Tag Archives: Toys R Us

You’d be silly to ignore the many things about the modern state of collecting that are devastating the line. Examples like collectors waiting as if they’re vultures for Hasbro stuff to go on clearance at Walmart and TARGET. And seeing Toys R Us’ merchandise that was clearanced out by competitors MONTHS ago sit and collect dusts on shelves are just some of the issues that don’t go away. Granted, Toys R Us has been foolish. They never were competitive with promotional prices and their clearance timing was the worst. But, see the image below. While anecdotal, it paints a broad picture of what is wrong with the Star Wars line. I could beat a dead horse here, but it’s clear to say that there is too much focus on certain Star Wars Entertainment that Star Wars fans aren’t supporting and buying. I have similar pile-ups at my local Toys R Us stores, albeit different products, but the same principles apply. Until the Hasbro line gets back to basics, we’re going to continue seeing these trends. And with Toys R Us gone, it means that either less volume will be produced, or the remaining retailers will be overstocked next. And I don’t think Walmart and TARGET will ever buy another bridge again when it comes to Star Wars. Their current stock levels are so low now that it’s almost impossible to find anything new there any way (except for the same repeated figures that shouldn’t have been reissued). It seems the Star Wars line is being forced into online oblivion. I am at a loss how this Titanic can be turned around. Special thanks to JTA Facebook reader Todd L. for the image!

What a coincidence! This store report is in perfect timing with today’s RDR! JTA moderator Sjefke found a bunch of The Black Series 40th Anniversary 6″ Jawas at his closing Toys R Us store. This should show Hasbro once again how even a beautiful assortment of figures like the vintage Kenner inspired 40th anniversary line can suffer when figures aren’t spread evenly over the case ratios. One new figure per case. No repeat. No carry-forwards. Figures that sell out before others should then be converted to a solid case assortment to kill scalping. it’s not rocket science. And it will work.

We all know that Toys R Us in the USA is liquidating their inventory, but JTA reader Jason A. sends us a disconcerting image. His local store received a literal palet of Legacy Packs from The Black Series [Star Wars 40] line. How many of these bleeping things did they make? Can we expect more stuff like this to show up? Will the solid cases of Darth Revan finally arrive? Right now these sets are marked down to $23.99, but many other retailers have already cleared these out for $10 or less per pack. Is this a testament to how small our community is, or is it more of a testament to how lousy distribution is?

JTA reader and friend Matthew Sebastian W. from Hong Kong China also sends us great close-up images of the China TRU exclusive multipack with holographic Maz Kanata. We have images of the front and back of the packaging. MSW also lets us know that this pack converts to $55 USD. Yikes! Check it out

We’ve known for quite some time about this, but Toys R Us had big plans for Wookiee Weekend. It is believed that Zuckuss was to be released this weekend in the USA/Canada. It appears that TRU in Australia is still participating. It all begins May 5th. Check it out!

Website Retail Dive reports that the auction for the Canadian branch of Toys R Us was canceled on Monday, since there were no other qualified bids for the Canadian Toys R Us stores other than the $235 million “stalking horse” offer by Fairfax Financial. Once the deal is approved Fairfax Financial will own the 83 Canadian TRU stores.

Irish Toy Retailer Smyths will acquire the Toys R Us Stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This deal includes 93 TRU stores and 4 online shops. There are also some new developments for TRU in the USA, Canada, Asia and Australia! Click through for more details!

Update: Smyths will rebrand the TRU stores. Details added to the article!

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This news is the equivalent of day-old bread now. But in case you missed the story, the CEO of MGA Entertainment in Van Nuys, CA (make of Bratz dolls), put in a nearly $900 million bid on Toys R Us Friday in hopes of revitalizing the chains in the USA and Canada. Will it save the TRU brand? NBC Los Angeles has the full story.

What’s sadder than sad? I am glad you asked because I have an answer. Sadder than sad is finding more Solo: A Star Wars Story stuff at my closing Toys R Us store (on clearance) than any other TARGET or Walmart in my area. That’s what’s sadder than sad. I hope all of the new product hits all at once so everyone can get the stuff they want. Maybe everyone else will catch up on April 20th. By the way, the article title is really sarcastic. I don’t know if anyone will find new figures at Toys R Us or not. It would be pretty “funny” if Zuckuss ends up arriving there, but I highly doubt it.

Hey Canada! ToysRUs.ca has the new Solo products in stock. Special thanks to JTA reader Eric C. for the alert!

As our childhood continues to whiddle away, another nail in the coffin is hammered in. Toysrus.com is no longer active and the store locater site “goodbuytoysrus.com” makes it’s debut. Excuse me while I go cry in an active corner of the internet…

Toys R Us has released documents, giving details for the purchase of the Canadian equity sale. Click through to read more about the Toys R Us Canada auction!

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A captain always goes down with his ship. You can read the full story here.

MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian is still serious about his efforts to buy up to 400 Toys R Us stores in the USA and to keep the name alive. He and several other unnamed investors have already pledged $200 million. But they need much more money to actually have a chance. Larian needs to raise another $800 million. How to do that? Click through to learn more!

Isaac Larian CEO of MGA Entertainment

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Toys R Us liquidation sales were scheduled to begin on Thursday. But JTA reader Josh sent us this photo of his TRU:

Click through to find out what’s going on!

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USA today posted a new article outlining the liquidation plan for the closing specialty toy store. 

Bloomberg reports that according to insiders Amazon is looking into acquiring some of the Toys R Us stores in the USA.
Before you get your hopes up: Amazon has no interest in keeping the Toys R Us brand name, nor will Amazon most likely sell toys at these locations, but will rather use it as a showroom for its own products and maybe as a staging ground for food deliveries.

Read the full report at Bloomberg.

If you have Toys R Us gift cards, you only have 30 days left to use them. Check out the latest update from Yahoo! News. Special thanks to Martin M. for the alert!

We have some sources who have gone into detail about the latest Toys R Us developments. It’s very possible that within 60 days Toys R Us will be nothing but a memory for us. Stay tuned for more. What a sad, sad time. We have also reached out to Hasbro for comment about the 6″ Zuckuss exclusive. As of this time, there is no information to share.

UPDATE: The Washington Post confirms the closure of all 800 stores. Click HERE to read the details.

Toys R Us is in the process of drafting the court motion for its liquidation plan, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC. See the full story there.

Fortune.com has written a fantastic article on why the Toy Industry would suffer if Toys R Us goes belly up. I have heard and seen many comments by readers ‘happy’ or ‘indifferent’ to see TRU’s demise because of various reasons, but there is a bigger picture. And Fortune goes into detail about it. Check out the article and then come back here to comment.

Yikes. It’s doesn’t look great, folks. Toys R Us appears to be prepping itself for liquidation. Bloomberg explains what’s going on so be sure to check out their article. I hope this doesn’t spell certain doom for their exclusive The Black Series [Phase III] Zuckuss figure, not to mention all of the employment loss here.

JTA reader and friend Russ T. has been featured on Toy R Us’ Fan Vault. They worked up a cool video on him and the video shows off his beautiful collection. Be sure to check it out!

Toys R Us UK is filing for insolvency. After the company failed to find a buyer and a 15 million pounds VAT bill was due on Tuesday, Toys R Us UK went into administration today. (more….)

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British website Toyworld reports that toy sales for the Amazon stores in Europe’s most important toy markets UK, Germany and France are very strong. In market share terms toys is actually one of the few product groups in which Amazon in Europe has a better performance than in the US. Meanwhile Toys R Us UK is close to filing for insolvency. (more….)

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