Toys "R" Us facts for kids
Logo used since 2007
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| Private | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded |
August 2021 (revival) |
| Founder | Charles Lazarus (original) WHP Global (revival) |
| Headquarters |
5 Wood Hollow Road Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ
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United States
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Number of locations
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1 store (451 stores inside Macy's) |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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| Owner |
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| Divisions |
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Toys "R" Us is a well-known American store that sells toys, clothes, and baby products. It is currently owned by a company called Tru Kids and other partners. The company first started in 1957, but its very first store opened in April 1948. Its main office is in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, near New York City.
Over time, big stores like Walmart and online shops like Amazon became very popular. This made it harder for Toys "R" Us to sell as many toys. The company also had a lot of debt, which means they owed a lot of money. Because of these problems, Toys "R" Us had to file for bankruptcy in 2017 and 2018. This led to all their stores in the U.S., UK, and Australia closing down. The last U.S. stores closed in 2021. However, Toys "R" Us stores in other parts of the world, like Asia and Africa, were not as affected. Some stores in Canada and parts of Europe were sold to other companies.
In August 2021, a company called WHP Global announced that Toys "R" Us would start opening over 400 small shops inside Macy's department stores in 2022. The main Toys "R" Us store is now located in New Jersey at the American Dream shopping and entertainment center.
Contents
The Story of Toys "R" Us
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How Toys "R" Us Started
In April 1948, a person named Charles Lazarus started a store called Children's Bargain Town in Washington, D.C.. It sold furniture for babies. This was during a time when many babies were being born after World War II. In 1966, another company bought Children's Bargain Town.
In June 1957, the store changed its focus. Charles Lazarus opened the very first Toys "R" Us store in Rockville, Maryland. This new store sold only toys, not furniture. Lazarus also designed the famous Toys "R" Us logo. It has a backwards "R" to make it look like a child wrote it. The store chain became very popular. It was well-known to many children who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. Toys "R" Us was successful with popular toys like action figures (Star Wars, GI Joe), dolls (Cabbage Patch Kids), and video games (Nintendo, SEGA).
Toys "R" Us in the 21st Century
In May 2000, John Eyler became the CEO of Toys "R" Us. He planned to update and relaunch the stores. Toys "R" Us faced tough competition from big stores like Walmart and Target. Because of this, the company thought about separating its toy and baby businesses.
In March 2005, a group of companies bought Toys "R" Us for a lot of money. This made Toys "R" Us a privately owned company. It meant its stock was no longer traded on the public market.
In December 2013, just before Christmas, Toys "R" Us announced that its U.S. stores would stay open for 87 hours straight. The main store in Times Square, New York, was open 24 hours a day from December 1 to 24. This was to help tourists and shoppers. The company also hired 45,000 extra workers for the holiday season. More than 40% of the company's sales happen in the last three months of the year because of holidays.
In 2014, Toys "R" Us started a plan called "TRU Transformation." They wanted to make stores less messy and improve how customers shopped. They also worked on clearer prices and better ways to connect their stores with their online business. In 2015, they opened a new type of store called the "Toy Lab" in Freehold, New Jersey. These new stores had more space for playing with toys before buying them. This idea was later used in stores in other states like California and New York.
Why Toys "R" Us Faced Bankruptcy
On September 18, 2017, Toys "R" Us, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This is a legal process that allows a company to reorganize its business when it has a lot of debt. The company said this would help them manage their large debt and get money to pay suppliers for the upcoming holiday season. They also wanted to invest in making their stores better. Toys "R" Us had not made a yearly profit since 2013.
One big reason for the bankruptcy was the huge amount of debt the company had. They were paying hundreds of millions of dollars each year just to pay off their debt. This meant they couldn't spend money on making their stores more exciting to compete with Amazon and Walmart. While many stores were struggling, some experts said that Toys "R" Us's debt problems got much worse after it was bought by private companies. In September 2017, Toys "R" Us had about 64,000 employees.
At first, it was announced that only the U.S. and Canadian stores would be affected. The company said its physical stores and online sales would continue. But in January 2018, Toys "R" Us announced it would close many of its U.S. stores. Later, the company said that all U.S. locations would close.
On January 20, 2019, the company came out of bankruptcy as Tru Kids.
By June 2019, the company planned to open new, smaller stores in the U.S. These new stores would be about one-third the size of the old big Toys "R" Us stores. On November 27, 2019, a new Toys "R" Us store opened in Paramus, New Jersey. A second location opened in Houston, Texas, on December 7, 2019.
On December 16, 2021, Toys "R" Us opened a large, two-story main store in the American Dream mall in New Jersey.
On August 7, 2022, Toys "R" Us opened new locations inside Macy's stores in nine states. These stores vary in size. The company planned to open a store in every Macy's location in the United States by October 15, 2022, just in time for the holiday shopping season.
Main Toys "R" Us Stores
In July 2001, Toys "R" Us opened a huge main store in New York's Times Square. It cost $35 million to build. This 110,000 square-foot store had many fun areas. These included a Barbie section with a life-size dreamhouse and a Jurassic Park area with a moving T-Rex. It also had a Lego section and a famous indoor Ferris wheel. The Times Square store was also a place for gaming. It partnered with Microsoft to be the first place in the world to launch the original Xbox console in November 2001. The store later added a full arcade. In 2010, a Wonka candy shop opened on the second floor. This store attracted thousands of tourists for over ten years. However, the company decided to close it in December 2015 because the rent was too high.
In August 2017, Toys "R" Us announced a temporary store near the original Times Square location. It was open during the Christmas shopping season.
Helping Others: Charitable Giving
From 2004 until it closed in 2018, Toys "R" Us Inc. worked with the Toys for Tots foundation. Toys "R" Us stores were places where people could donate new, unwrapped toys or money. However, there is no clear information that the current owner, Tru Kids Inc., has continued this partnership. The Toys for Tots Foundation website has not mentioned Toys "R" Us since the 2018 bankruptcy.
Other Brands by Toys "R" Us
Imaginarium Toys
Imaginarium was a special brand of toys made by Toys "R" Us. The company bought Imaginarium in 1999. After the purchase, Imaginarium also had its own stores until 2004.
Kids "R" Us Clothing
Kids "R" Us was a store that sold children's clothes at a lower price. The first Kids "R" Us stores opened in February 1983 in Paramus, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York. The chain closed in January 2004. This was because sales were dropping, and the company wanted to focus more on the Toys "R" Us brand. While the separate Kids "R" Us stores closed in 2003, some stores that were combined with Toys "R" Us stayed open until at least 2014.
Babies "R" Us Products
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| Industry | Retail |
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| Founded | 1996 |
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Number of locations
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1 (2023) |
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The first Babies "R" Us store opened in April 1996 in Westbury, New York. In February 1997, Toys "R" Us bought another baby store chain. Those stores were then changed into Babies "R" Us stores. Babies "R" Us sells many products for newborns, infants, and toddlers. The stores also offer a baby registry and classes for new parents.
In 2011, Toys "R" Us started opening stores that combined both Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us sections.
Babies "R" Us reopened in July 2023 with a brand new main store. It is located inside the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
FAO Schwarz Toys
In May 2006, Toys "R" Us, Inc., bought the famous toy store FAO Schwarz. This included its main store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Toys "R" Us closed the FAO Schwarz main store in New York on July 15, 2015. They said the rent was too expensive. However, Toys "R" Us continued to sell FAO Schwarz-branded toys in its own stores until 2017.
Toys "R" Us Express Stores
For the 2009 holiday shopping season, Toys "R" Us tried a new idea: smaller stores. They opened 90 "Holiday Express" stores across the United States and Canada. These stores were smaller than regular Toys "R" Us stores, often found in malls. They offered a smaller selection of toys. Many of these stores opened in spaces left empty by other stores that closed during the recession. Toys "R" Us planned to close these Holiday Express stores after the holidays. But they were so successful that many stayed open. These became known as "Toys "R" Us Express" stores. By May 2010, Toys "R" Us had opened 600 Express stores. Like the larger Toys "R" Us stores, these smaller locations also closed in the United States during the summer of 2018.
Geoffrey the Giraffe: The Mascot
Geoffrey the Giraffe is the official mascot of Toys "R" Us. He was first known as "Dr. G. Raffe" in advertisements for Children's Bargaintown in the 1950s. Over the next ten years, his name and look changed. He became the mascot for Toys "R" Us and first appeared in a TV commercial in 1973. Geoffrey is like a "spokesanimal" for the brand. His design has changed several times over 50 years. The current look, with star spots, was decided in November 2007.
In 2017, Toys "R" Us sponsored a live camera broadcast of April the Giraffe. This helped support efforts to protect giraffes and raise awareness about them. The sponsored camera of pregnant April the giraffe became very popular, with millions of views online.
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See also
In Spanish: Toys "R" Us para niños
