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Toys ‘R’ Us Is Planning Bankruptcy Filing as Soon as Today

J

JJH

Member
Toys R Us definitely apart of my childhood, but having stepped in foot of a TRU recently I can see why they're going bankrupt.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
The last couple of times I've been to a TRU I get Walmart vibes. Dirty, messy, disorganized and not a lot of rhyme or reason to the layout. There was so much charm to the stores when I was a kid. Especially the games. I used to love the ticket system. Handing it to the dude in the counter at the front, having him walk back into what as a kid I imagined to be this wonderland of video games, and emerge with your game.
 
S

SeanC

Member
Inevitable, their stores haven't changed in decades. I was in one just recently after years and felt I was back in the 90s. As a nostalgia trip that was cool, but then I thought more as I looked around and it felt kind of sad. Just picked over aisles, messes everywhere, bad layout. Put in the same class of nostalgic fading memory as a Sears Holiday Catalog and Spencer's Gifts.
 
M

mas8705

Member
Don't know if this means that they are going to try and restructure themselves, or if all the Toys'R'Us are about to go the same way as all the Radioshacks.

Either way, this sucks...
 
UncleMeat

UncleMeat

Member
I remember going to Toys R Us as a wee lad when they were getting rid of Atari games for super cheap...I'm old.

Place was magical though in the late 80s and early 90s. RIP if they're done.
 
K

KDC720

Member
Having worked at one recently I can see why, store is dead most days, massive stacks of unsold merchandise in the backroom, hours constantly being cut, management pushing harder to get us to shill credit cards, our store was understaffed, and most of our managers jumped ship after the holdiays.

Got a bunch of amiibo on sale with an employee discount when I worked there so it wasn't all bad.
 
D

Demoncarnotaur

Member
I feel like Toys R Us will find a way to recover - it's the only major toy store in the US. It kinda needs to for the toy industry to properly survive.

Places like Target and Walmart are so shit with toys they don't count.
 
bengraven

bengraven

Member
Fucking terrible. Rediscovered the love of TRU lately when I started collecting action figures. Makes my week when I take the kid there and grab us some things.
 
C

Chie Satonaka

Member
As I said in the other thread, Toys R Us is special to me as both a former employee and as a customer. It's sad.

I just bought some amiibos from them like a month and a half ago too. :(

I really hope they find some sort of way to bounce back. Seeing the smiles on kids faces when they go in is just priceless. I love Amazon, but it's just not the same for toys.

People keep saying how disorganized it is, but we have a giant, gorgeous one here in my city, and it's always clean and well kept with good prices.
 
L

linkboy

Member
Chie Satonaka said:
As I said in the other thread, Toys R Us is special to me as both a former employee and as a customer. It's sad.

I just bought some amiibos from them like a month and a half ago too. :(

I really hope they find some sort of way to bounce back. Seeing the smiles on kids faces when they go in is just priceless. I love Amazon, but it's just not the same for toys.

People keep saying how disorganized it is, but we have a giant, gorgeous one here in my city, and it's always clean and well kept with good prices.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. I took my son to ours last summer and the look on his face when he saw all the toys was awesome.

I really hope the company doesn't fully go under.
 
S

SpecX

Member
This sucks, another blow to my childhood. I'll admit I don't bother going that often since most of them are dirty and disorganized nearby. I find they do much better with Babies R Us than the toy store by keeping it well kept up, clean, and shelves stocked.

I get it's a toy store and kids are going to pull stuff off the shelves, but you can't tell me you can't run a mop over that floor nightly and try to keep things relatively near the stocking location.
 
T

tbm24

Member
Man, it's a sad day when you realize your kid won't be a toys r us kid :(. Where do I buy her an electric Mercedes now? It's no fun if you can't go to the store and cause a mess having her try it out on the store floor.
 
H

Hesh

Member
I bought my first video game at the local Toys 'R Us when I was a kid. Rode my bike by myself to buy Mega Man 6 with my own money that I saved up. At least I'll always have that memory. :(
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Ninja Scooter said:
The last couple of times I've been to a TRU I get Walmart vibes. Dirty, messy, disorganized and not a lot of rhyme or reason to the layout. There was so much charm to the stores when I was a kid. Especially the games. I used to love the ticket system. Handing it to the dude in the counter at the front, having him walk back into what as a kid I imagined to be this wonderland of video games, and emerge with your game.
Click to expand...

Weird, the Walmart near me is super nice, clean, plenty of people both at registers and shopping. Shelves always neatly stocked.

The TRU on the other hand... dingy, outdated lighting, flooring that needs replacement, shelves not neatly stocked.
 
G

gabbo

Member
GamerJM said:
RIP

On the plus side maybe they'll have fire sale deals?
Click to expand...

This is what I see as the only upside to this. Picking up some games at decent prices, since I don't do action figures anymore. Maybe some xmas gifts for younger family members.

I grew up loving the trip my parents would take to get to the Toys R Us(admittedly an hour for a ToysRUs is not worth it, as I would later learn just how far I was travelling) to wander around and look at 6" GI Joes and Transformers, and every action figure under the sun that I would dream of getting. The Video Game aisle/section was like mecca. I remember playing (I use the term loosely) Sewer Shark on a SegaCD the Hamilton store had set up in that section and it just... blew my mind. I had Geoffrey Giraffe colouring books and would sing the TRU jingle all the time. Sad day for capitalism-based childhood memories
 
D

Daingurse

Member
I'll always have great memories of getting Gundam Model kits and playing video-games on their kiosks. Think the last thing I got from Toy's R Us was a copy of Half-Life 2 in 2005 . . .

Black Republican said:
so i guess kids less than 5 wanting to play with apps on phones and tablets finally took a toll on business
Click to expand...

That, and kids getting physical toys mostly from Wal-Mart and Amazon nowadays.
 
RPGCrazied

RPGCrazied

Member
I remember buying Final Fantasy II SNES there.

I loved the ticket system. You go look at games with the flaps. Its like the front has the cover art, and the back is from the back of the box. I lived on that isle in my childhood.
 
F

Fancyarcher

Member
Definitely end of an era, but I knew it was coming sooner or later. I have so many good memories of going there though, getting things like Pokemon cards, gift cards, and toys and the likes. Online killed their approach however.
 
B

bionic77

Member
This blows.

My kids love going to Toyrus.

They still sell a lot of things locally that you can't at other stores.

Targets selection is really tiny in comparison and Walmart is always the worst.
 
B

Bii

Member
I have some Babies R Us gift cards. I can use them at Toys R Us, right? If so, I might go today or tomorrow just in case.
 
K

Kenai

Member
I do hope they stay open somehow (part of my childhood) but I will also admit that my mind is racing on getting some deals if they go through with the closures. When K.B Toys closed back in the day I nabbed quite a few prizes.
 
A

Autumn Wind

Member
I too loved KB Toys and Toys R Us when I was younger. Later on (and I feel like I just told this story) I worked at TRU at age 19. The in-store music in my store was SIX songs on repeat and they were poor knock-off versions at that. I ended up lasting three weeks and then walked in one day and resigned. If the music was better or had none at all, it would have been a decent job I feel.
 
.la1n

.la1n

Member
I'll always remember picking up a Nintendo 64 on launch day with the pre order ticket thing. Got all the way home and realized I needed an RF adapter. I also have fond memories of playing Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast for the first time there.
 
A

Alfredo

Member
It's sad to see toy stores go out like that. I miss going to the mall with my parents and abandoning them to hang out at KB Toys. A trip to Toys R Us was magical as a kid.
 
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