Has it been made public? It would go a long way in making me (and others, I'm sure) pay more attention to the liquidation.

 

To be more clear about my previous statement, it's not a public timeframe. Only people who know about it are the liquidators, we at a store level don't find out until maybe a day or two before they're scheduled to take effect. This "discount schedule," for lack of better wording, is across all remaining US stores unless a store has to close earlier than expected.

In regards to your earlier dissatisfaction with the liquidation discounts, I do understand where you and many others are coming from when they see the "up to 40% off" signage and only very few categories are at that steep of a discount. Please understand that we on a store level have zero control over pricing/discounts. The liquidation company is tasked to recover as much debt as possible in order to satisfy vendors like Hasbro in accordance with the US bankruptcy court. Other going out of business sales are nearly the same as ours.

 

We at TRU apologize for our orderly, systematically coordinated demise taking longer than you would like. Rest assured that we will progressively sweeten our death spiral in due course, such that you will be more enticed to pick over our bones. We look forward to being served to you... ah... er... serving you, as we depart from this mortal coil. Enjoy your toys!

 

Sales plunge at Hasbro without Toys R Us

From the local TV station in Providence

 

Maybe it just varies by location.

I went to a Toys-R-Us right before the court decision came down that this was the end of Toys-R-Us. Looked at more than the stuff I'm into because I've got young nieces and nephews that I have to do birthdays and Christmas for. Went back last weekend and other than some empty shelves over in the Lego section I'd be hard pressed to see hardly any change in the inventory on the shelves between visits. They might be getting foot traffic but it doesn't seem like 10% off really produced much of buying frenzy.

Which kind of made me wonder if there wasn't some plan to have the tiniest of tiny discounts to force people with gift cards to use those cards at the highest possible price.

With retail such a rough business these days it seems like everyone has seen some store go under so for the consumer going of business sales are nothing new. It's like the consumers have learned that much bigger discounts are just down the road so don't bite at just 10% off. It seems like the only reason to bite on 10% is if it's a clothing or shoe store and you wear a hard to find size.

 

I think a lot of stores are continuing to get merchandise at least for a few more weeks. I know that a lot of the TRUS around me were barren wastelands only to be replenished shortly after that first liquidation.

 

Just a little something I whipped up that summarizes my feelings at this point.

 

In all honesty, if I were Larian I'd just go after the name and branding, let the stores liquidate and start from scratch. I went into the Dublin store today and realized just how much old, outdated product was left...i wouldn't want to buy a store with that much dead inventory...heck with Last Jedi, they still had a huge selection of Rogue One, the Marvel section had a ton of Civil War and Age of Ultron, heck there are figures from Promethius on the pegs still. Not to mention the movie figures for last Knight, Justice League, Power Rangers...If I was starting a new store I wouldn't want a single thing on those action figure aisles in my new venture. Dolls are just as bad...8 foot sections of Moana, Frozen, Trolls and Coco...seems like it would be a lot better to just let all that dated junk go.

 

A thought... the Claire's section at my Toys'R'Us died for a while, but it was restocked a few weeks ago... to be fair, I don't pay close attention to it an it's entirely possible it's been refilled with random stuff.

 

Even if he were to throw out all that "dead inventory" (which strikes me as insane), surely it's better to buy a name, branding, and rights to the existing physical space (at liquidation prices!) than it is to just buy a name and branding, and then have to go out and buy/rent new physical space....

 

I wouldn't read too much into that, Claire's is going bankrupt too.

 

Try carrying dead inventory for a few years and see if you still feel that way. Although, buying only a fraction of the stores, Larian could just throw away the dead _markets_ instead and maybe that will work out.

Toy collecting really has a herd mentality to it. Once the popular kids move on, demand evaporates, regardless of how bad the shortage was.

 

We can differ on this point. It is irrelevant to my reply.

 

No, it's not. It doesn't matter what that inventory is. It could be sealed G1 Jetfires and Soundwaves. It's old and the popular kids have moved on and it's just going to give the store a flea market feel. You want a flea market, go to Ollies or Big Lots or KMart. Yes, he should scoop up the infrastructure (buildings, employees, branding) but that's it. It's not insane to destroy the inventory.

 

Action figures now 20% off

 

You misunderstand me. Whether or not it's insane to destroy inventory (the part I said we could agree to differ on) is irrelevant to the point that it's better to scoop up infrastructure (including buildings) than to just get branding alone.

 

They aren’t trying to appeal to customers waiting for the largest discounts, they are aiming to get people in who just want a “deal.”

 

It's not working at my nearest location. Maybe it works in other places. The lines are empty and the lone cashier is just waiting at the service desk. This doesn't seem like the way a liquidation should be going. I thought the point was to move the merchandise out. Like I said, maybe it is working out for them everywhere else.

 

Same here. Very few customers and nothing is moving from the shelves.