Toys R Us Rises From The Dead

[Cristiano]

Toys R Us bankruptcy auction canceled, brand set for revival

 

[Khamon]

We're gonna need a unicorn smilie for this one yeah.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Are they moving into old Blockbuster buildings?

 

[Free]

Blocks R Us? Toys R Buster?

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

What The actual F?

It's hilarious that the speculative lenders that drove TRU to bankruptcy in the first place imagine that they can "revive" a brand from a legal-name-only state of existence, when their attempt to reverse a slow decline in an otherwise fully functioning company failed so badly.

Because how is this supposed to work? It's not even like a Radio Shack situation where okay there's no more Radio Shack stores but Verizon can still sell Radio Shack brand batteries and stuff. Toys 'R Us isn't a product brand. They didn't sell store-branded toys; literally all they sold was other peoples' stuff. These guys just got done selling ALL physical assets in the entire US - every single store was closed and sold. I don't think the company has any employees anymore. So what the heck is the plan - buy a whole bunch of more stores and stock and hire some new employees and try to start over like nothing happened? We already know that's not a sustainable business model.

The only thing I can think of is an online-only presence. Like Newegg, except for toys. But that's going to be hard; Newegg struggles to compete with Amazon because it doesn't have the market sway to force vendors to offer free shipping or undercut prices and for that reason practically everything on Newegg is priced like 5-10% higher than it is on Amazon. I don't see how TRU thinks it can succeed under similar conditions without a longstanding reputation like Newegg has; anybody who has any nostalgia for TRU knows what just happened to the company and brand confidence is going to be extremely low.

 

[Essence Lumin]

As far as newegg goes, they used to have a great reputation, especially for customer service. They got bought out by some Chinese company a couple of years ago and now, bleh, might as well use Amazon.

 

[danielravennest]

Toys'R'Us rises from the dead.... just in time for Halloween. Seems legit.

 

[Khamon]

The only thing I can think of is an online-only presence. Like Newegg, except for toys. But that's going to be hard; Newegg struggles to compete with Amazon because it doesn't have the market sway to force vendors to offer free shipping or undercut prices and for that reason practically everything on Newegg is priced like 5-10% higher than it is on Amazon. I don't see how TRU thinks it can succeed under similar conditions without a longstanding reputation like Newegg has; anybody who has any nostalgia for TRU knows what just happened to the company and brand confidence is going to be extremely low.

Exclusive contracts with toy manufacturers would provide a competitive advantage. But I seriously doubt the people who own TRU have the connections or bartering capacity to pull that off. And there's no stock to manipulate which makes this announcement even stranger.

 

[Kara Spengler]

As far as newegg goes, they used to have a great reputation, especially for customer service. They got bought out by some Chinese company a couple of years ago and now, bleh, might as well use Amazon.

Yeah, at least with amazon if you have prime (and especially their cc) you can get some better deals. Although even with prime I still go to other online places for some stuff: it may cost more but I have preferred suppliers for, oh, apple computers.

 

[Blaise Glendevon]

If they want TRU to be a success, they're going to have to put some time into the experience. Like I said elsewhere, the two in my regional area looked like 20 year old K Marts. You can't charge the mark-up for Toys R Us exclusives that they charged and not give a similarly premium shopping environment.

 

[Kara Spengler]

If they want TRU to be a success, they're going to have to put some time into the experience. Like I said elsewhere, the two in my regional area looked like 20 year old K Marts. You can't charge the mark-up for Toys R Us exclusives that they charged and not give a similarly premium shopping environment.

Exactly. You do not even need to put a lot of work into it. For example, the place I prefer to get my macs from charges more than the list (although it comes out about even since they do not charge tax thanks to their location) but I gladly will pay them more because they do things like give some of the money to charity.

 

[Free]

I just want them to the start opening new stores with a milkshake bar at the front.

 

[danielravennest]

They should have play areas to try out some of the toys. Some of the old tabletop RPG and video game shops I used to patronize understood this.

 

[Kara Spengler]

They should have play areas to try out some of the toys. Some of the old tabletop RPG and video game shops I used to patronize understood this.

Yes, the store I used to go to as a kid had local gaming groups meet there, it was free advertising. Other stores do the same thing, like computer clubs meeting in a computer store. Whether sanctioned or not kids will play with the toys at a TRU so best to have a play area (or multiple smaller ones scattered through the stores).

 

[Jolene Benoir]

The controlling lenders...So, they wish to dine as a vulture. My hope is that someone else comes along at some point in the future and does exactly to them as they have done.

 

[Khamon]

We held computer club meetings at the local IBM office because there was no such thing as a computer store. Reminds me of the time I walked into a record store and there only CDs on the shelf. We may not even have CD stores at this point. We did have phone stores where these could be found in various exciting new colors:

 

[Essence Lumin]

We held computer club meetings at the local IBM office because there was no such thing as a computer store. Reminds me of the time I walked into a record store and there only CDs on the shelf. We may not even have CD stores at this point. We did have phone stores where these could be found in various exciting new colors:

That must have been after the early '80s (?). Before then there were no modular phone cords and the phone had to be installed by Ma Bell.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

That must have been after the early '80s (?). Before then there were no modular phone cords and the phone had to be installed by Ma Bell.

Had to have been mid-70's. I remember my family moving into a house in 1978 that had RJ-11 jacks installed. The phones were still leased from the phone company, but we could plug them in ourselves.

 

[Kara Spengler]

We had a showroom as well. It was the same place where you went to pay your phone bill/establish service. I would put that showroom as 70s/early 80s.