Memphis Toys R Us patrons lament its closing
For Gary Richmond, Toys R Us is a generational thing.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid,” Richmond said Thursday as he loaded a bed for his 20-month-old son into his car outside the Toys R Us in Centennial Commons shopping center. “Every birthday, my parents would bring me and my little brother and just let us go through and pick something.”
And so Richmond says he will miss a piece of his childhood memories when Toys R Us becomes history. The chain, a big box retailer that made many a childhood dream come true in an increasingly online world, filed for bankruptcy Thursday. A liquidation is expected to lead to closing or selling all
U.S. Toys R Us stores and selling remaining merchandise.
The Centennial Commons store, near Southwind off Winchester at Tenn. 385, was targeted for closing once before, when Toys R Us in January announced 182 stores nationwide it planned to close as part of a bankruptcy reorganization. The chain reversed itself, however, and kept the store open after negotiations with local owners. The other Memphis store, at 8060 Giacosa Place near Wolfchase Galleria, was not on the January closing list.
In light of the latest bankruptcy filing, it appears both Memphis stores will now join others nationwide in shutting down. Some reports suggests Toys R Us might save about a quarter of its U.S. stores, or about 200, by selling them along with its Canadian operation. It isn’t clear if such a plan would save the Memphis stores.
Michael Lightman, the landlord of Centennial Commons who helped negotiate the earlier reversal, could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment.
Richmond, the shopper who grew up with the store, said he has “no idea” at the moment where he will go to replace the at-your-fingertips variety he found at Toys R Us, but said “I’ll probably go to Walmart more now. Online shopping will probably shoot up, too.”
That — online shopping — is exactly the problem, said Frank Holmes of Memphis.
“That’s the reason they’re going out of business, because of online,” said Holmes, who said he’ll really miss the store as a father of six. “We as consumers think it’s convenient, but really, it’s hurting us. You’re taking jobs from people.”
Online shopping was no doubt one of the problems for Toys R Us, as with other brick-and-mortar retailers that have been decimated by online competition. Experts say, however, it also didn’t help that the chain carried heavy debt and didn’t always invest in improving stores.
That fact showed in the comments of some shoppers Thursday, who said that while they will miss the store, it had its problems.
“You would have thought customer service would have been better, but it’s always been a problem for me,” said Jennifer Bennie of Germantown. “People didn’t know where things were in their store or certain baby questions you had, they wouldn’t know.”
Still, Bennie said she will miss the range of things available at the store.
“The thing with Toys R Us is the specialties,” she said. “You can get five different Thomas Trains at Target, but you can get 50 different Thomas Trains at Toys R Us. It was nice to have all the selection.”
As operations wind down, Toys R Us said the company is making arrangements on how to handle things such as layaways and gift cards.
Spokeswoman Nicole Hayes said Thursday by email that customers with merchandise in layaway at closing stores would be notified that they need to pay off and pick up the items.
If not picked up by a deadline, she said the orders would be canceled and any fees waived. Pickup deadlines will vary by location, she said.
Spokesman Taylor O’Donnell told USA TODAY that gift cards will be honored for the next 30 days.