, the manager used his discression and let me have the toys for free. I didn't even ask. It was only $10. But they don't like seeing crying kids. I went back the next day and gave him a $20 and made my kids write him a thank you note.

But I live in Pennsyltucky. I notice there's a different level in service between states. Maryland associates at home depot give you the "WTF are you bothering me for?" Up here they will walk you to the isle and show it to you.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Nothing personal, but then you shouldn't have had kids. They can be messy if no one told you. And those "toys" encourage tactile input and fine motor control as well as creative thinking (legos) and spacial perception which encourage mental development. Crayons, markers and other toys are also essential. Simple concepts like gravity can be learned from blocks. My son designs transforming robots with his legos which teaches concepts like balance/center of gravity, and joints.

What you do is you make it a responsibility for them to pick up after themselves AFTER A CERTAIN AGE. If they fail to do it, you tell them it's going in the trash. If they fail to act, trash it in front of them. Give them a time period like a day. Do NOT say "Do it NOW!" They will learn quickly enough.

Not that I'm a perfect parent. It's a learning process. But there are more important things than a neat house when you have kids.

As the old joke goes:
"Burgler 1: Lets rob that house!"
"Burgler 2: Nah. He has kids, all the good shit is already broken."
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It's personal anytime you tell someone they shouldn't have kids.

My kids adore me, they look forward to seeing me everyday, and most nights will run to the door to let me in and hug me and butter me up on their own initiative. I feel the same about them. I used to be called jungle gym jon at church because all the kids liked me and wanted to hang on me and interact. I've worked with youth, ever since my youth. I like kids, I love my own kids, and believe my kids are the best thing that's happened to me.

I don't voice these complaints to my kids, You don't know me, or my parenting abilities, or my love for kids. Don't pretend to! Your post saying "nothing personal, but you shouldn't have kids" is jackassery.

I had friends who always had a messy house growing up, and my own house growing up was messy. In contrast, I also had a friend who's parents kept a rule that there were no toys in the living room, but they could have toys in their other rooms. As I was growing up I always respected that household --- even as a kid and realized that rule made for a 'put together' house...and it was run by put together parents. I have a 3,200 square foot, 5 bedroom house. The living room isn't the only place available for them to play, and so I personally don't think there is ANY reason the kids need to have that many toys in the living room. They can put their toys in any other room in the house and play there (and they do!)

I don't think it's too much to desire to have the living room and perhaps even the kitchen toy free - so the house can not feel like a hurricane just rolled through when I come home from a long stressful day at work. (my wife is a stay at home mom - who's really good with the kids too). Feeling like I'd like a small level of compartmentalized order in my life with four young kids, DOESN'T make me, or anyone else, a bad dad.
 
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Archaea said:
It's personal anytime you tell someone they shouldn't have kids.

My kids adore me, they look forward to seeing me everyday, and most nights will run to the door to let me in and hug me and butter me up on their own initiative. I feel the same about them. I used to be called jungle gym jon at church because all the kids liked me and wanted to hang on me and interact. I've worked with youth, ever since my youth. I like kids, I love my own kids, and believe my kids are the best thing that's happened to me.

I don't voice these complaints to my kids, You don't know me, or my parenting abilities, or my love for kids. Don't pretend to! Your post saying "nothing personal, but you shouldn't have kids" is jackassery.

I had friends who always had a messy house growing up, and my own house growing up was messy. In contrast, I also had a friend who's parents kept a rule that there were no toys in the living room, but they could have toys in their other rooms. As I was growing up I always respected that household --- even as a kid and realized that rule made for a 'put together' house...and it was run by put together parents. I have a 3,200 square foot, 5 bedroom house. The living room isn't the only place available for them to play, and so I personally don't think there is ANY reason the kids need to have that many toys in the living room. They can put their toys in any other room in the house and play there (and they do!)

I don't think it's too much to desire to have the living room and perhaps even the kitchen toy free - so the house can not feel like a hurricane just rolled through when I come home from a long stressful day at work. (my wife is a stay at home mom - who's really good with the kids too). Feeling like I'd like a small level of compartmentalized order in my life with four young kids, DOESN'T make me, or anyone else, a bad dad.
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That is your right. But I think you have unreasonable expectations. You're statement "The less of those plastic toys" the better statement says it all. You're putting YOUR expectations of a happy home on YOUR kids. Again that is your right. But it doesn't mean it's entirely reasonable. And I live under very similar circumstances to you with kids that are just as happy. And when they aren't in the family room or back yard where I can keep an eye on them, I go looking for them to make sure they are not in trouble. I help with cubscouts. And I volunteer, and my wife is stay at home like yours, and I STILL come home after a full work week as a chief engineer and sometimes cleanup or cook. Every night I read a book to my youngest and tuck them both in. I realize if I want a nice home, it's partly my responsibility. That includes dishes, gardening maintenance, etc...

Basically if the room isn't up to your standards, do something about it yourself until the kids are old enough to start helping.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
That is your right. But I think you have unreasonable expectations. You're statement "The less of those plastic toys" the better statement says it all. You're putting YOUR expectations off a happy home on YOUR kids. Again that is your right. But it doesn't mean it's entirely reasonable. And I live under very similar circumstances to you with kids that are just as happy. And when they aren't in the family room or back yard where I can keep an eye on them, I go looking for them to make sure they are not in trouble. I help with cubscouts. And I volunteer, and my wife is stay at home like yours, and I STILL come home after a full work week as a chief engineer and sometimes cleanup or cook. Every night I read a book to my youngest and tuck them both in. I realize if I want a nice home, it's partly my responsibility. That includes dishes, gardening maintenance, etc...

Basically if the room isn't up to your standards, do something about it yourself until the kids are old enough to start helping.
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TOYS DON'T MAKE HAPPINESS.

I'm not going to argue against your pre-conceived notions further. You assume I don't help around the house, you assume I don't read to my children, you assume I don't cook or cleanup. Why? Of course I do those things.
 
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Archaea said:
TOYS DON'T MAKE HAPPINESS.
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Maybe not for you. But for a kid, they create entertainment and learning. Are they a necessity? No. Do they substitute for a stable healthy home? No. Do they entertain a child? Yes. Or I guess I was imagining chassing my two youngest around with mini lego star wars figs in a tie fighter, millennium falcon and x wing last night. I'm constantly stepping on legos and covering up wall marks. but considering the alternative, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

And a little picking up shouldn't bother you then. It's just one of those things you accept as a parent.
 
kju1 said:
Uh what? No they failed to keep up with the times. They made very little (too little too late) investment in having better stores or better employees. Did you even read the article?

"It doesn’t offer the low prices or convenience of some of its larger competitors, nor the fun-filled experience that many smaller outfits do, some analysts have said."
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That's what the article says because it fits the boo-hoo times are changing narrative.

The reason they are closing is because they were profitable enough to cover their debt payments, or cover their operating costs, but not both. The only reason they are shutting their doors is because of the leveraged buyout in 2005 saddled them with a shit ton of debt. An unrealistic level of debt for a company facing a contracting market. On top of that the investment groups that forced the buyout took huge paychecks before either of those two business responsibilities were serviced. Toys R Us's losses were down to 36 million in 2017. That's after operating expenses and basically half a billion in debt repayment for the year. When they were bought out, they had 2.2 billion cash on hand, and 2.3 billion of debt and were operating at a net profit. They'd still be operating at a net profit today if not for the leverage buyout.

IMO leveraged buy outs should be banned outside of bankruptcy restructuring.
 
harbingerofdoom said:
while i agree with the general idea of your post... you clearly have not been to the toys r us near me.
there is no reason to go to your local big box when
  • They do NOT have good service, in fact they have horribly rude people who consistently do not care about their jobs and go out of their way to be rude at times
  • they are not really a local business... your dollars spent there do not stay local (maybe the local salaries but you know what i mean on that)
  • the local people being employed there can get a job in several other horrible places where they can insult their customers and make just as much money (mcdonalds?)
this is not going to be the average for every toys r us, but there is no reason for me to spend more money there as opposed to .... well ... anywhere else on the face of the earth.
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Hi Harbinger, you get what I was trying to say. I wasn't speaking of only Toys R Us. I'm speaking of any local business that gives great service and offers products at a fair price. I was in a New Balance store and the sales reps were fantastic. I mean the lady must have spent 30 minutes with me, working to find good shoes for my problem feet. Yep. 160 bucks for shoes and 40 for insoles. Walked out of the store happy.

I did some price checking online for what I purchased at the store and everything was within a few bucks. Fair enough.

They tell me they get people come in, they spend 30 minutes with and the person whips out their phone and tries to jack down the price comparing online pricing. Threatens to buy them online. THAT is what I despise.
 
Nukester said:
They tell me they get people come in, they spend 30 minutes with and the person whips out their phone and tries to jack down the price comparing online pricing. Threatens to buy them online. THAT is what I despise.
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ugh. you want it now? you PAY for now. you wanna save money? buy from the cheaper place that has to ship. i agree- i hate those people
 
Prisoner849 said:
Surprised China didn't buy them out, what with TrU being essentially a Chinese product retailer anyhow. Maybe Walmart can pick up the slack.
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And become a shithole that Walmart is? No thanks, don't need any more Walmart presence. While I don't miss TrU as a company, it's sad to see them go as they are a great place to let kids actually see the toys. While their prices are higher, they are not that much worse and IMO having kids being able to get hands on the toys is worth it. They also happen to be the last real toy store in the area which is going to be gone now.
 
Many awesome memories with toyrus. Used to go there like every other day when i was a kid. Star wars and gi joe figures and again when I noticed them re launching the new star wars action figures after years of none.. and the video games!

Sad that my kids won't grow up and experience the same with there kids!


I guess parents now a days don't wana go out of that way to buy toys.. there fine with going to wallmark,meijers and target as there stuff there for them as well.
 
Riptide_NVN said:
Meh. They had a good run I suppose.

If Amazon gets to a certain point - could they be broken up due to monopoly status?
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In the case of TrU, you guys are giving Amazon too much credit. They have been in trouble for a very long time, mainly because Walmart (and to a lesser extent Target) were pounding them into the ground. Amazon might have been the final straw, but even if Amazon weren’t around, Walmart and Target were going to eventually kill TrU.
 
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oldmanbal said:
Years ago when my son was much younger (2-3yo) I went into ToysRus after having not shopped their in a decade, and was smashed over the face with the fact that every single item for sale is either from china, korea, or a similar region. THE ENTIRE STORE. The only thing that wasn't made in china were some (actual) wooden block type assorted shape toys for infants made in Holland or something. While the actual business might be syphoning some cash off the top from markup, I realized that ToysRus exists merely as a means for Americans to pump money straight into China. That was the last time I entered the store willingly. Ever since then I let my sons grandmother take him shopping there when she feels like spoiling him on some trivial plastic crap. She took him there this week, to celebrate the closing of the store and bought him some plug in hdmi joystock box shaped like pac man that can play a dozen or so pac man games on the big screen (stupid thing needs 4 AA batteries instead of just plugging in) and I was reminded of the crapfest I had forsaken. sitting right next to his new 'toy' is his tablet/laptop/smartphone with every emulator, the ability to stream directly to the TV, and assorted bluetooth controllers, joysticks, adapters that he could already play all of those games, in much higher fidelity, with better quality equipment. I can see China sitting in the corner with a shit eating grin.
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The government does not seem to care about jobs until it affect their ability to go to war. All these toy finally affected chinas ability to go to war enough for USA's government to care.
 
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DigitalGriffin said:
Nothing personal, but then you shouldn't have had kids. They can be messy if no one told you. And those "toys" encourage tactile input and fine motor control as well as creative thinking (legos) and spacial perception which encourage mental development. Crayons, markers and other toys are also essential. Simple concepts like gravity can be learned from blocks. My son designs transforming robots with his legos which teaches concepts like balance/center of gravity, and joints.

What you do is you make it a responsibility for them to pick up after themselves AFTER A CERTAIN AGE. If they fail to do it, you tell them it's going in the trash. If they fail to act, trash it in front of them. Give them a time period like a day. Do NOT say "Do it NOW!" They will learn quickly enough.

Not that I'm a perfect parent. It's a learning process. But there are more important things than a neat house when you have kids.

As the old joke goes:
"Burgler 1: Lets rob that house!"
"Burgler 2: Nah. He has kids, all the good shit is already broken."
Click to expand...


This here is a very asshole post.

First off telling somebody that if they don't spent X amount of piles of toys that they are a bad parent and don't deserve to be a parent is terrible toward him and also just you trying to reflect your own parenting on others. Kind of funny how you tell him that he is a fucking worthless parent that should have his kids taken away from him but that you aren't the perfect parent. Seems like that if you are saying that his parenting skills are on par with child abuse and causing serious mental, physical and emotional damage to his kids that will scare them for your while your kids are being raised in the perfect way with zero damage to them. After all unless he spends $1000 a week at toy stores he isn't allowing his kids minds to develop.

Please explain why a child needs $30,000+ worth of legos vs 2 or 3 kits?

Why does a child need 500+ American girls dolls vs a few dolls?

Why do they need over 10000 match box cars vs a small carry case of 20 or whatever fits in it?

Please explain how the parent with the screaming kid that runs through a store throwing a tantrum until they get everything they want is the better parent than the one that has a child that is behaved and knows they can't have every thing they want and will only ask once?
 
FWIW...as a child, going to Toys R Us was a great experience and those trips are some of my cherished memories. I still recall, vividly, pulling down a copy of PanzerBlitz from a shelf. Yeah, that showed up at Christmas. Thanks, Mom. (This was back in the day when the only Christmas list fodder was getting the Christmas editions of the JC Penney and Sears catalogues and circling the items you dreamed Santa Claus would bring.)

Later, when I had children of my own, I was able to travel. I'd find toys in London and Frankfurt and other places and bring them home. They were unique, different, and well-made. Toys R Us, however, had begun to slide. They had more and more knockoff crap. The quality was dropping...substantially. I eventually noticed a similar trend overseas.

I cannot place a date on it, but it seems that now there is no differentiation of product. Every toy store is stuffed with the same cheap crap. Yes, I'm looking at you, China.

Toys R Us filled their shelves with more of that garbage and less of the standout, unique, well-made items. Nothing but plastic.
 
Nukester said:
Because people are go fucking stuck in best prices verses getting good service and keeping local people employed. I do not price shop a good store where I get excellent service, then go buy on Amazon. I support local businesses.
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I've never once gotten "good service" out of a toys r us. Further no amount of service is ever worth paying nearly double in some cases. I support local businesses, a major chain that was responsible for crushing uncounted local businesses is not one. Your ire and support are misguided.
 
The last thing I bought there was either a Spawn action figure or Chrono Trigger for the SNES which I had to take a ticket up to the front where some guy was in this bunker who gave me the game.
 
Yup be cool to recreate that video game booth! Be easy if you had a large video game collection. Just add the window where you hand over the ticket.
 
I can remember going to toysrus with my friend behind me's family often. When is find a star wars figure I wanted badly I'd hide it to come back for it later on.

Tuck it under the isle shelf frame! Haha

No doubt when they moved that long isle I bet they found a very old star wars figure I may of forgotten about!
 
Also the local toysrus has an employee thst I remember when i was my son's age (9) and I'm 45..and I can't believe he still works at the store all these years later.. I've never said anything to him but I hope I get a chance to talk to him and let him know before they close down.

Always wanted to say something but chicken out as i feel it may be arkward.. but I'll regrett it if I dont.
 
Exavior said:
This here is a very asshole post.

First off telling somebody that if they don't spent X amount of piles of toys that they are a bad parent and don't deserve to be a parent is terrible toward him and also just you trying to reflect your own parenting on others. Kind of funny how you tell him that he is a fucking worthless parent that should have his kids taken away from him but that you aren't the perfect parent. Seems like that if you are saying that his parenting skills are on par with child abuse and causing serious mental, physical and emotional damage to his kids that will scare them for your while your kids are being raised in the perfect way with zero damage to them. After all unless he spends $1000 a week at toy stores he isn't allowing his kids minds to develop.

Please explain why a child needs $30,000+ worth of legos vs 2 or 3 kits?

Why does a child need 500+ American girls dolls vs a few dolls?

Why do they need over 10000 match box cars vs a small carry case of 20 or whatever fits in it?

Please explain how the parent with the screaming kid that runs through a store throwing a tantrum until they get everything they want is the better parent than the one that has a child that is behaved and knows they can't have every thing they want and will only ask once?
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I'm not going to get into this. Yes iIwas n asshole. I will own up to that. But I never claimed any kid needs 10,000 toys. But his view is as equally shellfish. He's putting unreasonable expectations on kids to not want to play in the best room in the house. He didn't want any toys in there ever. Just because he had a stressful day at work? Seriously? He was agitated with his relatives for getting them toys. Who does that? What kind of person gets angry with gifts. You should always be grateful as long as it is socially appropriate.

We all have stressful days and he's worried about his kids toys on the floor of "his room" (which with a 3700 SQ ft house you telling me he doesn't have a man cave). Well that's just pretty selfish on him. There are much bigger things to worry about then if your kids are making a mess while having fun in the living room.

Yes I was an asshole. But I call it the way I see it. At least you know where I stand. And I'm not going to reply any more no matter how much I get called out. I said my peace. I know I was an ass. And that's that.
 
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DigitalGriffin said:
I'm not going to get into this. Yes iIwas n asshole. I will own up to that. But I never claimed any kid needs 10,000 toys. But his view is as equally shellfish. He's putting unreasonable expectations on kids to not want to play in the best room in the house. He didn't want any toys in there ever. Just because he had a stressful day at work? Seriously? He was agitated with his relatives for getting them toys. Who does that? What kind of person gets angry with gifts. You should always be grateful as long as it is socially appropriate.

We all have stressful days and he's worried about his kids toys on the floor of "his room" (which with a 3700 SQ ft house you telling me he doesn't have a man cave). Well that's just pretty selfish on him. There are much bigger things to worry about then if your kids are making a mess while having fun in the living room.

Yes I was an asshole. But I call it the way I see it. At least you know where I stand. And I'm not going to reply any more no matter how much I get called out. I said my peace. I know I was an ass. And that's that.
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His never at any point told anyone that they should parent like him. He is more than welcome to parent like he wants that is legal. What he wants for his own house is fine. If he wants toys picked up or not in the common rooms of the house where they are trying to use, that is his house rules. Which is fine no matter what size his house is or if he has a man cave or not. Part of that comes down to them not teaching their kids at an early enough age that they need to keep things picked up when they are done with them as that wouldn't result in the entire house being a mine field of toys everywhere. However wanting toys picked up when finished being played with isn't an unreasonable desire for a parent.

As for getting angry with gifts, depends on the gift and if you told somebody not to buy certain things. Some times a kid wants something and you tell them no because you don't want to them to have it due to not being age appropriate or because of some other reason. If somebody knows that and buys it anyway, most normal people would be upset, especially when the person buys it just to spite you.
 
The two I know of in town are dumpy, are worn down, and have a smell in them. Prices appeared always expensive, but they did have a lot of different stuff for my nieces/nephews.
 
Not sure I'd call two stores a "comeback" but I do think there's still a place for a store like Toys R Us. The toy sections at Wal-Mart and Target are tiny and you can't really "window shop" on Amazon. There might not be a need for a dozen Toys R Us stores in every city, but I don't think 1-2 per state is a stretch.
 
Domingo said:
Not sure I'd call two stores a "comeback" but I do think there's still a place for a store like Toys R Us. The toy sections at Wal-Mart and Target are tiny and you can't really "window shop" on Amazon. There might not be a need for a dozen Toys R Us stores in every city, but I don't think 1-2 per state is a stretch.
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Window shopping was all it was good for. Even during the clearance sales, you could often times find the same item cheaper on Amazon. Unless they're going to actually compete, this is a waste of time and money.
 
Domingo said:
Not sure I'd call two stores a "comeback" but I do think there's still a place for a store like Toys R Us. The toy sections at Wal-Mart and Target are tiny and you can't really "window shop" on Amazon. There might not be a need for a dozen Toys R Us stores in every city, but I don't think 1-2 per state is a stretch.
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Depends on the size of the state but even that's a stretch imo. Unless people get unlazy and want more instant gratification when it comes to toys...I just don't see it working out in the long run for them. Too much inventory and markup that makes them less competitive. But hey I am a cheap asshole and prefer to buy it online and wait for it ;)
 
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