>The world’s largest chain of toy stores is considering whether it should declare bankruptcy amidst its deep financial challenges.
>Longstanding US toy retailer Toys ‘R’ Us, which also operates the Babies ‘R’ Us retail space for baby products and accessories, has hired restructuring advisors from law firm Kirkland & Ellis to deal with its debt of approximately $400 million, according to a report by CNBC.
>The debt is due in 2018, which could force the toy store chain to acquire additional financing or go into bankruptcy if it unable to increase its sales over the upcoming holiday season
Retail is failing left and right. It used to be just overpriced clothes and sports store earlier this year. But now the toy giant Toys R Us is considering bankruptcy if this holiday season is a flop.
And we can't just blame Amazon for this. Toys R Us has their own website. And the prime customers of Toys R Us are kids and their parents. Even LEGO recently had to cut 1400 jobs as their sales plunged. Poor toy sales from Toys R Us has a cascade effect on toy and cartoon companies.
Americans just don't have the money to spend anymore because of low wages and soaring costs of rent. Toys R Us used to be an amazing place to go as a kid. Now they will probably see some downsizing of stores. And this means cartoon and video-game companies will also see an effect as their sales dry up as well.
>jack up the price of everything by 10% >have no clue why sales are poor >declare bankruptcy >"help! why is this happening to us!"
Jackson Sanchez
It's mostly Wal Mart.
Wal Mart (and Target) can take 2 toy aisles and make them into 12 toy aisles for November and December. They carry ONLY the most popular toys. They are cheaper. And they can use that space for something else come January. Large dedicated stores like ToysRUs just can't compete with that.
t. Former KB Toys Manager.
Jose Gray
>don't adapt to compete with your competition >die
well i never
Asher Perez
Their selection is also shit and their stores haven't been kept up. They look like poorly maintained K-Marts.
Luke Anderson
Yup, same thing happened to radioshack
It is alot more than 10% though. Kids dont want shitty little toys anyhow, vidya/phones killed toys
Oliver Martinez
Another one bites the dust.
Mason Miller
Toys R Us does have a vidya section though. Even Gamestop is seeng sales dip and stores closing.
Noah Perry
A casualty of the assumption that things would continue to increase forever. Depressed markets reveal bad business models, so many businesses got by only because the world was a gravy train until the 90s
Carson Rodriguez
>Even LEGO recently had to cut 1400 jobs as their sales plunged. Fuck Lego and their overpriced shit. I hate that my son is into them.
Charles Davis
Aww man there goes my nostalgia for kb toys :(
Jaxson Thompson
It's literally because of online shopping, don't be stupid. Bad decision making may have accelerated it but that's all. Amazon and the like are a huge problem for physical retail competition.
Asher Richardson
everything is being hollowed out by the financialization of the economy and the Wall Street vampire
these stores can exist, people buy toys for their kids, the prices aren't that bad but the stores are not invested in they can't return some exotic profit like enslaving some random populace with a port and a tin pot dictatorship offers
Robert Nelson
This right here is the most political thing I have seen on this forum tonight. Thanks man, im woke now
Liam Bell
Don't order from TRU in the first place. There's a ton of ways to buy cheaper Lego.
Jose Phillips
Or maybe, just maybe, kids don't want toys anymore now that they got vidya games?
Gavin Foster
whites are not having kids a mexicans buy toys at goodwill
Carson Ross
$200 for some moulded pieces of fucking plastic that probably cost less than 0.01 to produce.
Evan Wright
KB Toys... now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time...
Nathaniel Ramirez
its 2017 nigga even if I had a console I could amazon prime everything and not get ripped off when I sell used
Ian Wright
This isn't even slightly true
Josiah Hernandez
I bet this has nothing to do with Яussian hackeяs.
Ethan Mitchell
...
Parker Cook
>Americans just don't have the money to spend anymore because of low wages and soaring costs of rent.
Not really accurate dude. Americans have the money. More so than they did 8 years ago. Now they are buying their toys along with their groceries, electronics and household products.
>And this means cartoon and video-game companies will also see an effect as their sales dry up as well.
Again, this has nothing to do with American wealth or means. I'm not really sure what you're trying to allude to with Cartoons, but video games are bought online now. Gamestop is a thing of the past. Anyone remember Babbages retail stores? Blockbuster? Video stores?
Jordan Barnes
Imo as an adult who grew up with legos, get your son minecraft and model kits instead.
Lincoln Nguyen
Murdered by Walmart and Amazon
Amazon is getting too big guys, and they're planning on cucking another big city with another HQ.
Tyler Reyes
>The world’s largest chain of toy stores is considering whether it should declare bankruptcy NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Gabriel Lopez
I remember being a kid and being so hyped to go into KB Toys in the mall.
Angel Cruz
Kids want tablets, phones and microtransactions these days. Can't really blame them when said tablets and phones replaced the TV as baby sitters
Angel Williams
I have four white kids. They all love toys.
Aiden Gray
>Don't order from TRU in the first place. There's a ton of ways to buy cheaper Lego. Like? Mega Bloks don't count. LEGO is expensive everywhere. Even used sets because they're limited runs
Benjamin Murphy
>Go to radio shack for USB cord extension >3 feet for 30$ >Go to dollorama >3 feet for 5 dollars
Ian Sanders
>minecraft I don't think he wants an autistic son
Grayson Richardson
I don't, I just used that pic because OP was talking about Toys"R"Us.
Jason Morales
Do children still play with toys. Haven't they all gotten ipads. I guess this is somewhat relative to what was portrayed by the Pewdiepie South Park episode.
Nicholas Ward
yep, putting a skyscraper sized one into boston martys salivating over it and will do anything to be bezos bitch
Noah Flores
>Yup, same thing happened to radioshack A few months ago I browsed the electronics aisles in Wal Mart, when I hadn't been there for a while. Holy crap, no wonder Radio Shack collapsed. No resistors, capacitors, or transistors, but they were killing it with normie parts like cables and memory cards.
The thing that surprised me the most about Radio Shack while they were doing final clearance was how fucking many HDMI cables they had been trying to sell for $35 each. Nobody even wanted them at 50% off.
Used Lego is a thing. Especially if you have a "salvage" Goodwill store where they throw stuff in bins and sell by the pound.
Hudson Robinson
I could blame Lego. If their toys weren't so overpriced Toy R Us would be fine. But then again, if Legos weren't so overpriced, kids wouldn't be staring at the electric Jew / glowing rectangle, which is not (((the program)))
Nicholas Barnes
I was never allowed to go to toys r us because my mom always said they were too expensive. The only times I ever really wanted to argue was when they had the pokemon events there in the 90's/early 2000's
But amazon has to be giving them dicking tenfold from what walmart was a decade ago
Jacob Jenkins
>Driving brother around >Decides he wants an amiibo and some magic cards for his birthday >Go to Toys R Us down the street >Prices are gouged higher than Gander Mountain did >Drive a few blocks down to a local "nerd shop" >Save $20 on the exact same shit There's a reason they're going under.
Oliver Stewart
All business transactions MUST be monitored
Toys and babies r us is no exception
Did you know baby seats for cars are barely regulated? They have too long an expiration date. We must regulate how long a seat can last ... or else you don't love children.
Adam Russell
My 178th flag
Kevin Williams
Stop. Please. It hurts.
John Richardson
This, the only way smaller pricier chains have any hope is with different service philosophies, i.e. offering wrapping, intensive customer service to pick out gifts, carrying foreign brands, shit like that. When it comes to cheap barely-organised half-damaged pile of Mattel/Hasbro/SpinMaster shit nobody can ever touch wal-mart.
Jaxson Moore
youd get more out of buying him boxes full of random pieces and save money
Dominic Williams
Its their own fault. They never tried to modernize. They had a solid chance at cornering the market on a lot of things. Video games, baby registry, collectables. and even retro toy\. but no. They decided to sit on a ludicrous of produce and keep their price bloated, rather than offer a membership or some kind of loyalty program.
Basically Toy R us thought they could keep charging a premium, but never offer any incentive or bonus to shopping there.
Xavier Fisher
Ridiculous huh. I'll have no sympathy if they ever go out of business.
John Perry
>And we can't just blame Amazon for this "blame" is the wrong word, but yes you can.
americans love convenience. why the fuck would i go to 2 online checkouts when i can get everything from 1?
literally the same thing as walmart swallowing up mom and pop stores.
why go to 5 mom and pop stores when i can go to one place for everything
unfortunately for walmart, amazon will take them out over the next decade as well.
enjoy the inevitable result of capitalism goys. a few global monopolies literally ruling everything
It might be the proliferation of kids watching netflix and youtube instead of broadcast telivision. No commercials to create the demand.
Jeremiah Sanders
could they fit anymore shit in that url
Robert Watson
F
I used to love that store dearly as a small child in the 90s. When the one in my area closed down a small part of me died inside. Children of the future will never again know the joy and wonder that was wandering through countless toy aisles and enjoying it even if you didn't get anything at the end of it.
Jonathan Baker
I like that Africa doesn't exist.
Camden Ramirez
>my little cousin begs parents to buy expensive legoshit >doesnt even bother building them properly and just builds some amalgamation of shit Like an user mentioned earlier, buying some bulk of random pieces would be much more easy on the wallet
Wyatt Fisher
His friend tried to get him into Minecraft, but he didn't really care for it. He played the game with him a few times, but it's just not his thing. I tried to get him into model car kits, but he didn't like that either. Thanks for the advice though.
Nathaniel Anderson
>I'm not really sure what you're trying to allude to with Cartoons
I'm a big fan of Sup Forums and cartoons. And one of the main reasons why cartoons are made in the first place is to sell merch to kids. Mostly toys, DVDs, and clothes. Cartoons are expensive to make- and they do need the sales from the kids in order to keep making episodes. MLP is mostly just a cartoon to sell toys to little girls. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are mostly just ads to sell vidya, toys, and cards. Most big hit cartoons have a toy sales model behind them.
Less toy sales really will have an effect on cartoons. Just like how the closing of Borders had a dramatic effect on manga sales and Tokyopop's closure.
Ryder Gonzalez
wtf, how come no one knows your county?
Noah Collins
The 90s were nothing special, as a little kid sure I like most of that shit but if internet existed back then I would not watch or play any of that corny shit.
Owen Cooper
Go for discounts, use Bricklink, shop before you buy. Walmart does a lot of clearance and stores like Barnes and Noble have a discount program.
Henry Barnes
I wouldn't trust it, you don't know if they're using safe grade plastic and colourings or the cheap chinese ones which cause cancer or mimic estrogen. Yes I am serious. This stuff affects children more.
Lucas Cook
>buying vidya offline
Logan Martin
The best Lego clone I have encountered was from Tyco. They were ABS, made to roughly the same spec as Lego, main difference was that plates were 1/2 high instead of 1/3 high.
Also, fuck Mega Blocks except for their castles/dragons specific parts.
Lincoln Russell
Macy's is a place where women go to try on a dress before they go back home to order it from Amazon at half price.
Toys R Us is a place to look at that bicycle for your kid before you order it at Amazon for 20% less.
Best buy is a place to look at that new TV before you order it from Amazon 10% less.
Take a test drive at the dealership before you buy your car at Costco.
Retailers are just being used now and their independent online model is failing. Retailers need to fall in or get the fuck out. Its the way of the world.
Adam Williams
>then >first lego I received was a bucket full of assorted parts >had very few 'sets' >everything went in one box anyway >had off-brand imitation lego in there too >built only original designs
>now >have young relatives >they never build anything original >they only want these £100 'sets' >they build them once from the manual then never touch them again
Carter Butler
People have the money to spend on their kids but they don't.
All the 90s kid bullshit is not a function of nostalgia, it was a function of children being a heavily marketed to group. Parents had money and they were willing to spend it on their kids.
Not so today. Adults are greedy and will only spend money on themselves. Discovery zone is dead but dave and busters is through the roof.
Austin Gonzalez
Amazon needs to get regulated hard.
Hudson Perez
They only ever made money during the Christmas season. The rest of the year was just deadweight and now that amazon is so convenient and kids watch youtube videos to see new toys, there's just no reason for them to exist.
Chase Hernandez
why? is it too good huh? fuck you and everything you stand for
Eli Green
Very true. "Free storefronts" for online trade.
Christian Reed
>Used Lego is a thing. Especially if you have a "salvage" Goodwill store where they throw stuff in bins and sell by the pound Thanks. We tried the used Lego thing, but it's usually missing pieces, so we stopped.
Ayden Ramirez
The reason Toys 'R' Us and Lego are failing are because they can't price their products reasonably. Legos are ABS plastic. You can get a Kg of ABS commercially, in any Lego color, for under $20. You can hardly find 8 oz of legos for that price. I was at a Goodwill yesterday, and saw a tub of legos going for $135.00 - an insane price, but it goes to show what Goodwill thought they were worth. Ten years ago, it would have been $80, and 20 years ago, it would have been $30 for that tub of plastic pieces.
If these idiots would just lower their prices to something that the average parent might consider buying for their kid at a random trip to the store, then they would be making more money. As things are, they will go under, and rightfully so.
Jeremiah Roberts
I've got a friend who's into jewing people with hot wheels and apparently it's a big market among the 30+ demographic making him one of the young guys in it Lots of old dudes at Kmart K-Days (didn't even know those were a thing until I got dragged to one) and toys r us on delivery days Anyways I go to my local toysrus every once in a while and I saw recently they had lineups outside for a release of some game so it's doing okay probably Most of the shit in there is the same as childhood and worse to be honest, the only toys that really improved over the years are Nerf and related firearm simulators, besides that exception the market has really stagnated and I scarcely see more than two kids in there every time I visit. I think the responsibility for this lies with cheap producers unwilling to take risks and make new products, whamo had a lot of shit that flopped and others are stiull around to this day, but they survive off royalties and no longer innovate whereas other toy producers expect shitty toys of movie properties to sell for some reason
I'd like to see inside the production end of things before I go off blaming amazon and such
Michael Price
you can buy cars at costco now?
Owen Jones
He likes the sets though and they have specialty pieces that he can't from randoms. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Jose Lewis
i wish i had a lot of toys as a kid if i have kids i'd buy them lots of toys
Gabriel Lee
Retailers are dying because they overprice the shit out of everything because they used to get away with it. They could absolutely lower prices and still keep a strong profit but they are greedy and believe "we USED to be able to rip everyone off so we refuse to do anything less than that".
Camden Butler
Do you think it will change anything? Russia doesn't have national online trade monopoly giant. Over 9000 online shops but trend is the same. People look at things in physical stores then buy shit online for less price. You can't change the fact that online has less overheads.
Joseph Gutierrez
Have you ever been in one of their stores? They're boring and outdated. Their toy selection isn't very extensive and their workers are apathetic and often don't have a clue as to what they're doing. I hate to sound like a hipster, but back when I was in middle school, Toys R Us had a huge selection of great toys that are now collectibles and worth hundreds. Tl;dr cartoons are shit nowadays and kids don't want the merchandize.
Dylan Green
are millennials killing the toy industry?
Adrian White
I fucking hate Walmart. It's a symbol of what has happened to our economy under globalism and a diminished quality of life.
Josiah Anderson
Buy him the /csg/ legos from Sup Forums. They are the same thing but way way cheaper.
Ryan Gonzalez
>have terrible merch >prices are higher than other brick and mortar stores for the exact same item >stores look like a run down kmart
Elijah Rodriguez
How old is he if you don't mind me asking? My son follows the instructions precisely and takes really good care of them, so it's hard to tell him no just because I don't want to give money to the plastic Jew.
Blake Reyes
Additionally, the loss of elbows, knees, and waists in action figures has dramatically decreased their desireability. The prices have gotten higher as they pick up expensive IPs to try to pander to idiot-leftygeeks instead of children, and because of this I hardly play with the new toys anymore.
Landon Young
There will probably be a 50% decrease in brick and mortar stores over the next 15 years. If I want something, I look for it online.
The exception is liquor because that shit is stupidly expensive to ship.
Grayson Ross
Yeah, but you have to buy them in a 4-pack.
Andrew King
At least nobody said Mediaplay yet.
Hudson Scott
>Amazon needs to get regulated hard. I have to disagree with this one bud. Almost anyone can be an Amazon distributor if they want to be one. What does Amazon really stock?
>Very true. "Free storefronts" for online trade. Indeed. That LED/LCD/Plasma TV had a 1500% mark up 10 years ago because they could. Now its 50% if that. If someone is willing to sell it for less because they have less overhead then more power too them.
Personally I'm in wholesale and not terribly threatened by what's happening, but even true wholesale is starting to die with manufacturers willing to sell direct to the consumer.
In the end the only real way to survive is to offer a service that's valuable. Construction wholesale will remain strong for a long time because of its technical aspect. You can buy a faucet online, but you can't buying a bathroom. You can buy a valve, but you can't buy a pipe fitter.
Learn the trades. They will be the last holdout in the online world.
Samuel Price
>Thanks. We tried the used Lego thing, but it's usually missing pieces, so we stopped. >missing pieces Ah, kitfags. I should go to /toy/ and see what kind of Lego factions they have.
Matthew Evans
>mfw KB toystore >mfw Child's World >mfw Toys 'r' Us >mfw FAO (((((((SCHWARTZ))))) The era of the toy store is over. GameStop is next
Austin Miller
only time to buy legos are at xmas time and fuck buying those special sets. the big boxes filled with various pieces are the best.
Kevin Thomas
so let me guess, amazon will buy them and we'll have a CIA owned marketplace top to bottom
Christian Peterson
>Yeah, but you have to buy them in a 4-pack. KEK
Yes, you can buy cars are Costco.
Sebastian Rogers
>Internet sales soar >Toys R Us has their own website >Lego sales are down
Maybe no one wants to play with Legos...
Andrew Evans
>why? is it too good huh? not that because they haven't made any money yet, too big with no profits
Parker Reyes
every toys r us i've been in looks like it hasn't been altered in the slightest since 1995 that said nobody gives a fuck about canada if they have a foothold in the states so there's that
Matthew Jenkins
All those places smelled like rubber and piss anyway
Adam Thompson
Surprise, surprise. Kids don't play this physical toys anymore.
And I mean why would they? Their parents buy them tablets at the age of five.
