Poll of the Day > Nooooooooooooooo Toys R Us may file for bankruptcy soon

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-toys-r-us-bankruptcy/toys-r-us-preparing-for-possible-bankruptcy-filing-sources-idUKKCN1BR00K

apparently it's been a private company for 12 years?! That's something I didn't know and was definitely a dumb thing to do. Although it would probably still fail anyway because of Amazon, it definitely would've lasted longer
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Damn. I found my Switch there.

Well, there's one less alternative to Amazon for me for recent games. Also, yet another large store in my immediate area that will likely close and give the once-nice part of town an even shittier appearance. <_<
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I don't think I've been inside a Toys R Us since I bought Final Fantasy 3 (US/SNES) in 1995.


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good riddance, they way overprice shit, selling 4 dollar booster packs for 6-7 dollars lmao
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Not surprised, I have been there a few times and their stores are just depressing nowadays. Like one step above K-Mart depressing.

Trying to think what the last thing I bought there was. I think it was some amiibo. I was tempted to get Epic Mickey since they had a bin of like 100 copies there, but I didn't bother. I should go back and see if they still have some, I could probably get it dirt cheap by now.

Toys %u2018R%u2019 Us opened a store in New York City%u2019s Times Square this year to capture more holiday shoppers.

"Hey guys, we have over $6 billion in debt, what should we do?"

"Open a new store in one of the most expensive markets in the world"

"Brilliant!"

"Brilliant!"
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Sad but not very surprising. The only time I've given them business in recent memory is when I've purchased the games they put on clearance.
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I had so many memories there u_____u
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Had some memories when I was a kid but it was all destroyed when I worked there. Started off nicely and then it slowly went down hill. Now I just consider it a backwater business. Would never work there again and I am surprised it took this long to go bankrupt.
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The closest one to me is 30 minutes away, and I maybe go there once every 5-10 years. It sucks that all we will have left is Walmart and Amazon....
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

The closest one to me is 30 minutes away, and I maybe go there once every 5-10 years. It sucks that all we will have left is Walmart and Amazon....

exactly, and it's fuckin depressing
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

The closest one to me is 30 minutes away, and I maybe go there once every 5-10 years. It sucks that all we will have left is Walmart and Amazon....

Target is still around. I believe they're doing fine.
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I used to play pokemon card tournaments there on Saturdays
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LaLiLuLeLoSnake posted...

TheCyborgNinja posted...

The closest one to me is 30 minutes away, and I maybe go there once every 5-10 years. It sucks that all we will have left is Walmart and Amazon....

Target is still around. I believe they're doing fine.

In general, I think they are, but the Target closest to me is rather bad. The cleanliness is subpar, the items are barely stocked up (and don't get me started on how much is out of date), it attracts the ghetto side of town, and the outdoor smoking area is both too close to the entrance and upwind of the bicycle parking area (the only bike parking in the whole shopping center). The next closest one is so much better, but it's a two hour investment out of my day if I decide to go there. :-/
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Man, I love visiting there around Christmas time. The one nearby has got a lot of neat stuff that time of year.
And when I was a kid, I remember getting my first bike from there.
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I'm surprised Toys R Us haven't closed the stores in the UK as it's overpriced and my local store is scruffy. Smyths Toys Superstores are a lot better and the prices are quite reasonable for games.
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I have nothing personally against Toys R Us, but I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. I see more kids with smartphones these days than I do with toys.
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I got my switch there too, and I occasionally find transformers I can't get elsewhere from there, boo.

That's what they get for charging 10% more for Legos.
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mastermix3000 posted...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-toys-r-us-bankruptcy/toys-r-us-preparing-for-possible-bankruptcy-filing-sources-idUKKCN1BR00K

apparently it's been a private company for 12 years?! That's something I didn't know and was definitely a dumb thing to do. Although it would probably still fail anyway because of Amazon, it definitely would've lasted longer

That's too bad. I have lots of memories from my local Toys R Us in Sweden.

DarkKirby2500 posted...

I have nothing personally against Toys R Us, but I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. I see more kids with smartphones these days than I do with toys.

Why not both?
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Don't panic too much yet, guys. Kmart has filed for bankruptcy lots of times and they're still around. Toys R Us is more awesome than Kmart will ever be. They can't leave us.

My mom never took me there so I had no memories of it

Only time I have been to one in recent memory, was 6 years ago when I first got my 3DS, due to games being buy-one-get-one-half off on launch day.

I miss the good old days of Toys R Us when you had to take a piece of sheet paper to the checkout to even get a videogame.

These days, Toys R Us still goes overboard with prices for movie action figures like the NECA Terminator stuff. Same thing with the Ghostbusters action figures such as the Library ghost from the original Ghostbusters.

I worked there 20 years ago. I remember when WalMart surpassed them as being the biggest toy store. Their baby section (formula, diapers, strollers, clothes, etc.) really started being their main driver for profits and when they spun that off into Babies R Us, the TRU part really went downhill. I'm surprised the TRU stores, or Geoffrey's or whatever, didn't fold at least a decade ago.
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I have good memories from TRU. My local store used to keep all of their NES games locked up in a cage at the front, and you had to bring a ticket up to it from the video game section to get what you wanted. That practice persisted into the PS1 era, and the last game I bought from them that way was Xenogears. It was the only copy of it they had, and it had been languishing there for years without anyone realizing what it was. Good times.
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Physical retail is dying. This is not a surprise. Why would I want to get in my car, spend my gas to drive to a store, and pay higher prices, when I can just click and have it delivered to my door?

And with Same Day delivery becoming more and more common, and Amazon Drone delivery on the horizon, this is the future folks.

While I don't often shop there, the expectancy deeply disappoints me. It carries a lot of things other retailers don't and, tbh, I often like seeing things before I buy.

mastermix3000 posted...

apparently it's been a private company for 12 years?! That's something I didn't know and was definitely a dumb thing to do.

Probably ran into problems which forced that.

TheCyborgNinja posted...

The closest one to me is 30 minutes away, and I maybe go there once every 5-10 years. It sucks that all we will have left is Walmart and Amazon....

My nearest one is also a drive and doesn't have *that* much in the area... well, except a mall. But when I'm visiting a mall, I don't feel like stopping at TRU.

That said, last TRU I stopped in was actually within the past month when I stopped in the White Plains one which, like most other things in White Plains, was disappointing.

TheSlinja posted...

good riddance, they way overprice shit, selling 4 dollar booster packs for 6-7 dollars lmao

Probably one of the reasons they've been faltering.

Action53 posted...

I used to play pokemon card tournaments there on Saturdays

Also did that for a while.
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Meh, I don't even care.
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"I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid."

Well, kid, our lease is too high, online competition is slaying us and we can't keep up. Geoffrey is bleeding out, the poor giraffe.
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I hope it stays around. Physical toy stores have some important advantages over Amazon. One, it's easier to browse when you're trying to find a gift, but aren't sure what they might like. Two, it's good for kids to see what toys they like. Young kids aren't going to be able to easily search for toys online.
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I haven't had much to do with Toys R Us in a while. I last went there last December while searching for what my brother wanted for Christmas, but no luck.

I admit I have memories of shopping there - still remember the paper slip you bring to the cashier, pay for the game, then pick it up nearby...that's how I got certain games for the NES and SNES back in the day.
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Golden Road posted...

I hope it stays around. Physical toy stores have some important advantages over Amazon. One, it's easier to browse when you're trying to find a gift, but aren't sure what they might like. Two, it's good for kids to see what toys they like. Young kids aren't going to be able to easily search for toys online.

When I was a kid, a visit to Toys R Us was absolutely magical. Fuck a Walmart or Target, even KayBee Toys wasn't this good. The entrance to the store was unlike anything else, and when you got in, toys on every aisle. All the new video games, with those flip-up laminated preview things and the paper slips, and playable kiosks. Power Rangers, Legos as far as the eye can see, trading card booster packs... Man, I'll be pissed if it ends up dying.

Golden Road posted...

I hope it stays around. Physical toy stores have some important advantages over Amazon. One, it's easier to browse when you're trying to find a gift, but aren't sure what they might like. Two, it's good for kids to see what toys they like. Young kids aren't going to be able to easily search for toys online.

Well, you still have Target and Wal-Mart. In general, I like retail because they have better return policies.

WarGreymon77 posted...

Golden Road posted...

I hope it stays around. Physical toy stores have some important advantages over Amazon. One, it's easier to browse when you're trying to find a gift, but aren't sure what they might like. Two, it's good for kids to see what toys they like. Young kids aren't going to be able to easily search for toys online.

When I was a kid, a visit to Toys R Us was absolutely magical. Fuck a Walmart or Target, even KayBee Toys wasn't this good. The entrance to the store was unlike anything else, and when you got in, toys on every aisle. All the new video games, with those flip-up laminated preview things and the paper slips, and playable kiosks. Power Rangers, Legos as far as the eye can see, trading card booster packs, fully assembled jungle gyms and playhouses right there in the store, I got all of my WWF Titan Tron Live action figures there... Man, I'll be pissed if it ends up dying.

After KB died, TRU gradually became the new KB. And now it might share KB's fate.

I liked KB, though. Bought a lot of stuff there over the years. Including this really cool Big Duo figure which used to sit on my desk until I knocked the damn thing over and broke some of its propeller fingers. Still a bit sad over that. I also should have considered trying to get one of those super-high-priced ones a few years back.
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KB is where I got my PS2*, Digimon World*, and my Deluxe Megazord toys.

* On both occasions, they were sold out in literally every other store in the mall. Appropriately, both occasions happened in 2000.

Bummer.. Can't imagine what a future looks like toystoreless...

The way things are going, any store will be a thing of the past that you'll tell your grandkids about..

I feel bad for the employees, they've always been nice to me at my local store whether I was returning something or lining up for Amiibos..

Yeah, they upcharged, but most of the time you could find what you were after :(
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