At Toys R Us, customers seek deals and closure
All stores to close by week’s end, months after filing for bankruptcy
Longtime shoppers and deal hunters picked through the last of what the Toys R Us in Bethel Park had to offer on Wednesday as the store prepared to close its doors.
For some, there were a lot of memories fading away behind the rows of yellow caution tape.
“It was pretty devastating because I grew up with it as a child,” said Jon Novak as he stood in one of the few aisles still open to shoppers in the cavernous and mostly empty store.
Mr. Novak, who lives in Downtown, frequently shopped at the chain to buy toys for his four nieces and nephews. He’ll have to take his business elsewhere, as all 735 Toys R Us stores across the country are set to close by the end of this week.
In March, the deeply in-debt company based out of Wayne, N.J., announced it was shutting its U.S. stores, months after filing for bankruptcy. The company, which is over 60 years old, has 11 stores in southwestern Pennsylvania. The Monroeville store closed down shop Tuesday after selling out of its inventory.
In Bethel Park on Wednesday, shoppers could buy picked-over toys and baby clothes for 80 to 90 percent off. A wall of fidget spinners, originally priced at $9.99, were going for just 69 cents, and a seven-piece crib set, originally $199.99, was discounted to $39.99.
Those looking for furniture or fixtures were in luck: a large store shelf was up for grabs for a discounted $192.
The store was buzzing Wednesday morning as shoppers perused its final offerings while cheery music, including a Taylor Swift song and “If You’re Happy and You
Know It,” blared from loudspeakers.
Mr. Novak said walking into the cleared-out store — with signs declaring “Everything must go!” and price tags on everything including the empty white shelves — felt symbolic.
“It’s almost like a part of my childhood is kind of destroyed,” he said.
With nieces and nephews as young as 4, Mr. Novak has many years of toy buying ahead of him. He said he’ll turn to what many others already have: Seattle online retail giant Amazon.
So will Stacie Carlson, of Mt. Lebanon. She was at the store on Wednesday to see if there was anything worthwhile left she could pick up for her two kids, ages 5 and 6.
Ms. Carlson said Toys R Us used to be a fun place she would go to walk around with her kids. Last week, she took them to pick out one last toy. They settled on a ninja-themed Power Ranger toy set, she said, but the children were also sad they wouldn’t be able to come back.
Moving online for her toy shopping has Ms. Carlson a bit torn.
“For some things, being able to buy online on Amazon is very simple and very easy,” she said. “But I think it’s kind of adding to the loss of interpersonal communication that technology has kind of forced us into the corner with. So I think from that perspective it’s kind of sad.”
Not all the shoppers were as mournful.
David Rhome, of Canonsburg, was one of about a dozen people — including several toddlers — standing outside the store before it opened at 10 a.m.
Mr. Rhome, who owns a pizza shop, was on a mission: To find affordable toys to stow away until the holidays, when he will donate them to the nonprofit Toys for Tots. Mr. Rhome said he is also working with the store in Washington, Pa., to stock up on toys.
Still, as a grandfather of three, he said he’ll miss the store.
“If you have grandchildren, that’s where you shop,” he said. “Where will you be able to find an assortment of toys like they had at Toys R Us?”