Toys R Us closing multiple US stores! 3-15-2018 - all stores expected to close

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by Prime135, Jan 23, 2018.

  1. Ajcrn1025

    Ajcrn1025 Well-Known Member

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    *raises hand*

    You won’t catch me in a Walmart during the day. I will only go begrudgingly in the middle of the night and that’s only because nothing else is open
     
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  2. netkid

    netkid Where's my Goddamn shoe!

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    Midnight 24-hour Walmart visits are the best because the store is almost empty.
    No crowds to wade through. No shady looking customers to avoid.
     
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  3. DrTraveler

    DrTraveler Wheeljack, Wheeljack, Wheeljack

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    Yeah, not a fan of Walmart. Much prefer Target. I see Walmart and Target existing like Home Depot and Lowes or Walgreens and CVS. Dueling stable pairs. One gets a temporary advantage fading to equilibrium and back to slight advantage.

    Facebook's news feed is blowing up with potential TRU closing stories, but they are all stuff we've seen before. As far as I know there's no new information.
     
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  4. Electro Rush

    Electro Rush Just a guy waiting for the perfect Whirl

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    We have no Targets, so its just Walmart and Kmart for me.
     
  5. worldsgreatest

    worldsgreatest Well-Known Member

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    Apparently you've been lucky enough to avoid Hot Wheels collectors.
     
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  6. Mark

    Mark Just here for the toys

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    The problem isn't just the customers. The staff doesn't make you feel welcome. They pretty much assume everyone is looking to rob them blind.

    They once gave me enormous amounts of shit when I tried to use a coupon on kids shampoo. The item I was buying was pictured on the coupon clear as day, but they still said it wasn't eligible. Eventually the manager came over and let me use it. At Target they just hit the override button no questions asked.

    What is this Kmart that you speak of? All of ours closed several years ago.
     
  7. Electro Rush

    Electro Rush Just a guy waiting for the perfect Whirl

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    We still have a few... somehow. We may be the only place where Kmart is profitable :lol 
     
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  8. OrionPaximus

    OrionPaximus Well-Known Member

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    In regards to Target. They had to pull out of the Canadian market and lost 1.5 Billion.
     
  9. netkid

    netkid Where's my Goddamn shoe!

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    I've encountered only a couple. Recently I overheard, yes overheard, one a couple aisles over in a TARGET. He was crazy. Yelling, no, screaming at store employees because they didn't have this car: 55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser - 2017 Hot Wheels (HW Redliners)

    My friend runs the RI Hot Wheels club chapter and there are a good number of sane collectors for that hobby. From talking with him though, I do know the most of the crazy ones have actually managed to be banned from the stores for life. There is a story of 2 local guys who beat the shit out of each other in the Hot Wheels aisle over some rare cars. Blood and all. They got banned for life and other retailers were notified of them.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2018
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  10. Carnage73

    Carnage73 Well-Known Member

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    We won't know for sure until Monday when the bankruptcy filling is made in court and the type of filing. Most retailers that file for a bankruptcy liquidation have to present a plan for approval by the judge. Once the judge signs off on the plan, THEN and ONLY THEN, will we know what's going to happen.
    In a word, No.
     
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  11. Mark

    Mark Just here for the toys

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    Yeah but that was more a failed acquisition. They bought out some other retailer but were never able to integrate everything properly.
     
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  12. Dragonclaw

    Dragonclaw Briefly the owner of KB Toys

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    Actually not true. As others have pointed out, if TRU liquidates, one of their more valuable assets is the brand name and trademarks / logos. Once sold, the new owners would be free to open up under the name without any of the other liabilities. Just like when TRU themselves bought the name and branding for KB Toys and FAO Schwartz (which are also assets for TRU to sell off...they didnt assume FAO or KBs debt loads)
     
  13. NSJ23

    NSJ23 Not today Chumly, not today.

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    Same here there are 3 different ones near me.
     
  14. Mark

    Mark Just here for the toys

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    They would be basically starting over. The stock would have been liquidated, as would the more valuable real estate. If suppliers wind up taking losses (which is likely) they may have trouble getting product. It's a big hill to climb.

    I would expect a Circuit City like online only operation, perhaps augmented with the seasonal stores they have been doing for a while now.
     
  15. Dcoleman44

    Dcoleman44 Well-Known Member

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    There's 3 in a 15 mile radius where I live.
     
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  16. Scott8797

    Scott8797 Well-Known Member

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    Is there any news about Tru? I heard they went to court today or are going to court today I’m not sure though.
     
  17. Dcoleman44

    Dcoleman44 Well-Known Member

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    Are you in metro ny/nj ?
     
  18. Hoffman

    Hoffman Well-Known Member

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    Neither one of those is really true. They bought out leases, not the actual company.

    Target's Canadian failure was a huge multi-faceted cluster-youknowwhat. They could have very well survived in Canada, they just screwed up absolutely everything, and instead of trying to fix it they just bailed.
     
  19. Pudglor Shmormuff

    Pudglor Shmormuff Well-Known Member

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    I'm not remotely surprised it came to this.

    Put simply: Online shopping is the ultimate method now. It's been the ultimate method for a while, and TRU is just another example of an in-store chain being erased by it.

    One of my friends brought up price matching- and here's my hang-up with that:
    When you offer price matching, to me, basically what you're saying is: Here's what I'd prefer you pay, but I'll accept a lesser payment if you can find an external deal for me to match.

    (Sips coffee) And even though that's a "nice" or complimentary thing to offer customers, in a way it does make you still look bad, because again: You're asking for more from me- and you're making me go out of my way to strike a deal with you, so that I'll still buy from you.

    Why would I do that when I can just hop over to Amazon, Ebay, or some other online vendor- whose price is ALREADY that low, possibly even lower, doesn't require me to strike a deal of any sort, or match anything, and all I have to do is press buy, wait a few days, and presto: Simpler path.

    It's not just the simplicity of online shopping that hurt TRU, but the presentation of online vendors- because again: I don't know an online vendor that does price matching, and I've compared online prices- of course, everybody does that- but I've never needed to jump through a price matching hoop to purchase something from an online vendor- the price was already super low, no further terms or agreements had to be met, and I simply clicked buy.

    So for TRU to do price matching, again- in a way it does make them look kinda bad- because there's still that cloud of "Here's what I'd prefer you pay..."
    But if you hop online: those vendors don't even need that, they don't even have to bring up price matching or making a deal or "agreeing to anything"- their prices are simply what they are- they're lower, they're better, and the process is simpler- so it's no surprise TRU is dead.

    But I lived in a TRU town for 2 years, and I did go there from time to time- but a majority of the times I went: the prices were too high compared with what Amazon, Ebay, or some other online vendor offered me.
    Sometimes I'd check several months later, just to see if TRU would adjust their prices: Nope. Remained the same. Didn't budge an inch.
    Amazon or Ebay always won.

    Frankly, if I EVER bought anything from TRU, it was because I had extra cash to burn, and I didn't want to wait for the item's arrival from an online vendor.
    If I had enough money to burn, and could get the item instantly: That's when TRU would win. But those cases were rare for me.

    But alot of people keep saying it's 100% Amazon and the internet's fault TRU failed- but from my perspective I don't think that's 100% true, I think TRU screwed themselves by doing things they shouldn't have, and that just made things worse.

    I'm not really sad to see TRU go.
    If anything, I'm surprised it lasted this long.
     
  20. NSJ23

    NSJ23 Not today Chumly, not today.

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    Nope, Southern California