TOYS R GONE
Better use those gift cards — now
The retailer plans to honor gift cards for the next 30 days, company spokesperson Taylor O’Donnell said.
Toys R Us gift cards are likely to become worthless within weeks.
The best advice: Spend them immediately, if possible.
Make haste because after the big-box icon of American retail said Thursday that it would close all of its U.S. stores, there’s not much time left. The chain plans to honor gift cards for the next 30 days, Toys R Us spokesperson Taylor O’Donnell told USA TODAY in an email.
In bankruptcy, retailers technically don’t have to honor gift cards at all. But most ask a bankruptcy court judge for permission to do so — at least for a while. Toys R Us has been honoring gift cards since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September. But now that the company has filed to liquidate its U.S. operations, the end is near.
Even if the chain had decided to honor gift cards until the bitter end, customers might not find anything worthwhile to spend them on after a few weeks of going-out-of-business sales.
One lawmaker is hoping Toys R Us will take the unusual step of redeeming gift cards for cash.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sent a letter Wednesday to the acting chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, asking her to act to ensure that consumers have time to use their existing gift cards. Ide- ally, consumers would be able to redeem the gift cards for cash, Schumer wrote.
“Use those gift cards ASAP,” the Better Business Bureau said on its website in advice for customers of bankrupt companies. “BBB advises consumers who are holding gift cards spend them as soon as possible or risk getting stuck with a worthless piece of plastic.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is hoping Toys R Us will take the unusual step of redeeming gift cards for cash.