Toys R Us: U.S. Bankruptcy, Tru Kids Brands, Macy's

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by BenjaminXavier, Oct 10, 2018.

  1. WishfulThinking

    WishfulThinking The world has moved on...we've always said.

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    It won't be that easy. Hasbro, and other vendors, will probably want payment up front this time. It'll be interesting to see if this new group will be able to raise the capital via cash through investors or credit.
     
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  2. WishfulThinking

    WishfulThinking The world has moved on...we've always said.

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    Apology payments have already gone out. That's over and done, unfortunately.
     
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  3. stad

    stad Well-Known Member

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    That's exactly how I took it.

    I think that's the case with nearly all of their old locations.
    And while everyone wants to blame Bain (and they DO deserve a lot of blame) there was several other factors in play as well. TRU was already in trouble when Bain acquired them. As part of the deal, they also built up their debt (this part is often ignored in the Bain blame part) to expand their Babies R Us concept - at the time it was, by far, the most profitable part of the company. The bad timing is just as they had spent all that money and expanded is when Amazon (and others) exploded with online baby stuff as well, just in time to kill them in yet another segment.
    I'm not certain how the breakdown was, but I'm pretty certain a sizable fund was paid into for the workers who lost their jobs.
     
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  4. G.B. Blackrock

    G.B. Blackrock Autobot Ally

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    $1 Billion in debt is certainly bad, I don't disagree.

    $6 Billion in debt, which was the case immediately after the Bain (and others) buy-out, is exponentially worse.

    I feel extremely comfortable putting all the blame on the buy out.
     
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  5. TheSuperion

    TheSuperion No am Bishoujo!

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    Bain was literally requiring TRU to pay off their own damn buyout. They didn't expect TRU to survive. It's all part of the plan nowadays. Venture capitalists have figured out that its more profitable in the short term to destroy businesses than it is to build them up. They'll eventually be the end of the american economy in its entirety if something is not done.
     
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  6. Zappit

    Zappit Well-Known Member

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    “We’ll have a website.”
     
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  7. MWG

    MWG Well-Known Member

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    I've been seeing a lot of stories recently about the problems Gamestop is having continuing to exist. Supposedly they were trying to sell themselves in late 2018 and declared they had given up on that in 2019 since nobody was interested in paying Gamestop the amount of money they believed they were worth. Some people think Gamestop could be gone by the end of this year. I think they could wind up fused with Toys R Us somehow, maybe the same group winds up owning them. There are a lot of vacant spaces in strip malls near stores like Walmart and Target that landlords are probably desperate to see leased, and might be willing to lease for decent prices. There are ways this could work, if Sears still exists anything is possible.

    +-MWG-+
     
  8. RKillian

    RKillian http://www.rktoyandhobby.com

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    Don't count on that lasting very long. Dropping all the way down to 400 stores between them and KMart is going to destroy whatever pricing power they had left. Mass store closings are just a more scenic route to the same graveyard.
     
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  9. Diamondback

    Diamondback Bitterly Clinging G1 Micromaster Malcontent

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    GOOD. For what they've done to PC gaming, I can't decide which GameSuck deserves more between dying in a fire or drowning in a sewage tank.

    *stares pointedly at all the Collector's Editions of various games that they've refused to allow to be sold here because of their signing exclusive distribution contracts and then only buying the console versions, particularly Hitman 2*
     
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  10. Enigma2K2

    Enigma2K2 Robot In Disguise TFW2005 Supporter

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    So what crooked company\'s trying to use them as a tax haven this time?

    Yeah, I know I\'m wrong, but you know what I mean...
     
  11. Calabask

    Calabask Waspinator Cultist

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    They were trying those in the US. Before they were called the Toybox outlets and specialized in Toys'r'us's own brand of toys(Journey Girls, True Heroes, etc.), they were experimenting with Geoffery's bargain bins in the US. I never saw the inside of one but was invited to help set one up but turned down the oppurtunity due to the location being to far for my ride to get to.
     
  12. Calabask

    Calabask Waspinator Cultist

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    The /only/ issue I really have with TRU corporate is that they gave executives multimillion dollar bonuses to "try to keep the company open." Suppoedly it was tied to the company remaining open, but who knows if that happened or not. It left a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of TRU employees.
     
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  13. BWfan86

    BWfan86 Well-Known Member

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    So... are these new stores? TRU branded products? As a side note, that is a terrible logo
     
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  14. Cykill 1

    Cykill 1 Well-Known Member

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    What they should do is start out small and in certain locations through out the US.  See how that does after a year or two of operations, and if it does well, slowly expand.  Maybe start out like GameStop.  GameStop has been a bit wobbly lately because they expanded too fast buy buying out ThinkGeek.  They should start shuttering some of their stores, maybe they can start to be more profitable moving forward.
     
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  15. Vanilla2

    Vanilla2 DALLAS COWBOYS!!!!

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    Tru to the gizzame.

    Stopped in the projects sold a half ounce of...
     
  16. Optimus423

    Optimus423 Toys"R"Us & Target veteran

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    “The Fallen shall rise again”
     
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  17. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    More like:

    TRU: We want to order 50,000 units.
    Hasbro: Minimum order amount is 200,000 units.
    TRU: Well ****.
     
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  18. MWG

    MWG Well-Known Member

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    Sears has been in a slow agonizing death spiral for a decade or so now. I'm not sure exactly what Eddie Lampert's plan is for the company, but he expects to profit from it somehow (and to hell with the employees) or why the court didn't put the company out of its misery last week. A few years ago there might have been a chance to save the company, but Lampert has made sure that didn't happen. Now Sears and Kmart are just slowly bleeding to death and nobody seems to care enough to put a quick end to them.

    +-MWG-+
     
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  19. toonbot

    toonbot Well-Known Member

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    Ever since Toys r us has been gone Target has been getting multiple cases of TF waves even Walgreens is fully stocked. I don’t see a need for Toys r us to return.
     
  20. RKillian

    RKillian http://www.rktoyandhobby.com

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    Lampert's been siphoning off real estate to his own holding company with every store they close. If Sears went completely under, creditors would force it to be sold for market value instead of the nickels and dimes he's been convincing the board of duhrectors to accept thus far. Maybe they think the money can be invested to help them turn around? But you have to remember, Lampert's inflicted some seriously crippling injuries and thinking a few off-brand band-aids will restore them to health is naive at best.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2019
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