That minimum wage hike didn't help anything.

 

Sad to see so many stores close and people losing their jobs.

 

It's funny reading all of the people telling TRU how it could have saved itself when *this* is why it's dying.

How Private Equity Killed Toys “R” Us

 

I would say that the 7 in the GTA remain open, but I haven’t bought anything there since movie deluxe started costing $30

 

Guess I’m rather fortunate that the only one closing in my state is the one I never go to. Technically it’s the second closest to me, but it’s also out of the way for travel and the like.

 

I find it a bit odd that Toys-R-Us hasn't really embraced technology in the sort of ways that could enhance their business.

Their website is like some lost relic of the early days of internet shopping. They need the sort of modern site that is super easy to use and that can almost seem a step ahead of knowing what you want before you know you want it. Amazon is like hey buddy we noticed you like this toy line check out these new releases or big sale on these figures you haven't purchased from us yet. Heck Wal-Mart will allow you to check to see if an item is in stock before you get into the car.

You also have to wonder why no helpful app in the age of smart phones. Imagine instead of having to check the sightings section here if your phone could send you a message of hey your local store just got that exclusive you were looking for. Maybe have the app let loyal customers pre-order things instead of leave it to faith that one day you might accidentally find it in the store or somehow navigate their bad website to find it. Just seems so last century to have to click a box to say I'm foolish enough to think you will send me an email when the product is back in stock. Who reads e-mails unless it's part of their job?

 

Thanks so much for posting this. That's been the story since it all began. Bain also has a stake in IHeartRadio, which has massive debt payments and could file bankruptcy in a year. Bain, however, still gets their 2% management fee. I feel bad for all the employees caught up in this mess.

 

People are talking like CA was especially hard hit. We're a heavily populated state. We had lots of stores to start with. Losing these still leaves us with lots of stores....

 

Guys, ToysRus isn't going anywhere.. over half of the stores that are closing down are BabiesRus. It's sad days for sure, but the best thing you can do to help is the spread the word that Toys are here to stay, we are changing things to adapt to the new market, and support your stores.

 

Jesus, in my area alone there's like a dozen stations owned/operated by IHeart....

Two problems:
1) My store doesn't have stuff I'm looking for.
2) When it does, it's more expensive than elsewhere.

 

I have no clue why they are closing the one in Aurora CO and not the one here in Colorado Springs. The one in CS never restocks and doesn't get a lot of foot traffic, whereas the one in Aurora is in the frickin metropolis of Denver!

 

It's easy to say that they should invest in a new website. A complete e-commerce rebuild would cost hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. The company is in debt and unable to pay just the interest on that debt.

So yeah, a new e-commerce platform might help with sales and profits...but it's not an easy solution.

 

For that second point, it really needs to be recognized that TRU has reinstituted their price-match guarantee.

It'll be even better if they lower their prices on the front end, rather than make us find an advertisement for a competitor, but that might well still happen if TRU is taking the steps they need to. The Price-Match Guarantee is a good start. That's all it is, sure, but it IS a good start.

 

Wasn't Bain involved in the slow and steady destruction of Guitarcenter too? I swear there's nothing they touch they don't destroy, decimate and dismantle.

This is sorta sad news from the perspective of seeing the end finally looming. But when they made the decision to take what were really nice stores, cram twice as much garbage into them and make them nearly impossible to navigate by splitting them into Babies R Us & Toys R Us in the same location, then upped prices faster than any other retailer around them, it's hard to feel too sad to see the stores themselves going.

I used to hit up TRU three or four times a month, now it's been years and I think the only reason I even contemplate it is if there's an exclusive. Even then it's just easier to pay markup to one of the online stores than fight TRU's inevitable meh stocking policy.

 

I realised this morning when I was thinking about this situation, that the store I'm remembering was in Clifton Park, not Latham. I just looked up the address, Latham is a Babies R Us. So only the GF TRU is going away.
That's gonna leave a weird hole on Upper Glen Street. But, that building used to be a Grand Union, 20 years ago, before the TRU moved in. It's a prime retail location, won't stay empty for too long.

 

Oh that's right, I forgot they moved the one in City of Industry to the mall. That seems pretty dumb, but considering how close together they are to each other and how close they are to a bunch of Walmarts and Targets, it's not shocking either.

 

Spreading the word about toys doesn't pay off the HUGE (6 billion) debt they have aquired.

 

No. No. No.

If their site was a relic from the early days, it wouldn't lock up for 30 seconds from the time you click the search textbox to the time it started responding to the keyboard. A search with 30 results wouldn't lock up every 3rd item to load 3 more. And it would crash on errors instead of "herp derp sunthin' teh happund lol idunno wut kthxbye      "

Modern web design at the mercy of a swarm of bees overseas* is exactly what's fucked their online presence ever since they split off from Amazon. Not that Amazon's exactly a winner once you run into a logic hole with an order they've dropped the ball on...

*No matter what the salespeople promise, they just pluck farmers and plumbers and taxi drivers out of anywhere they can find them and dump them on the customer. They don't have computer science education and wouldn't even pass a coding boot camp. By the time the pointy heads up top figure out something's wrong, it's too late and they go into face-saving mode.

 

f

 

For what it's worth, the one in Monrovia is just off of the 210, just a bit to the north. Take the Huntington exit and head about a block east.