New Toys R Us is taking shape

Toys R Us fans in the U.S. should see the iconic brand reemerge in some form by this holiday season.

Richard Barry, a former Toys R Us executive and now chief executive of a new company called Tru Kids Brands, said he and his team are still working on the details, but they’re exploring various options, including freestanding stores and shops within existing stores. He says e-commerce will play a key role.

Toys R Us, buckling under competition from Amazon.com and several billions of dollars of debt, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in September 2017 and then liquidated its businesses last year in the U.S. as well as several other regions, including Britain.

In October, a group of investors won an auction for Toys R Us assets, believing they would do better by potentially reviving the toy chain, rather than selling it off in parts. Barry and several other former Toys R Us executives founded Tru Kids last month and are now managing the Toys R Us, Babies R Us and Geoffrey brands. Toys R Us generated $3 billion in global retail sales in 2018. Tru Kids estimates that 40% to 50% of Toys R Us market share is still up for grabs, despite retailers such as Walmart and Target expanding their toy aisles.

“These brands are beloved by customers,” Barry said. He noted that the company will focus on experiences in the physical stores, which could be about 10,000 square feet. The original Toys R Us stores were about 40,000 square feet.

Barry said he and his team have been reaching out to toymakers and have received strong support.

Tru Kids, based in Parsippany, N.J., about a 20-minute drive from Wayne, N.J., where Toys R Us was based, will work with licensing partners to open 70 stores this year in Asia and Europe. Outside the U.S., Toys R Us continues to operate about 800 stores.