Toys 'R Us

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Flack
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Toys 'R Us

Post by Flack »

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This is the first Toys 'R Us I ever visited and, up until I moved a few years ago, pretty much the only one. When they built it, it was in a great area -- away from downtown and near the biggest mall in the state. Today the area is a ghost town. The mall closed down, the neighborhood went to shit, and it's all one exit away from half the strip clubs in town. When Toys 'R Us mentioned they were closing a bunch of stores this year, it didn't surprise me in the slightest to learn this was one of them.

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The large picture of Geoffrey the Giraffe has been removed, replaced with this sign informing you that along with the toys, all shelves, display stands, and even the break room appliances are for sale.

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In case you don't know what's on sale, the answer is "everything," and Toys 'R Us has done a fine job in putting clearance tags on every single thing in the store. There are clearance signage at the top of each aisle, clearance tags on every peg, even clearance banners hanging from the ceiling -- which, I'm sure for the right price, are also for sale. Some things are 30% off, some are 50% off, and a few are 70% off. Pretty much everything is on sale... except for LEGO. LEGO will sell for full price until the end of time and doesn't need your goddamn charity.

I should also mention that no matter how bright and colorful these pictures look, the first thing Toys 'R Us sold was apparently their air conditioner. I have a lot of great memories of this place as a kid and none of them included sweaty pits.

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Even with everything on clearance, nobody was in the store. Actually, that's not true. The few people who were in the store shopping looked exactly like me. They were all overweight, white, middle-aged men, wandering up and down the toy aisles wondering how much their wives would love a Superman vs. Batman Hot Wheels race track for Mother's Day. There were no moms or kids shopping in the store.

Also, take a look at just how many "clearance" and "for sale" banners are visible in this picture. Even in bankruptcy, Toys 'R Us was willing to go the extra mile and print multiple banners for every single aisle. I am sure they were paid for with hot checks and you really haven't seen sad until you've seen a giraffe in prison.

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In the middle of one of the aisles, someone had removed a large chunk of shelving. This sign explains the rules: your tools, you clean up after yourself, and so on. I'm not entirely sure why the one section of shelving missing was right in the middle of an aisle. It's kind of like demanding the first slice of cake at a birthday party, and asking for it not to be an edge piece.

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I wish this was the part of the story where I said, "I was so sad I couldn't bring myself to buy anything," but -- did you see those clearance prices? I bought all this stuff! Those Twin Peaks figures were marked $29.99 with a 70% discount! And a Star Wars Speeder Bike DRONE? Those things were $149.95 when they first came out. I paid $41.99! Maybe if Toys 'R Us ran a few more sales and spent a little less on clearance banners, they might not be in this mess, amirite?

While waiting in line to check out (if you thought there was more than one register lane open you are insane), I noticed a display of Marvel figures to my left and an ice cream freezer to the right. The Marvel display was filled with 900 of the same action figure, someone I didn't recognize. It reminded me of when I was a kid and TG&Y would run an ad saying their Star Wars figures were on sale and I would beg my mom to take me there only to find an entire aisle full of Lobots and Twin Pod Cloud Car pilots. Fuck you, Bespin employees. Also the ice cream freezer was empty, and the actual freezer had been sold.

On the way out the door, the gap-toothed, tatted-up princess behind the register asked me if I wanted to join their rewards club. I didn't answer, and she didn't wait for one. Maybe next time, sistah.

Oh, right.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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AArdvark
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by AArdvark »

Muppets figures SCORE!

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Jizaboz
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Jizaboz »

Haha rewards club.

Yeah it’s sad what this store has become. I remember the magical video game section which somehow even made the Rock N Roll NES controller and other such crap look cool in their display cases. They even still had c64, Atari ST, and other computer games around then.

I never got to actually go in one before 1989. Before then it was just some magical land Santa Claus apparently visited.
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Flack
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Flack »

Yeah, for sure. I have talked a lot in the past about how great TRU was in the 80s. They had more Commodore 64 and Nintendo games on display than any video game or computer store in the mall or anywhere else. Plus as a kid, like, TG&Y had "some" Star Wars stuff, but TUR had everything -- dozens of everything, in fact. Thinking back, the amount of stock they had on hand is just incredible. I have read that TRU's downfall is more than just not competing with Amazon and other online resellers, but has to do with mismanagement and other poor business decisions. It's a shame, really, especially thinking back to what a heavenly mecca the place seemed to be as a kid.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Thinking back, the amount of stock they had on hand is just incredible. I have read that TRU's downfall is more than just not competing with Amazon and other online resellers, but has to do with mismanagement and other poor business decisions. It's a shame, really, especially thinking back to what a heavenly mecca the place seemed to be as a kid.
I would imagine working there is hell, it would be difficult to believe that corporate management didn't initiate dumb shit to make the employees do at some point.

(I had no idea they were into the multi-platform computer games thing! It makes sense but I don't know if I have a memory of seeing any of that stuff at one. I remember that in Rochester we had a Sears that sold computer games on different systems. The holy grail for me was Software Etc. and Babbages, if I remember correctly.)
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Tdarcos
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Tdarcos »

Flack wrote: Sat Mar 10, 2018 10:08 pm I have read that TRU's downfall ... has to do with mismanagement and other poor business decisions.
You can say that again. Company Man does a great video on why they went belly up. Only 12 minutes and change, well worth watching. And you can hear exactly how management fucked up, resulting in fucking over poor Jeffrey. I hope he finds a nice zoo or wild animal park to move to.



Another thing: You could buy toys at Toys R' Us, but you could never find any babies for sale at Babies R' Us.
Alan Francis wrote a book containing everything men understand about women. It consisted of 100 blank pages.

Casual Observer
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Casual Observer »

Toys r us got saddled with $5 billion in debt in a leveraged buy out, that's why.

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Flack
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Flack »

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:42 am (I had no idea they were into the multi-platform computer games thing! It makes sense but I don't know if I have a memory of seeing any of that stuff at one. I remember that in Rochester we had a Sears that sold computer games on different systems. The holy grail for me was Software Etc. and Babbages, if I remember correctly.)
I couldn't find a picture of exactly what I was talking about (rows of software boxes on display with the paper tags you had to take to the front to get your merchandise) but I did find some others. Here's one of the Atari computer aisle. I like the fact that if 100 people showed up on a single day and wanted to buy an Atari computer, Toys 'R Us was ready.

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Flack
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Flack »

Also... I mean, Jesus.

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Flack
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Flack »

Tdarcos wrote: Sun Mar 11, 2018 6:29 am And you can hear exactly how management fucked up, resulting in fucking over poor Jeffrey. I hope he finds a nice zoo or wild animal park to move to.
And if we're really lucky, someone will create an account for him on Jolt Country and post about his bathroom habits.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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AArdvark
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by AArdvark »

Man, would you look at all those boxes of goodness! I bought my second Commodore (the C64c ) from Gold Circle and it looked like the picture, only not so huge. It kills me because I could have bought two of them at the time and kept one in the box.

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Tdarcos
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by Tdarcos »

Flack wrote: Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:31 am
Tdarcos wrote: Sun Mar 11, 2018 6:29 am And you can hear exactly how management fucked up, resulting in fucking over poor Jeffrey. I hope he finds a nice zoo or wild animal park to move to.
And if we're really lucky, someone will create an account for him on Jolt Country and post about his bathroom habits.
His neck would be too long for his tongue to reach the keyboard.
Alan Francis wrote a book containing everything men understand about women. It consisted of 100 blank pages.

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ChainGangGuy
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Re: Toys 'R Us

Post by ChainGangGuy »

Flack wrote: Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:30 am Also... I mean, Jesus.

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Mercy! A veritable sea of MOC ESB Kenner action figures! Lobot, Bossk... even R2-D2 (though I can't spot any of the Sensorscope versions).

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