MISFIT ‘TOYS’
Used to be ‘R’ store, then biz world changed
NO MORE fun and games.
For kids of a certain age — and, yes, that includes millennials — word that debt-strapped Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy on Monday was like having batteries die in the middle of a big Game Boy championship.
Or having your Hatchimal never break out of its shell. Not fun. At all. More than just a giant in the business of selling games, gizmos, dolls and playthings of every stripe, Toys ‘R’ Us was part of the soundtrack of people’s lives.
Ask anyone who can hum the catchy jingle from once-ubiquitous commercials featuring kids with bats, balls and dolls belting, “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us Kid ... they’re the biggest toy store there is ...”
Throughout the 1980s and into the ’90s, that was true. Toys ‘R’ Us was a major force in toy retailing. But business dropped off as shoppers were lured by discounters like Walmart and Target and then to Amazon.
Executives of Toys ‘R’ Us, which is up to its eyeballs in $5 billion of long-term debt, said it has secured $3 billion in financing, so stores will stay open for business while the company restructures its debt.
But business at Toys ‘R’ Us — like at many other brick-and-mortar stores — hasn’t been usual for some time.
While Toys ‘R’ Us kids made the store great, Toys ‘R’ Us grandkids aren’t shopping there anymore. Instead, they’re shopping online — and when they do it’s for electronics, not games, dolls and gizmos.
Bankruptcy “will provide us with greater financial flexibility to invest in our business and strengthen our competitive position in an increasingly challenging and rapidly changing retail marketplace worldwide,” said Chairman and CEO Dave Brandon.
Changes, indeed. “When we were kids, we couldn’t wait for the Toys ‘R’ Us flyer to arrive in the mail. My cousin and I would go to the store to check toys out and circle all of the ones we wanted for Christmas,” a New York millennial told the Daily News. “Now everything’s online.”
Toys ‘R’ Us joins a wave of retail bankruptcies this year, including the kids’ clothing retailer Gymboree, Payless Shoe Source and rue21, which sells clothing for teenagers.