Toys 'R' Us (US/UK Stores) Bankruptcy

DiscoJango on 16/03/2018 - 20:22
Last edited 16/03/2018 - 20:45 by 1 other user

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/the-real-reas…

A pretty sad time. This is a pretty iconic store for many people who grew up visiting it (hassling your parents along the way)

I can see why they didnt do well. My local store was pretty expensive, all you had to go was go to kmart to get the same product for cheaper. There were barely any staff, even at the checkout, in peak times, there would be a maximum of 2 staff with no self serves. Their online presence was very poor.

Guess ill try and visit my local store before it closes

Does anyone remember world 4 kids?

Poll Options

• 8
  Yes ive shopped there recently
• 32
  No i havent shopped there recently

Related Stores

Toys 'R' Us USA

• 

  pjetson on 16/03/2018 - 20:29

  As far as I'm aware, the Australian stores are not affected.

  • 

    spackbace on 16/03/2018 - 20:46

    +3

    I guess it's only a matter of time though

    • 

      ngsx on 16/03/2018 - 22:34

      Agree.Some items they sell are ok, but most of them are really pricey.
      Still a bit sad to see it go.

  • 

    ronnknee on 16/03/2018 - 22:02

    That was true 6 months ago. However, recent news suggest that Australia is likely to follow.

    Source.

  • 

    BiotBargin on 16/03/2018 - 23:11

    the australian stores have there debt underwritten by the US so they are affected. if they cant clear the debt or find a buyer for the Australian arm of the business they will be dragged down with the US insolvency.

• 

  coxjon on 16/03/2018 - 23:06

  The loss of babies r us will be sad. Good times to be had pitting their price beat policy against baby bunting

• 

  [Deactivated] on 16/03/2018 - 23:37

  They had a great opportunity to dominate the online space with Amazon but pissed it away

  • 

    DiscoJango on 17/03/2018 - 10:13

    everyone blames amazon, however i am yet to barely use it.

    the problem is most companies websites just plain suck. toys r us is a perfect example. the website couldnt even tell you which store had stock if it wasnt online. they still kept old discontinued stock on their website. it looked like a high school project which was updated once every 12 months. google searches also showed the us site before the au in results.

    my local shopping center has myer, target, kmart, eb games and toys r us all in one building, making it very easy to compare prices. in most instances, toys r us was never the cheapest, eg: lego\nerf guns.

    they also failed in their marketing department (read: non existant). when was the last time you saw a toys r us ad, compared to myer, target or kmart who constantly advertise their specials.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 17/03/2018 - 10:54

      You got it all wrong.

      They had exclusive rights to sell toys on Amazon. Then Toys Us (profanity) it up

• 

  BertieBrown on 17/03/2018 - 19:08

  IMO, the entire concept of a specialised toy retailer isn't really viable long term, particularly when things get tough as consumers will want the most convenient and the cheapest option. I.E; at Christmas time you can go to a shopping centre and look at multiple stores as well as get your groceries and also look for other gifts not just specifically toys whilst you're there too.

  Hardware for example is different as department stores really can't feasibly stock the necessary stock that a viable hardware chain requires, like what Bunnings does, there's just too many things. Wheres, yes no doubt Toys'r'us may sell more or select toys that other retailers don't due to their size, for the most part they probably stock much the same stock as lots of other retailers. When you combine that with other retailers providing cheaper prices than toys'r'us and well honestly I'm surprised that TRU lasted as long as they did.

  If you look at Kmart or Big W for example and compare the toy sections and the hardware sections with Bunnings and Toysrus, you'd probably find that IMO for the most part most people would be able to find something that their kids would like from Big W or Kmart for their kids but a tradie is likely going to need to go to Bunnings because the department stores don't stock the things that they need.

  Just my thoughts.

• 

  sam buster on 18/03/2018 - 00:13

  The store in Burwood Mall closed down about a year ago. Seemed quite sudden.