In late June, the toy and baby product retailer Toys “R” Us was forced to close the doors of all 807 locations nationwide due to financial issues. In 2005, a group of investors bought out the Toys “R” Us name for $6.6 billion, with hopes to turn the low-profiting company at the time into a money-harvesting giant. Unfortunately, this massive buyout overwhelmed the company in debt straight from the first handshake. As years passed, competition with other stores and online retailers began to intensify, causing profit margins to drop once again. Already in serious debt, facing the “retailer rivalries” was not helping the Toys “R” Us business whatsoever, as it continued to tank lower and lower. Once 2017 came around, the company’s financial status had hit rock-bottom, as they were left no other option but to file for bankruptcy protection. Simply put, doing so protected Toys “R” Us from being contacted in any way by creditors who sought out to collect the money the company owed but could not pay. Early this year, they had to begin liquidation of sales across all stores because of the lack of money to pay off the debts, which soon led to the closure of every store with the name Toys “R” Us” or Babies “R” Us” on it.
Although the closing of the stores left many Toys “R” Us kids heartbroken, patrons of the store may begin to soon see a revival of the child-loved company. In October, the current owners announced in a bankruptcy court file that their plan to auction off the company has been called off. The company is looking to proceed with a plan where the assets would be handed over to yet another group of investors, while still being led by the current owners. By doing so, they are looking to “revive” what is widely known as the iconic store that makes children’s dreams come true and brings happiness to households everywhere.
According to CNN, the court file said their plan for the company is to “create new, domestic, retail operating businesses under the Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us names, as well as expand its international presence and further develop its private brands business.” Though there was no disclosure to as how they would go about doing so, acting upon these plans would bring in families and consumers from all over the globe. The new business from locations worldwide would also be bringing in a new, refreshed source of income to the table for the Toys “R” Us brand as a whole. Although bringing the idea to reality is still a work in progress, it is a step forward to bringing back Toys “R” Us and creating millions of more Toys “R” Us kids from many future generations to come.