North American retail chain Toys R Us is in a perilous position at the moment and according to Fortune is considering possibly closing all its US store. The Toys R Us chain has failed to find a buyer and is making preparations for a liquidation. It’s a sad state of affairs for a retail chain that many of you grew up with and still use for video games.
“While the situation is still fluid, a shutdown of the U.S. division has become increasingly likely in recent days, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Hopes are fading that a buyer will emerge to keep some of the business operating, or that lenders will agree on terms of a debt restructuring, the people said.”
We have Walmart and Amazon to thank for Toys R Us closing. Once everyone goes out of business they can start charging whatever they want because they will be a monopoly. If you do not know what a monopoly is Google it.
Monopoly is a fun family board game
You can blame that on poor business decisions by the higher ups. The executives took holiday bonuses amidst bankruptcy during the 2017 holiday just to give you some perspective. It’s a shame really but it happens when companies aren’t able to adapt or are too slow to.
Shitty company owners is what they are then since they apparently only cared about themselves & not the people under them (their employees) that rely on them for jobs. The fuckers are probably asking for too much & that’s why no one wants to buy them.
That goes for most American CEOs. “Golden Parachute” while everyone else gets shafted
Agreed!! You have Walmart, Meijer, Target & especially AMAZON!!
You know what they say: …all good things…
R.I.P. Toys R Us
Well, that’s unfortunate.
Oh shit.
Why don’t Nintendo (a business that started as a toy company) buy them out.
But my real questions are, what will replace Toys ‘R’ Us? Because I can’t find any news or thread mentioning potential replacements or alternatives.
Also, where will people go to buy Nintendo Labo? The Gamestop that’s more interested in Sony/Microsoft’s library and Loot Crate-esque memorabilia? The Target that houses a small percentage of toys compared to the rest of the store? The FAO Schwarz downtown in Manhattan, New York (and other obscure locations)?
This whole thing makes me feel sick. The only people who wouldn’t be affected by this are those knee-deep in DarkSouls/BotW/COD/other edgy video games, those born a few weeks ago, those apathetic towards children’s brands, and those who hate their childhood.
In short, we are losing the only notable toy retailer left, with no known alternatives.
Actually Nintendo started as a card game company that made Hanafuda cards.
But since then, they also expanded into the toy industry. It only feels right that they buy out the retailer, before NO ONE does, and we lose!
FAO Schwartz is also closed.
F**K!
Now what?
Just because Nintendo at one point was a toy company doesnt mean they should buy ToysRus.
Nintendo at one point ran Love Hotels, doesnt mean they need to go save any Love Hotels, brothels, etc… that are shutting dow .
ToysRus has a shit load of debt, buying ToysRus also means taking on that debt as well (which easily can turn potential buyers away). Not to mention the Buyer would have to compete against Amazon & Walmart, while trying to fix all the mess that the ToysRus higher ups have caused.
It would be suicide for Nintendo to do this, pretty much destroying that “war chest” of profits they built up.
So what are we supposed to do now?
For now, hope and pray Some one or Some company steps up and takes on their debt head-on (and PLEASE, for the love of everything toys, FIRE THOSE HIGHER-UPS!).
For a person like me – and I’m not too ashamed to say this especially growing up With TRU majority of my life, them being the first place I received my first game from (Mario 64 way back when) – Best Buy for my games (I’m part of their club) and setting some money aside to buy some of those leftover amiibo, Funko POPs, Pokemon cards, and whatever else spikes my interest.
Me, I just can’t imagine a generation who don’t have a Toys ‘R’ Us to look around in and explore. It’s a big store for a reason. Toys ‘R’ Us is supposed to invoke wonder. Also, I remember them selling certain brands of candy/snacks that you wouldn’t normally see in your average Target, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, or 7Eleven.
Yet, there are so many apathetic and rather salty assholes here, who would tear into people for caring and making a big stink about its departure. Apparently, they don’t have the same fond memories we do, or care about treasuring them, but are more interested in just playing the hell out of COD, DarkSouls, and BotW.
Volumes of our society.
When a company is ran by assholes that’d rather take a holiday bonus during a time of their company being in a bankruptcy crisis than use the money to pay off some of their companies’ debts to keep their employees employed, it’s understandable why some people would be pretty angry with Toys ‘R’ Us.
And that concerns the average walk-in customer because?
Damned.
Cheap Switch games?
Bet GameStop will follow soon afterward.
Actually, they are doing rather well from what I can see. Their European counterpart GAME seems to be the ones flailing about, though.
If they fill their stores with wayyy more toys than the store itself can handle, I can see that happening. UNLESS they finally let ThinkGeek be a side thing/store and open one next door.
But in that case, ThinkGeek might soon follow.
If the debt isn’t too bad, maybe NoJ should consider giving NoA money to buy Toys ‘R’ Us stores. More Nintendo Stores wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Especially if it fixes the god damn stock issues concerning amiibo.
Welp…. Guess I’m screwed when it comes to buying new games. Toys R Us kid till death. Unless Nintendo starts selling physical copies directly, I don’t really know what I’m gonna do.
Poor Toys R Us. I bought my Switch there. It was 10:30 AM, and I had juat happened to be in the city. Smart me was going to wait until next month, but on a whim, I checked Toys. They had, I think 11 left? None of the neon ones, which was sad, but I snatched that black one!
What about my Lego Bricktober releases?!?! 😨