R.I.P. Toys R Us

0neiros

Master Member
All US Stores are closing. I remember as a kid making my poor father spend hours there. What did it for me was when they went PC and eliminated all toy guns. there was a time when there was an entire armory of toy guns, from wood musket replicas to even a Minigun with lights and sound. After they eliminated that section, they slowly just downhill, and uninteresting to even kids. Last time I went into a tru was when I was looking for the Titanium Battlestar Pegasus, and Even my wife was shocked at how uninteresting the place was, the BSG section was 2 - 4ft shelves.
 
All US Stores are closing. I remember as a kid making my poor father spend hours there. What did it for me was when they went PC and eliminated all toy guns. there was a time when there was an entire armory of toy guns, from wood musket replicas to even a Minigun with lights and sound. After they eliminated that section, they slowly just downhill, and uninteresting to even kids. Last time I went into a tru was when I was looking for the Titanium Battlestar Pegasus, and Even my wife was shocked at how uninteresting the place was, the BSG section was 2 - 4ft shelves.

My kids still love Toys R Us specifically because they have an armoury of Nerf guns. Lol
 
This has been a long time coming.. first they were (closing).. then they werent..

Then they were.. then some big name was going to bail them out or whatever..

Now, closing again?

Its not like I ever found their prices great anyways...


(sigh)
 
Sad that this iconic instituition is finally closing up.

The one in baileys crossroads in Alex. Va. was THE Toy store to go to back in my youth, I can still remember that certain smell it had! :lol
 
Yep Baileys Crossroads. Started begging to go there in the early 1960's. Got my fleet of Tonka construction equipment from there. Folks would let me 'go look' about every other month. Bought my first several Aurora Sci-Fi kits there too. Before they built the high rise next door it was a small airplane field.
 
This is a real bummer for me. As a child of the 80's and 90's, I LOVED going to Toys R Us. I used to get excited just watching the commercials with the theme song, and getting the catalog in the mail. Walking down the aisles was awesome, they had shelves of toys all the way to the ceiling. When I started getting into video games, they had demos set up of each system, I thought that was the coolest thing.

I made the mistake of getting a job there in my late teens, and man. The magic was gone, they changed the layout of the store, and the company was crappy to their employees. I havent been in a toys r us since. Kind of a bummer too, I dont have kids yet, but when I did, I wanted to take them there to see if maybe it wasnt the same because I was older. But now I cant. Stupid internet ruins everything. :cry
 
When I was a kid the closest one was over 100 miles away, so when we got to go to it, it was indeed a real treat. I remember in 1980 I had just gotten my drivers license and my buddy and I drove all the way to it so I could buy the first big AT-AT that came out. I remember it was close to a hundred dollars and for me at the time, that was some booku dinero, but I paid it!! I kept that baby on display until just a few years ago when the REALLY big one came on the market.

Later on in the late 90s/early 2000s, I was working at a place that was right next door to a Toys R Us and we would go in there on our lunch hour and explore. This was right when the Special Editions and The Prequels were coming out so there was a lot of cool SW toys. I bought tons of SE and prequel toys there!! Sadly, the movies weren't as fun as was the shopping!
 
Good riddance. Terrible customer service and ripped me off on the last item I purchased from them. Read the reviews out there about Toys R Us; there's a reason they've gone under.
 
Here in the U.K. toys r us has been a main stay for all our boys birthdays and christmas. Its the only shop we would actually go to. Looks like online shopping from now on
 
K*B was my place as a kid but I still have plenty of memories of ToysRUs from my early teens. Either way its gonna suck for the toy industry as a whole. A lot of stuff wouldnt have existed if TRU didnt buy it as an exclusive item.
 
I missed out on the glory days of the company as well but I remember seeing their adverts in comic books when I was a kid and dreaming I could go to one. I remember when it was announced toward the end of the 1990's that Toys R Us was finally coming to town, and there would be two locations, I was so excited! I will mostly remember it for the times I took the kids.
 
Sad that this iconic instituition is finally closing up.

The one in baileys crossroads in Alex. Va. was THE Toy store to go to back in my youth, I can still remember that certain smell it had! :lol

Yep Baileys Crossroads. Started begging to go there in the early 1960's. Got my fleet of Tonka construction equipment from there. Folks would let me 'go look' about every other month. Bought my first several Aurora Sci-Fi kits there too. Before they built the high rise next door it was a small airplane field.

Small world. I would shop there back when I was working in Falls Church for my children. This has been a very long time coming. Not much variety and very poor service. Nothing could ever replace the feeling of getting to go to TRU in the 70's and 80's. That was just the best feeling. Loved loading up on Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and Transformers. Back then, it seemed like they had it all.
 
Yeah bummer. We had a Children's Palace (not sure if that was national or OH) until the TRU came here around 85 or 86. I remember going there for a lot of birthdays to pick out what I wanted. That was in the 80s when you didn't know what toys were coming out, or even out, until you went to the toy store and browsed. It's definitely the end of an era. I guess there's still Walmart or Target, but it's not the same. With TRU the worst part was making it through the pool and outdoor toys to get to the "real" toys. :lol
 
Yeah bummer. We had a Children's Palace (not sure if that was national or OH) until the TRU came here around 85 or 86. I remember going there for a lot of birthdays to pick out what I wanted. That was in the 80s when you didn't know what toys were coming out, or even out, until you went to the toy store and browsed. It's definitely the end of an era. I guess there's still Walmart or Target, but it's not the same. With TRU the worst part was making it through the pool and outdoor toys to get to the "real" toys. :lol
I think Children’s Palace holds more of a sentimental place in my childhood memories. I was in high school when they went out and TrUs moved in, so most of my childhood shopping was at the Palace.
 
There's a toys r us one city over, a place that I have visited far more often lately because of my granddaughter. I actually did most of her Christmas shopping there, the prices were shockingly better than Amazon on the items she asked for.

Toys r us has slowly been dying, you could see it happening when my daughter was young, they carried waaaaay too much debt for far too long and could never un-bury themselves. It wasn't the Internet, they were in trouble before Amazon came around. They couldn't invest in better stores, employees, and so forth. You knew that someday they'd just collapse.

The big downside is that the small and medium toy companies are greatly screwed. Walmart and others already have or will expand their toy section, but they usually only have shelf space for the really big players.
LEGO might really get hit, toys r us owes them a boatload of money and their sales haven't been great lately.

Like many brick and mortars it is the end of an era, and a bit of a sad one for me. I spent a ton of money on video games back in the Sega Genesis days, bought my daughter toys and strollers and car seats, and now the same for my granddaughter. Even as an older dude I enjoy walking the aisles looking for something a bit different, not just some blister packed mass produced toys.

Maybe somebody can come in and save some aspect of the brick and mortar toy store. Call it Al's toy barn and wear a chicken suit, or something. :)
 
The Toys R' Us near me closed last September.

We started getting the big toy stores in the mid/late 70s. First Lionel Playworld, then Children's Palace, Kay Bee Toys, finally Toys R' Us. At one time we had all four open, but the Children's Palace did close not long after Toys R' Us opened. I liked Children's Palace as it had a pretty good hobby section. After C.P closed, then went Lionel's Playworld, in th early 2,000s Kay Bee Toys went under. Now Toys R' Us.

Except for Wal Mart and Target, it's a wasteland around me. The closest hobby shop caters more to the radio control and skate board crowd than modelers. The only brite spots are the Michael's and Hobby Lobby stores which have opened in the last couple of years.

David.
 

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