Goodbye TRU

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

http://fox2now.com/2018/03/09/toys-r-us-considering-closing-all-of-its-stores-report-says/

This is sad news indeed, I will miss them.

[William A. Rendfeld]

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 9:45:51 AM UTC-5, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> http://fox2now.com/2018/03/09/toys-r-us-considering-closing-all-of-its-stores-report-says/
>
> This is sad news indeed, I will miss them.

I'm really hoping that it doesn't happen. Despite some issues with a few of its employees, I like TRU.

[David Connell]

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 9:45:51 AM UTC-5, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:

> http://fox2now.com/2018/03/09/toys-r-us-considering-closing-all-of-its-stores-report-says/
>
> This is sad news indeed, I will miss them.

Say goodbye to poor service, worse selection and higher prices than every place else.

I'm shocked they've lasted this long.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

I used to work there. If I can find something there I prefer to buy it there. It's still the only place that will assemble bicycles or Power Wheels for customers, even at Christmas time. I remember being locked in the building overnight to assemble product for people to have under the tree.

[Rodimus_2316]

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 6:45:51 AM UTC-8, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> http://fox2now.com/2018/03/09/toys-r-us-considering-closing-all-of-its-stores-report-says/
>
> This is sad news indeed, I will miss them.

Me too. Growing up, I didn't have a TRU store in my hometown (and still don't, never have and probably never will). The nearest one was about 300 miles away, which I got to go inside when my family vacationed there. Just being there was so great as a kid, so very ecstatic, with all the enticing G1 toys for sale; it just sucked that I couldn't get anything real expensive (like Fort Max, which I found one time, and really wanted but couldn't get). I know I at least got G1 Bonecrusher there, and maybe G1 Runabout. Possible more. Sad to see the store go. There's always the memories, I guess.

[Travoltron]

On 3/9/2018 11:31 AM, Rodimus_2316 wrote:
> Growing up, I didn't have a TRU store in my hometown

Same. I grew up in a small town.

The nearest one was like an hour away. It was right next to a Chuck E.
Cheese. I would have to beg my dad, basically throw a tantrum, to get
him to stop the few times we ever were near. My dad hated both places,
especially Chuck E. Cheese.

My small town has grown a lot in the years. After I grew up, we finally
got a TRU and a Chuck E. Cheese.

But I rarely go to my local TRU. Like I've said before, today's TRU is a
shadow of its former self. It was once an amazing place with an
astonishing selection. Now it's really not that much better than the toy
sections at Walmart and Target.

[Rodimus_2316]

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 2:11:53 PM UTC-8, Travoltron wrote:
> On 3/9/2018 11:31 AM, Rodimus_2316 wrote:
> > Growing up, I didn't have a TRU store in my hometown
>
> Same. I grew up in a small town.

Me too. Kind of rural, but also semi-developed.

> The nearest one was like an hour away. It was right next to a Chuck E.
> Cheese. I would have to beg my dad, basically throw a tantrum, to get
> him to stop the few times we ever were near. My dad hated both places,
> especially Chuck E. Cheese.

My parent's took me to Chuck E. Cheese sometimes, with the closest one also hundreds of miles away. It was fun, but being at TRU was like being in a rich candy store.

> My small town has grown a lot in the years. After I grew up, we finally
> got a TRU and a Chuck E. Cheese.

That'll never happen here. The most developed thing in my hometown is a small shopping mall with one floor, and that'll never change.

> But I rarely go to my local TRU. Like I've said before, today's TRU is a
> shadow of its former self. It was once an amazing place with an
> astonishing selection. Now it's really not that much better than the toy
> sections at Walmart and Target.

That's as real shame. I'll never forget all those TRU commercials from the 80's about it, with the giraffe guy and all that.


- Rodimus_2316

[Zobovor]

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 8:10:27 AM UTC-7, David Connell wrote:

> Say goodbye to poor service, worse selection and higher prices than every
> place else.

Well, you're not wrong.

Since we're all sharing stories: I remember that when I was a kid, Toys "R" Us was always, always the go-to place to find toys. Sure, there were smaller chains like Kay-Bee Toys (who charged way too much) and most department stores had a toy section (Kmart, Ames, etc.) but Toys "R" Us had the biggest selection and always got the new stuff first. Their bright orange price tags were a most welcome sight.

I have fond memories of being there in 1987 and poring over the Throttlebot and Technobot and Terrorcon selection, looking for packages that contained Decoys I didn't have yet. (I figured if I was going to get those characters, I might as well end up with Decoys I wanted too.) They were also my go-to place to get Ninja Turtles action figures after I started collecting those.

To me, there was a certain mystique associated with the place. When an employee went to the back room to look for something, I always wondered what this magical back room actually looked like. My first real job at 18 years old was actually as seasonal help for Toys "R" Us over the holidays. It was either a 45-minute walk or a 20-minute bike ride. I finally got to see what this magical back room looked like! (Spoiler: It's just a bunch of metal racks with boxes on them.)

After I moved to Utah, my seasonal experience helped me to land a full-time job at the now-defunct Riverdale location. I loved working there. Besides helping me to feed my Star Wars and Beast Wars habit, I got to learn a lot about how retail worked and had a lot of fun doing it.

I really feel like the place has changed in recent years. They're no longer the only game in town (indeed, the closest Toys "R" Us to me is a place I have to go out of my way to get to). There's not much that you can find there that you can't get at Walmart for cheaper, or just order online for about the same price. eBay is the biggest toy store in the world, and nothing is ever out of stock.

So, they had a good run, and I will always have fond memories of the place, both as a customer and former employee. But, honestly, this has been coming for a while.


Zob (maybe my old work smock will be a collector's item some day)

[Travoltron]

Awesome '80s TRU commercial from the UK. A tie in with The Snowman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-HNRfBMXA8

[Rodimus_2316]

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 5:31:02 PM UTC-8, Travoltron wrote:
> Awesome '80s TRU commercial from the UK. A tie in with The Snowman
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-HNRfBMXA8

Found a collection of some:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dssZcpYfs4



- Rodimus_2316

[Travoltron]

It's official:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/toys-r-us-to-sell-or-close-all-u-s-stores-report#

I really hope that I'll be able to snag that not-Lego Technodrome on
some sort of clearance.
I never did see any of the MegaBloks Star Trek sets there.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

The owner/creator of Little Tikes and Bratz has put in a bid to buy and keep up to 400 TRU stores up and running.

Some of you sure seem happy about TRU closing. Nobody forced you to buy from them, and their closing will lead to rising toy costs across the board as manufacturers attempt to recoup their losses. After they do, there is no incentive for prices to go down. I for one am not looking forward to dealing with sketchy characters on Amazon or Ebay.

[David Connell]

On Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 1:27:32 PM UTC-4, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> The owner/creator of Little Tikes and Bratz has put in a bid to buy and keep up to 400 TRU stores up and running.
>
> Some of you sure seem happy about TRU closing. Nobody forced you to buy from them, and their closing will lead to rising toy costs across the board as manufacturers attempt to recoup their losses. After they do, there is no incentive for prices to go down. I for one am not looking forward to dealing with sketchy characters on Amazon or Ebay.

Not happy by any stretch; just completely unsurprised by the news. I've been mourning the loss of TRU as a good source for my plastic fix for years. This just finalizes it.

[Travoltron]

On 3/15/2018 10:27 AM, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> The owner/creator of Little Tikes and Bratz has put in a bid to buy and keep up to 400 TRU stores up and running.

All the toy companies really should put up some money to save it.

[Zobovor]

On Friday, March 16, 2018 at 5:18:13 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> All the toy companies really should put up some money to save it.

Some kind of cooperative venture between Hasbro, Mattel, etc.? So they would own the retail stores through which they would end up distributing their own products? Is that even legal? I don't know for sure, but something tells me that would violate some sort of anti-trust laws.


Zob (not an expert)

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

Anti trust laws have mostly been repealed or supplanted anyway. Mattel operates stores under the American Girl sub-line as it is. Mattel opened up American Girl departments in a selection of TRU stores a few years ago. Those were direct corporate sponsorship. They subleased a specific square footage from TRU.

TRU likely would have had more time if investment bankers and vulture capitalists didn't put them so far in debt in 2005-2006.