Germany to lose not just one, but TWO toy store chains this year

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by Nevermore, Jan 15, 2019.

  1. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    Admittedly, both are mostly regional chains.

    BR Spielwaren is the German branch of BR, whose parent company Top-Toy, as we learned a few weeks ago, is ceasing all operations. The German branch declared bankruptcy back in early December and announced that it would pull back out of Germany entirely. BR operates 21 stores in Germany with 180 employees, ten of them in the city-state of Hamburg, the rest of them in the North German states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The stores have been stated to remain open for business for the time being.
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    Intertoys is a Dutch toy retailer that operates 23 stores in Germany, most of them in the West German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with the exception of one single store in the middle of Germany, in Frankfurt. Over the past few years, Intertoys has closed a lot of stores (in downtown Oberhausen, inside the Rhein-Ruhr-Zentrum shopping mall in Mülheim an der Ruhr and in Essen-Altenessen, just to name those I personally know of). Once a subsidiary of Blokker Holding along with its Dutch-only sister chain Bart Smit, both companies were sold off to Alteri Investors in 2017. Last July, it was reported that Intertoys would cease all operations in Germany, but operations in the Netherlands would not be affected. All stores are expected to close for good this January.
    German language news 1
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    Meanwhile, the German division of Toys"R"Us, which has been sold off to Irish toy giant Smyths, is expected to undergo a risky name change this year. The good news is that it was announced last August that the store in Neuss, which was supposed to close under the old owner, will remain open.
    German language news 1
    German language news 2
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2019
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  2. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    The name change for the first German Toys"R"Us stores into "Smyths" is underway. The current plan is to retain the existing workforce.
    German language news 1
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    However, at least one store (in Heilbronn) is closing this upcing Saturday, because the owner of the K 3 shopping mall didn't renew the lease for the store. 15 employees are going to lose their jobs, although the legal term of notice will apply.
    German language news
     
  3. RKillian

    RKillian http://www.rktoyandhobby.com

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    Is it typical for European companies to go "oh me oh my we're too broke to improve our service in any way" and then waste millions on pointless rebranding efforts?
     
  4. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    Toys"R"Us was still considered profitable in the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). That's why the Smyths brothers bought it in the first place! They're clearly seeing a future here.

    I just hope the current changes on their website are merely an indication of an upcoming complete rebranding and reboot of their online store. Right now, Toysrus.de has trimmed down its selection of Transformers offerings considerably, no longer giving customers the option to buy individual figures, but only select the assortment and then receive a randomly picked toy from said assortment. I really thought jokes like this had become a thing of the past with the introduction of individual EAN barcodes for every figure at the beginning of 2017.

    Hopefully, this is only a temporary situation.
     
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  5. Sammael

    Sammael MightyMegatron from ATT

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    European banks do it all the freaking time.
     
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  6. Windsweeper II

    Windsweeper II Banned

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    It's been considered the biggest magic trick in the marketing magicbook for decades over here.
     
  7. AzT

    AzT Moderator News Staff TFW2005 Supporter

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  8. OmegaTaco Supreme

    OmegaTaco Supreme Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb

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  9. AzT

    AzT Moderator News Staff TFW2005 Supporter

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