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[rip] Toys R Us

polgara said:
Greetings, Lutherf. :2wave:

We have a new addition to the family that just turned age one last month, and her mom has already hinted she will doubtless want a toy car to drive one day in a year or two, and that it really should be a Corvette! Uh huh, okay, that's cool, but Toys R Us has been the only toy store around here that ever offered them for sale, and they are the stores that are going to close! However the "mom" mentioned above remembered that she got one from Santa when she was a toddler, so she's going to do some checking. Now there have been jeeps and other battery-powered ride-ons for sale for years, but to my knowledge only T.R.U. ever offered a 'vette, even though they only go about two miles an hour or less - like everything else battery-powered for kids, but everyone loves those Corvettes! :mrgreen: The boy toddlers in Texas have ride-on jeeps.

Question: Do I buy it now, if they still carry them, since T.R.U sounds like it's closing all its stores in the US, and store it, or do I take a chance and wait to see if someone may sell them in the future? Decisions, decisions! :thumbdown:
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I remember being a kid and there used to be a contest or something where you got to go to Toys R Us and you got a cart and like a minute or two to just grab whatever you wanted. I always dreamed of winning that but never got even close.

I'm not surprised, those stores have been dead and closed a couple around here. Last time I went a couple months ago when my daughter got a gift card there, I found it overpriced compared to another stores.
 
Lutherf said:
On the flip side, I don't know how it is elsewhere but in Tucson we have a few really cool local toy stores that carry creative, quality stuff. I stopped going to KB years ago and never was much on Toys R Us. I absolutely love the little places we have here. They remind me of when I was a kid and the owners can actually give me great ideas for gifts.
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There's a little toy shop at a flea market here that I like to buy from. The guy who runs it always has interesting games and toys and insists you sit down and play it with him before you buy it.
 
americanwoman said:
I remember being a kid and there used to be a contest or something where you got to go to Toys R Us and you got a cart and like a minute or two to just grab whatever you wanted. I always dreamed of winning that but never got even close.
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I remember that!
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Per reports mostly because they were loaded up with unmanageable debt by hedge funds, which meant as was with case with Sears and Kmart there was no money to invest into the stores to fend off Amazon and Walmart and the like. Taking the kids to Toys R Us was such a big thing for us over the years, it was great fun, it is a real shame that future kids will never know this experience. The worst part is that this did not have to happen, this was caused primarily by greed and incompetence.

Word is that Sears and Kmart are next...this summer or at the latest after Christmas....same sort of thing, great companies run into the ground by those who own them.

After that JCP, the stock is down to $3, pretty clearly they have too much debt and too little rev to make it.
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It's time kids grow up and stop playing with toys anyway. We have serious matters going on in the world. :mrgreen:
 
americanwoman said:
I remember being a kid and there used to be a contest or something where you got to go to Toys R Us and you got a cart and like a minute or two to just grab whatever you wanted. I always dreamed of winning that but never got even close.

I'm not surprised, those stores have been dead and closed a couple around here. Last time I went a couple months ago when my daughter got a gift card there, I found it overpriced compared to another stores.
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You must be kidding, I didn't know. :lol:
 
Captain Adverse said:
I would love to see a return of the small local stores, where people try to give good service and develop a relationship with the community.

Wall-mart and the like has destroyed those in every small-town community area they build in. But those places were great to shop in and added local flavor to the economy.
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I agree...sadly it's not this kind of store that has unseated Toys R Us, and I doubt they will see a ton of growth as a result of this. Rather, Amazon will absorb the market share, having taken so much of it already. Their prices are better, they're convenient, they have better selection, they're usually in stock, and they've become pretty reliable in terms of shipping expectations. Small stores can't keep up with any of that.

There are a few smaller stores in the area that sell toys, and I like popping in, sometimes you can find some unique stuff - usually more catered to an adult audience, either for themselves or for giving their kids a taste of the kind of toys they had when they were kids themselves. But the prices in those places make it impossible for most of us to do a "whole shop" there at Christmas time. This past Christmas I got all my little guys toys from Amazon, and it was a fantastic experience....like, not just the shopping, but the overall impact on the entire holiday - I HATE going out shopping in all that insanity.

So, I don't think that we're going to see a rebirth of the small toy store, as cool as that would be. This seems to be just the continued impact of online shopping on brick and mortar retail locations, and I think most of the remaining big box stores should be coming up with ways to reduce their physical footprint (and therefore their overhead) and fall back a lot heavier on online shopping solutions if they want to avoid the same fate.
 
vesper said:
Here in Central Ohio ToysRUs and BabiesRUS have been closing stores for years. We were down to two ToysRUs and two BabiesRUs . One on the Eastside of Columbus and the other was North at Polaris in Lewis Center. But both stores seem to do a good amount of business online.

I look at online shopping the replacement of the mail catalog. J.C. Penney, Sears, Montgomery Ward, .....when I was young, and even my kids looked through the catalogs and made their wish lists for Christmas. Now the grandkids check things out online. I don't think online shopping will ever take the place of brick and mortar for clothing, shoes, jewelry, even perfumes, makeup, furniture, decorative accessories as a picture is just not the same as trying something on, smelling it firsthand, and visually seeing certain products in person. But some toy advertised during Saturday morning cartoons a kid thinks he has to have, yeah online is great for that one.
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Unfortunately, that is not always true. One can still "browse" at the brick and mortar stores, even pick the brains of their knowledgable staff, and then go online to actually buy - beating their price on that specific item.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Unfortunately, that is not always true. One can still "browse" at the brick and mortar stores, even pick the brains of their knowledgable staff, and then go online to actually buy - beating their price on that specific item.
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I have done that only once and I felt like I was stealing. I have seen shoppers in stores scan the barcode and comparison shop right in the aisles from their phones. Brazen, I tell ya! I was in the market for a digital camera before phone cameras became the norm and the service was so good that I bought right then and there. Fit of conscience, cost me a bit more, but I could live with myself.........
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Unfortunately, that is not always true. One can still "browse" at the brick and mortar stores, even pick the brains of their knowledgable staff, and then go online to actually buy - beating their price on that specific item.
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You make a good point but I doubt many once they have taken the time to find what they want, in the size, color, etc. are going to leave the store without purchasing it over a few dollars. I think online shopping is great for certain items but you always take a risk purchasing something sight unseen. And if it is flawed, dealing with returns can be a headache.
 
Rexedgar said:
I have done that only once and I felt like I was stealing. I have seen shoppers in stores scan the barcode and comparison shop right in the aisles from their phones. Brazen, I tell ya! I was in the market for a digital camera before phone cameras became the norm and the service was so good that I bought right then and there. Fit of conscience, cost me a bit more, but i could live with myself.........
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It is not stealing unless you don't offer that store the option of meeting another place's price - I always do that and often get it. That saves me time and the only price difference (vs. online) is that I must pay the additional 8.25% sales tax but I don't have to await delivery.

My favorite are places (like Lowe's) that offer price matching and an additional (10%?) discount if you find another store offing exactly the same item for less. To help defeat this, some producers are offering "sub brands" (divisions?) that are sold mainly (exclusively?) at only one big box store. MTD makes (at least) Cub Cadet, Troy-Bilt, Yard Machines, and Bolens lawn mowers.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Per reports mostly because they were loaded up with unmanageable debt by hedge funds, which meant as was with case with Sears and Kmart there was no money to invest into the stores to fend off Amazon and Walmart and the like. Taking the kids to Toys R Us was such a big thing for us over the years, it was great fun, it is a real shame that future kids will never know this experience. The worst part is that this did not have to happen, this was caused primarily by greed and incompetence.

Word is that Sears and Kmart are next...this summer or at the latest after Christmas....same sort of thing, great companies run into the ground by those who own them.

After that JCP, the stock is down to $3, pretty clearly they have too much debt and too little rev to make it.
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Most of these stores were flailing long before failing, certainly since the 80's.
 
UtahBill said:
Most of these stores were flailing long before failing, certainly since the 80's.
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In retail one must keep up with the customers, those who dont fail.

But then these owners who do stuff like buy a chain and take debt for well over 90% of the purchase price like these hedge funds did with Toys R Us are never going to have the money to do that.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
In retail one must keep up with the customers, those who dont fail.

But then these owners who do stuff like buy a chain and take debt for well over 90% of the purchase price like these hedge funds did with Toys R Us are never going to have the money to do that.
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One of my neighbors was running a Ponzi scheme and 3 hedge fund managers got scammed for $15 million. They haven't filed charges since doing so will make their names public and they don't want that. He is in prison now, for the friends and family he ripped off.
 
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