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Toys 'R' Us has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada as it attempts to restructure its debts.
The firm was once a dominant player in the US toy market, but has struggled against larger rivals such as Amazon.
The move casts a shadow over the future of the company's nearly 1,600 stores and 64,000 employees.
The firm's European operations are not part of the bankruptcy proceedings and Toys R Us says it does not expect any immediate impact on its UK stores.
Toys R Us's operations in Australia, about 255 licensed stores and a joint venture partnership in Asia are also not included in the bankruptcy move.
[...] The bankruptcy filing is more evidence that traditional retailers are struggling in the US, as online retailers continue to capture market share.
Amazon marches on, or we're just at 'Peak Toy'?
(Score: 2) by damnbunni on Tuesday September 19 2017, @11:29PM (7 children)
Have you BEEN in a Toys R Us in the last, oh, ten to twenty years?
The stores are generally filthy. Merchandise is scattered on the shelves, not placed where you can actually find it. Lots of empty shelves where things haven't been re-ordered. The lighting is often poor - when a light burns out, it doesn't get replaced quickly.
Most of this is probably due to the stores being understaffed, which leads to the employees they DO have being stressed out and overworked and therefore not putting in much more effort than is needed to not get fired. (And I can't blame them for that.)
I understand you have to accept a certain level of chaos in a store that has kids rampaging through it, but you have to have a plan to DEAL with that chaos, and TRU stores always seem to either lack that plan, or lack the people to implement it.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Tuesday September 19 2017, @11:41PM (5 children)
That isn't the case for me, Toys-R-Us locally is pretty good. Their problem, like all retailers not named Amazon or Walmart, is their pricing. So they lose all of the high volume popular items. But nothing is as much fun to turn a kid loose in. Will be a shame to see them go, but this is a trend that probably can't be fought so long as Amazon can continue to run without worrying about ever needing to report a GAAP profit and Walmart can squeeze suppliers in ways nobody else can.
KayBee Toys was also a good place, long gone. Retail in general is heading for the dustbin of history.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:32AM (4 children)
I'm not sure that's true. It seems to me that huge Toys 'R' Us type operations wind up being run by a bunch of people who don't really understand the business, and so run it into the ground.
I am quite sure Toys 'R' Us went through several rounds of redundancies, with all sorts of cost cutting until the few staff left serving customers never really had time to do their jobs properly, driving customers away.
The commenter above has experienced dirty, unappealing shops, which might be the majority. I don't know about Toys 'R' Us because they never made it to my country, but I did watch the slow motion train wreck of a national electronic chain here, and the rot set in as soon as it was bought by an investment company.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:40AM (2 children)
Doesn't really matter. At one time there were many toy retailers, now there is Toys-R-Us and a very few struggling mom and pop shops. Soon there will be none because the small fry have little chance of obtaining inventory once the whole supply chain is a nozzle feeding direct into Amazon and Walmart.
Even video gaming is quickly reducing to Amazon and Walmart, Gamestop is about the only retailer of note remaining and how long can they hold out? Most specialty players in retail is having similar problems. Big box in general is in trouble other than Walmart. K-Mart / Sears (S-Mart) is a dead man walking, Target is pozzed to the max. Best Buy is wobbly, apparently living off of Geek Squad removing malware and the FBI bounties to plunder people's PC while doing it. Ain't any big retailers doing gangbusters.
Drug stores, Dollar stores and auto parts seem immune for now.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:35PM (1 child)
Soon there will be none because the small fry have little chance of obtaining inventory once the whole supply chain is a nozzle feeding direct into Amazon and Walmart.
As I said in another post here, the only way to survive in retail is to offer something that Amazon and Walmart simply cannot, such as by being a fancy boutique store offering personalized service.
Even video gaming is quickly reducing to Amazon and Walmart, Gamestop is about the only retailer of note remaining and how long can they hold out?
Why would you buy a game from Gamestop when you can get the exact same thing at Amazon or Walmart for less? It's like this for many, many other things. Does Gamestop offer great personalized service and knowledgeable staff? Do buyers even care about that? Most likely, they read about the games they want online, they read reviews by other players, and decide based on that, not based on one salesperson's word at a shop.
Target is pozzed to the max.
"Pozzed"? Definition please. Target to me seems to be in decent shape; in many places, they offer something Walmart cannot: a better shopping experience, for only slightly more money. The slightly higher cost keeps out the riff-raff and People of Walmart, and you get a store that's cleaner, without trash and broken products and half-empty shelves looking like a war-zone, and you don't feel like you're going to be mugged by the customers. But this is location-dependent: when I lived in NJ, this exactly how it was: Target was nice, while Walmart had me thinking I should be armed and wearing body armor. But where I am now, the Walmarts are very decent, and while some of the customers are still candidates for PoW, they don't have gang tattoos on their faces and I don't fear for my safety. And correspondingly, there's not that many Targets around here.
Best Buy is wobbly, apparently living off of Geek Squad
See, here's an example of what I was talking about: offering something that Walmart/Amazon can't: personalized service (even if it is really shitty service, but most people are so clueless about managing their PCs that Geek Squad works for them).
Big box in general is in trouble other than Walmart.
This is generally true. HHGregg (basically like Best Buy but without Geek Squad) just shut its doors, and it's a bit of a mystery how Sears is still alive (it seems like basically their CEO is raiding the company and grabbing all their real-estate holdings, which are significant).
Drug stores, Dollar stores and auto parts seem immune for now.
You can get drugs at Walmart, so my guess there is that people go there because they're more convenient than Walmart, but the prices are usually atrocious. Dollar stores are a bit of a mystery to me: if you look at the value you get, it's generally bad (e.g., your price-per-unit is better at Walmart, they make smaller sizes for the dollar stores, etc.), so I think they just take advantage of people's ignorance. Auto parts stores have terrible prices, but provide something that Amazon can't: immediate service (your car just broke and you need it for work, so you get the part at Autozone instead of waiting for an online merchant to ship it to you; batteries are also probably a big part of their business because they tend to die suddenly, leaving your car inoperative, but a quick jump-start can get you to the nearest parts store where they'll change it out for you).
Other stores that seem to be doing just fine are extremely high-end mall shops selling luxury goods (I mean the ones at malls where they have a Bentley or McLaren on display inside, and there's valet service outside with a bunch of luxury cars parked up front). You don't buy a Rolex on Amazon. So apparently there's some sector of the population that can afford to keep these places in business.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @09:48PM
What you are forgetting about Sears is that the stuff that many people think of when shopping there (Large Appliances, yard machines, etc.) last for a long time and require maintenance. They also have autoshops and small engine repair. So all those people who buy their stuff are likely to also be on the long-tail of getting the maintenance, parts and fluids for what they bought.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:43PM
> Retail in general is heading for the dustbin of history.
I'm not sure that's true.
It is, unless something pretty big changes. It's not true of ALL retail, but generally speaking, any retail that tries to compete against Walmart and Amazon for mass-market stuff is doomed. The only retail that's going to survive are places that offer things that Walmart and Amazon cannot:
- clothing stores: you can try stuff on instead of dealing with shipping back and forth, you can browse through stuff, including the clearance rack, etc. Shoes are impossible to determine if they fit unless you try them on; even if the size is correct, they can be very uncomfortable as people's feet vary a lot. Very high-end shops might have salespeople who help you pick out items.
- food: Walmart doesn't have much high-end stuff, and their stores are huge so they're more likely to be far away, so a smaller local store may be more convenient. Amazon can't sell you frozen stuff for obvious reasons, unless you live close to their warehouse.
- tourist souvenir shops
- restaurants/coffee shops/etc. (This might not qualify as "retail")
- specialty/boutique shops: a shop full of fancy, expensive stationery and greeting cards offers an experience you won't get on Amazon. A high-end audio store may have brands not available on Amazon, and offers consulting services (salespeople), listening rooms, etc.
So basically, for any mass-produced products where price is one of the main factors, and you don't need some salesman to help you pick it, you don't need any extra personal services like installation, alterations, etc., retail is going the way of the do-do.
(Score: 2) by chewbacon on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:40AM
My local Toys/Babies R Us is pretty clean and well taken care of and they have good service. Shit, we take my 4 year old in there when we can't under stand what toy he's talking about and their employees know exactly what he's asking about. TRU's problem is that they're expensive and they often fail to compete with other store's sales. Examples are: Xbox One and a soon-to-be previous gen iPad. All of their competitors underbid them here.