Tag Archives: Toys R Us

Toys R Us Making a Comeback

Companies,


Former global chief of merchandising and present CEO of Tru Kids Brands, Richard Barry, says he would like to open at least two Toys R Us Stores in the United States in 2019, according to someone who is aware of Barry’s plans.


Last October Tru Kids Brands won the rights to the Toys R Us brand after the company went bankrupt last year. Tru Kids also owns the rights to the company’s other assets such as Babies R Us and Imaginarium.


“We’re definitely coming back in 2019. At minimum two stores. There’s more planned for 2020,” the unnamed person said.


That person added that the new stores will be smaller than the old ones and will be more “experiential.”


“We have significant interest about how to bring the brand back to the US,” Barry explained to CNN Business earlier this year. “We’re working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to bring it to life.”

Smyth Toys Buys European Divisions of Toys ‘R’ Us

Companies, , ,

 

Toys R Us Quioccasin Rd Richmond, VA. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Smyth Toys, a company based in Galway, Ireland, has agreed to purchase some of the European divisions of Toys ‘R’ Us. This is Smyth’s first time selling on the mainland of Europe. When the deal is implemented Smyth will run 93 brick and mortar shops and four online stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The buyer was found by Lazard, an investment bank, which was employed to look for buyers for Toys ‘R’ Us international subsidiaries after the giant US retailer filed for bankruptcy in March.

Smyths was founded in County Mayo and is owned by four brothers from Galway; Tommie, Tony, Liam and Padraig Smyth. The brothers own 21 stores in the Republic of Ireland and an additional 90 or so in Britain and Northern Ireland. The company has been growing quickly since 2007 when it entered the UK market, and is planning on opening more shops in Luton and Dundee in the near future.

Toys ‘R’ Us announced in January that it was going to close about 20% of its US stores as part of its strategy to come out of one of the largest in history bankruptcies by a specialty retailer. The plan did not work out and the Toys ‘R’ Us subsidiary in Britain was forced to close all 100 shops after not finding a buyer.

A bid was made on the Canadian division of the toy retailer by Fairfax Financial Holdings for $300 million.

Toys R Us To Place New CEO, David Brandon

Companies, ,

Toys R Us chairman and CEO Antonio Urcelay is scheduled to retire on July 1. Taking his place will be David Brandon, past CEO and chairman of Domino’s Pizza. The 63-year old executive was on hand to help Domino’s with its IPO. Brandon was also president and CE of Valassis Communications and also helped them transition to a publicly held company.
Until last October Brandon was the athletic director at the University of Michigan, when he resigned amid concerns about the poor showing of the school’s football team as well as other problematic issues in the athletic department there.

Urcelay, who is the same age as Brandon, was the CEO and chairman of Toys R Us since near the end of 2013. He was employed by the giant toy retailer since 1996.

Toys R Us, a Wayne, New Jersey-based company, was bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Bain Capital Inc, and Vornado Realty Trust in 2005, taking the company private. The huge toy store, which also has Babies R Us shops, has 866 outlets in the US, Puerto Rico, and Guam. They also have 730 stores globally, and an additional 240lnsed tor i37 countries and jurisdictions. They also operate FAO Schwarz.

Toys “R” Us Struggling to Play the Competition Game

Companies, , , ,

Toys R Us Posted Net Losses in 2013
Toys R Us Posted Net Losses in 2013

As the economy struggled in its continuing bid at recovery, Toys “R” Us took a lot of the brunt as sales plummeted in 2013. The giant toy store chain reported a net loss of $210 million during the fourth quarter of 2013 and a total loss of $1 billion for the year. The losses were blamed on fierce competition from on-line sellers such as Amazon, and discount department stores like Wal-Mart.

Earnings for 2012 totaled $239 million, accentuating the challenges of last year’s marketplace.

The private held retailer posted a decrease in same-store sales of 4.1 percent in the US and 2.2 percent internationally during the fourth quarter of 2013. Those figures are an important indicator of a retailer’s overall health, and they included the crucial holiday season.

“It was a challenging year, with declines in both our domestic and international segments,” CEO Antonio Urcelay said in a statement to investors.

“The U.S. business experienced the more significant downturn, primarily due to a decrease in net sales, margin pressure and one-time items, including the write-down of excess and obsolete inventory as we take the necessary and prudent steps to improve the business.”

Toys “R” Us did have a good year in China, however. As the Chinese economy continues to expand and more people are climbing the affluence ladder, there is more disposable income available to spend on children’s playthings.

So far this year things are looking up a bit for Toys “R” Us here at home. So far there has been a 3.5 percent increase in same-store sales in the US due to an increase in entertainment related toys connected to beloved movie franchises. Net sales for all of 2013 totaled $12.5 billion. That is $1 billion less, or 7.4 percent, from 2012.

Black Friday Bargains and Extended Hours Boost Sales for Retailers

Economy, Lifestyle, , , , , ,

The day after Thanksgiving is known to retailers and consumers as Black Friday. On this day smart shoppers take to the malls in droves, gearing up for the Christmas giving season with slashed prices only available on this special day.

Consumers can expect highly reduced prices on everything from toys, clothing, electronics, and much more.

According to BlackFriday2011.com, a type of WikiLeaks for serious Black Friday shoppers who want to see advertisements before they get published, there is expected to be 220 million people bargain hunting this coming Friday, up from 212 million last year.

Black Friday is incredibly important to retailers. SpendingPulse, a market analysis outlet, estimates that Black Friday business is worth as much as $20 billion in sales, with many of the largest shopping outlets opening earlier with extended hours.

Toys R Us is planning on opening at 10pm on Thursday night, just enough time to barely digest the Thanksgiving Turkey. Sears will be open on Thursday morning, interfering with consumers’ ability to watch the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; and Walmarts is not taking any closing time at all.

“They’re all trying to take market share away from each other,” Cynthia Groves, head of global retail consulting at Newmarket Knight Frank in Washington.

The longer hours for the shops has many people complaining, and is not seen universally as a good thing:

“It’s a national holiday, not a national shopping day,” wrote one signer or a petition to not open Target at midnight on Friday morning. “Encouraging people to shop in the middle of the night is bizarre,” added another petitioner.