Retailers seeking boost in toy sales

Toys R Us’ closure gives chain’s former rivals a chance for holiday lift.

It’s barely past Labor Day, but a handful of retailers already are hinting at one item on their holiday wish lists: business from former Toys R Us shoppers.

Toys R Us closed its last U.S. stores in June after filing for bankruptcy protection last fall. Despite its challenges, the chain still had loyal customers. It racked up $7.1 billion in U.S. sales during the year ending in January 2017, the most recent year for which financial results are available.

As the first holiday season without Toys R Us approaches, retailers are fighting for their slice of those sales by devoting more shelf space to toys, hosting events where kids can play with popular items and even opening toy-specific seasonal stores.

As the only national big-box chain devoted entirely to toys, Toys R Us could offer a much wider range of items than other retailers. That made it a popular destination for holiday shoppers, even if those big, toy-centric stores were tough to sustain the rest of the year, said Neil Stern, senior partner at Chicago-based consulting firm McMillanDoolittle.

Other big-box chains offer toys to meet shoppers’ day-to-day needs, “but if you really wanted to get a specific item on a wish list, you wanted that selection,” Stern said.

Dean Yeropoli said he’ll miss having a Toys R Us just a mile from home in Akron, Ohio. Every year, he and his wife would bring their sons to the store about a month before Christmas to pick out the toys Santa would put under the tree Christmas morning, said Yeropoli, watching his sons play Friday morning while visiting Chicago.

“The closest thing we have now is Target or Walmart, but it’s three aisles,” Yeropoli said.

Those retailers and others say they’re trying to narrow that gap.

Walmart said its stores will carry 30 percent more new toys and some stores will have 25 percent more aisle space devoted to toys, not just during the holidays but throughout the year.