R.I.P. Toys R Us

Its a trade off. The internet, Amazon, Ebay gets us the lowest possible price shipped for free. Then the brick and mortar store store closes and we wonder why? Online buying has its pitfalls. Not complaining...I love to save money, but I also dont pretend to ignore the affects. Its evolution like the Sears Catalogue was king pre 1950. The catalogue died and now Sears is on the ropes.

The problem is that so many brick and mortar stores are run horribly. I say that every time I walk into Best Buy. They never have anything that I want on the shelves. Yesterday, I went to Walmart and it was the first time in months that I was able to walk out with everything on my list. That won't happen again for a while, I'm sure. So many stores simply don't stock the shelves. I mean, there are Walmart exclusive Funko Pops that came out last month that are probably rotting in the back room because they haven't put one single new Pop on the shelves since before Christmas. This seems to be the new norm. Brick and mortar stores are chasing people online because they can't put actual product on the shelves. And they expect me to feel sorry for them? Sorry, not going to happen.
 
Anyone visit the Times Square store?

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Yeah I've been to that one numerous times over the years. Always loved seeing that massive T-Rex. It's sad to see Toy's R us close much like it was for Blockbuster. They're both places intertwined with my and many others childhood so it feels a bit sad to see these nostalgic establishments vanish.
 
I took my kids a few days ago to the store in Mesa so they could spend what was left on their Christmas gift cards.......wanted to get that done before the cards stop being accepted. That's the part that breaks my heart, kids loved walking the aisles with a gift card and endless options. And I loved going with them! Just not the same online. I do buy online occasionally, but the fun for me was walking the aisles and seeing something cool I never even knew existed. I found some really great stuff just by wondering around the store. Sure, when you buy online you get recommendations, but it's just not the same. And the other retailers like Walmart and Target just don't compare.

Hell, when I was in college I even worked at TRU during two Christmas seasons; I restocked the shelves overnight when the store was closed.........my inner child had a blast. Every time I walked in that store it reminded me of my childhood. For me, it's was like having a friend you could always visit. If I was going to a doctors appointment, or a movie, or getting a quick bite to eat, and I had a few minutes to spare, I would always drop in real quick and just walk around.

I can still recall how the shelves looked when I was a kid, full of Star Wars and GI Joe toys like the pics below. Sure gonna miss it.............

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I'm going to stop into the local store tomorrow to see if they have anything worth buying. TRU has been so terrible for things to buy anyhow that I'm not holding my breath.
 
What happened to toys??? Just look at those pictures above, TONS of product! Now you're lucky id you see one or two of a vehicle or playset....and that's IF they even make them, which they don't much anymore.

I know the answer to my question...probably something to do with video games, hand-held devices and ordering on-line, but it still breaks my heart that those days seem to be long gone. Even my own kids don't seem interested in toys and hardly ever requested to "go to the toy store". My 6 y.o. daughter still plays with toys but even she spends a majority of her time playing games on hand-held devices. :(
 
Fond memories of spending an hour playing the demos of video games I was too poor to actually own. The TRU in my town shut down a little over 10 years ago, but it was a integral part of my summer days as a kid. Walk around the mall, then walk across the street and catch a movie, then walk up the hill to Toys R Us and play some video games until it was time to catch the bus home.

I also remember being much younger, about 6 or 7, and always knowing that the Christmas season was in the air because every other commercial on TV was for Toys R Us.

One commercial really sticks out in my head and I wish I could find a video of it so I could wax nostalgic. It was just a bunch of kids dancing around with their toys to "Let's Hear It For the Boy," except it was "Let's hear it for the toys." Anyone else remember that?
 
Thanks for the heads up! I wasn't able to sneak away from work today, so that makes me feel better.

I was in TRU tonight and they had those signs out. They also haven't done anything to clear out the back room, not a single thing had been stocked since I was in there last. So we left empty handed.
 
I remember going to TRU as a kid when they would have these little mini parades in the store (or maybe it was in the parking lot) of people dressed up in character as popular toys, like He-Man, Star Wars characters, and others. They would throw out little colored tokens that you could redeem for prizes of different value. I specifically remember my mom taking me to TRU after we saw ROTJ and being so excited to buy a Scout Trooper and speeder since that was my favorite part of the movie. That started a long standing tradition of going to TRU after seeing a movie that had toy tie-ins. I continued that all the way up to Iron Man in 2008.
 

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