Toys R Us is closing all 800 stores

[Mayhem]

Toys "R" Us is closing its doors after 70 years in business. About 33,000 jobs in the United States are at risk.

At the time of its bankruptcy, Toys "R" Us disclosed it had about $5 billion in debt and was spending about $400 million a year just to pay for it.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/14/news/companies/toys-r-us-closing-stores/index.html

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How does a company find themselves $5 billion in debt - when they account for 20% of all U.S. toy sales?

[Squid]

I saw this on the news tonight.  Amazon has become a monster and that, plus the internet in general, has killed off so many.  It's sad but the brick and mortars just can't compete and we want the best possible prices.

[Stinkerbell]

I saw this on the news tonight.  Amazon has become a monster and that, plus the internet in general, has killed off so many.  It's sad but the brick and mortars just can't compete and we want the best possible prices.

My daughter and I were talking about this today. I'm surprised they've stayed in business as long as they have. They are one of the most expensive place to buy toys. It's ridiculous, their prices.  Forget Amazon's impact - Target, Walmart, KMart - those three brick and mortar stores were cheaper than Toys R Us. It might be because they had other profit making departments like movies, clothing, groceries, etc., to help take the sting out of loss of revenue due to lower toy prices, I don't know. But I stopped shopping TRU years ago because it was just too expensive.

[Mayhem]

But I stopped shopping TRU years ago because it was just too expensive.

I agree with you there - they were crazy expensive.

However with that said ... they still had a ~20% hold of all U.S. toy sales. It's boggles my mind how they ended up $5 billion in debt.

[Squid]

Toys WuЯ Us

[gigi]

Toys Wur Us

I was never a fan, not only too expensive,  too hard to find stuff.  I don't think I EVER bought something there when I didn't have to ask for help to find it.  However, there were times I bought stuff from them on line

[Mayhem]

Toys R Us has set up a GoFundMe campaign and has raised over $200 million so far.

They need to reach $1 billion by May 28th - and you know ... I think they might just pull this off. Stranger things have happened!

https://www.gofundme.com/helpsavetoysrus

[Squid]

Toys R Us has set up a GoFundMe campaign and has raised over $200 million so far.

They need to reach $1 billion by May 28th - and you know ... I think they might just pull this off. Stranger things have happened!

https://www.gofundme.com/helpsavetoysrus

Wow, I'm surprised.  People must have a real, emotional connection to TRU for this to happen, especially when most people feel they are/were too expensive.  If they pull it off, good for them!

[gigi]

agreed, hate to see any business go under...... here it's JCPenny and Sears........................ headed down hill............. worse is for the mom and pop businesses.  My daughter had 3 Children Boutiques and shut her doors 5 years ago when her customers were coming in taking pictures of stuff and ordering on line................. good thing her husband has a fantastic business sense and saw it coming before they lost their shirts....................

[Squid]

I have whole malls near me that are slated for demolition due to the failure of its brick and mortar stores.  Main street disappearing is next?

[Mayhem]

My daughter had 3 Children Boutiques and shut her doors 5 years ago when her customers were coming in taking pictures of stuff and ordering on line.

Seriously? Maybe I have been away from the big city for too long, but no one here would dare do that. I've never seen anyone take pics of anything in any store.

[Squid]

It wouldn't surprise me if it happened.  I am in an area where it is dog eat dog and everyone wants to find the best price because it's an expensive area to live.

[gigi]

Seriously? Maybe I have been away from the big city for too long, but no one here would dare do that. I've never seen anyone take pics of anything in any store.

She's in a small vacation type town in Michigan and I'm in the Chicago burbs and I can remember back to when she was in Highschool looking for school dance dresses and taking pictures so we could decide later...................  maybe they thought you had your camera out for other reasons................... hmmmmmm?   LOL  THAT'S A JOKE

[Stinkerbell]

You know, I'm not at all impressed with this. When I think of the diseases, the homelessness, the veterans.... all the people who would benefit from these millions of dollars... when I think of all the good this money would do... and people are donating it to keep a greedy company in business but they won't donate to the charities which would use the money to help the needy?  It makes me sick, and it makes me incredibly sad.

[Yoming 2]

The bi-jillionaire Isaac Larian is involved and going to keep the stores open....so another crisis has been solved and the world will keep on turning.................


Bratz doll-maker's CEO leads GoFundMe effort to salvage Toys R Us and save hundreds of stores.   

[gigi]

Holly Moley he's giving 100 M $

[Stinkerbell]

So all these bjillionaires can come together and save the money whore Toys R Us, while our Vets go without medical treatment, homeless numbers are getting higher,  and people around the world are starving.

Brilliant. I'll never shop there again.

[Mayhem]

It doesn't look like it's going to happen anyways. They were only able to raise an additional $54,000 in the past 8 days on the GoFundMe page.

Also if you visit their website, they are no longer taking online orders and state that all the brick or mortar stores are now having their "going out of business" sales.

[Ethan]

As a Toys R Us kid myself I'm sad to see an end to an Era.  But like Stinkerbell said above, we have much larger world issues we need to address.  Where's all the $100 mil donations to help the sick and needy?

[Squid]

...the brick or mortar stores are now having their "going out of business" sales.

My friend went to TRU yesterday to buy Easter toys for her kids and said she couldn't believe how high their prices were even during a GOOB sale.