Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

storewanderer
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by storewanderer »

arizonaguy wrote: March 8th, 2018, 1:52 pm The US division is now preparing to liquidate:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... operations
I wonder if Bed Bath and Beyond would try to buy this or part of it, to add to its other peculiar low volume operations. I think they bought World Market out of bankruptcy. Bed Bath and Beyond has been on a serious SKU-cutting program lately in lower volume locations though, both under their namesake and World Market.
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: March 8th, 2018, 7:14 pm
arizonaguy wrote: March 8th, 2018, 1:52 pm The US division is now preparing to liquidate:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... operations
I wonder if Bed Bath and Beyond would try to buy this or part of it, to add to its other peculiar low volume operations. I think they bought World Market out of bankruptcy. Bed Bath and Beyond has been on a serious SKU-cutting program lately in lower volume locations though, both under their namesake and World Market.
If Toys R Us was bought, then Babies R Us would probably be folded into Buy Buy Baby. It's a real shame Toys R Us is going away but I think what always harmed it was the one-two punch of the growth of discounters with real toy sections in the 1990s and Amazon in the 2000s.
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by babs »

Toys R Us isn't going to attract any buyers. The extreme seasonality and declining market share is going to scare everyone away. Babies R Us might attract a last minute buyer. My understanding is that part of the business is about as unseasonal as it gets in retail. If the P&Ls look good, I could see this being bought by someone.
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by jamcool »

Could someone pick up FAO Schwartz? (Which TRU destroyed)
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by babs »

jamcool wrote: March 9th, 2018, 11:25 am Could someone pick up FAO Schwartz? (Which TRU destroyed)
FAO Schwartz isn't owned by TRU:
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/ar ... ixty-group
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: March 8th, 2018, 7:14 pm
arizonaguy wrote: March 8th, 2018, 1:52 pm The US division is now preparing to liquidate:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... operations
I wonder if Bed Bath and Beyond would try to buy this or part of it, to add to its other peculiar low volume operations. I think they bought World Market out of bankruptcy. ...
No, Cost Plus World Market wasn't bankrupt (although I do wonder how they stay in business).
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by J-Man »

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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by arizonaguy »

pseudo3d wrote: March 9th, 2018, 7:15 am
storewanderer wrote: March 8th, 2018, 7:14 pm
arizonaguy wrote: March 8th, 2018, 1:52 pm The US division is now preparing to liquidate:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... operations
I wonder if Bed Bath and Beyond would try to buy this or part of it, to add to its other peculiar low volume operations. I think they bought World Market out of bankruptcy. Bed Bath and Beyond has been on a serious SKU-cutting program lately in lower volume locations though, both under their namesake and World Market.
If Toys R Us was bought, then Babies R Us would probably be folded into Buy Buy Baby. It's a real shame Toys R Us is going away but I think what always harmed it was the one-two punch of the growth of discounters with real toy sections in the 1990s and Amazon in the 2000s.
Toys R Us reminds me a lot of Sears and Kmart.

Two other retailers that had their peak in the 1980s/early 1990s and failed to adapt to changing demographics, shopping habits, and technological advances.

I think that there is a market for a national brick and mortar chain specializing in toys. Maybe not an 800 store chain, but a 200 - 300 store chain with 1 or 2 locations in most major metropolitan areas (with stores that were more "destination" type stores) would potentially be successful.
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by wnetmacman »

arizonaguy wrote: March 14th, 2018, 5:52 pm Maybe not an 800 store chain, but a 200 - 300 store chain with 1 or 2 locations in most major metropolitan areas (with stores that were more "destination" type stores) would potentially be successful.
This was Toys "R" Us in the 1980's. Towns under 250,000 just didn't have one. Larger metro areas may have had 2 or 3. When they went to smaller stores in smaller metro areas, and the store-within-a-store model, it lost its luster and its way.
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Re: Toys R Us Could Seek Bankruptcy Protection to Deal With Its Crushing Debt

Post by BillyGr »

And that is still a possibility - there is mention of selling about 200 top stores to someone along with the Canadian locations and having the entire thing run out of Canada.

Even though they are doing liquidations, that wouldn't stop someone from taking the locations and reopening there (very similar to a few A&P stores that did that with last minute purchases by other chains - the ones that closed and took much longer to reopen than the majority that went to Stop & Shop and Acme - Boonton NJ being the one Acme example I know of).
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