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'?
Related Stories
Hasbro Picks Up Power Rangers, Other Saban Entertainment Assets, for $522 Million
Toymaker Hasbro, Inc. announced on Tuesday said it would acquire Saban's Power Rangers and other entertainment assets in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $522 million.
The transaction also includes other properties including "My Pet Monster," "Popples," "Julius Jr.," "Luna Petunia" and "Treehouse Detectives." Hasbro and Saban brands previously announced a $22 million master toy licensing agreement set to begin next year.
Hasbro will pay nearly $230 million in cash and issue $270 [million] in Hasbro common stock for the assets. The sale is expected to [close] during the second quarter of 2018.
The Power Rangers franchise, first started in 1993 by Haim Saban, is one of the longest-running live-action kids series. It has now spawned a number of movies including last year's Lionsgate picture, which grossed $142 million globally.
Hasbro's financials were recently hurt by the demise of Toys "R" Us.
Also at Deadline, CNBC, and The Hollywood Reporter.
On Monday, Toys "R" Us announced that it had partnered with an ad agency called Native Foreign to create what it calls "the first-ever brand film using OpenAI's new text-to-video tool, Sora." OpenAI debuted Sora in February, but the video synthesis tool has not yet become available to the public. The brand film tells the story of Toys "R" Us founder Charles Lazarus using AI-generated video clips.
"We are thrilled to partner with Native Foreign to push the boundaries of Sora, a groundbreaking new technology from OpenAI that's gaining global attention," wrote Toys "R" Us on its website. "Sora can create up to one-minute-long videos featuring realistic scenes and multiple characters, all generated from text instruction. Imagine the excitement of creating a young Charles Lazarus, the founder of Toys "R" Us, and envisioning his dreams for our iconic brand and beloved mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe in the early 1930s."
Previously on SoylentNews:
Tyler Perry Puts $800 Million Studio Expansion on Hold Because of OpenAI's Sora - 20240225
OpenAI Teases a New Generative Video Model Called Sora - 20240222
Toys 'R' Us Files for Bankruptcy Protection in US - 20170919 (Toys 'R' Us is a "zombie brand" now. The entity in Canada was and is separate and still exists.)
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @08:58PM (8 children)
We the Dick Niggers, you know it.
Right so we never fuck no old pussy.
Sure do fuck a whole lotta young pussy.
Girl, you ain't gonna need sex toys no more, once yo get yo fill of this real Dick Niggers nigger dick.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:33PM (7 children)
My fault, gents. There was a missing ] in the regex to catch that variation and perl didn't bother to bitch about it. Next one he'll have to come up with a new idea.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:52PM
Why do you cower at the mere thought of my existence? Because I'm a rabid, frothing bootynude, as well as a search nut extremacy johnson! Yes, it is true! What will you do with the remainder of your pathetic existence now that you understand the depths of your own inferiority, you fucker cheeks patty!? Wow! What's this "grand experiment" you've found yourself in...?
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:25PM (5 children)
What would the unit tests look like?
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:33PM (4 children)
Unit tests? Surely you jest. There's not a single one in all of the Rehash source.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @11:09PM
Resign now, Buzzard. Goddamned cowboy coder breaking shit. Fuck off!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @02:48AM (2 children)
As an aside, TMB, if you haven't noticed, the first post always shows up even if its score is at -1 (Threaded-TOS mode with a threshold of 0 and a breakthrough of +1).
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday September 20 2017, @09:06AM (1 child)
Yup. That was by design and not my call. Da boss said make top-level comments always show, so that's what I did.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @12:33AM
Seems to me that it's not such a good idea...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:15PM (26 children)
We need a place where we can actually take kids to look at toys and provide feedback, but where we can also check if something is flimsy and will break, despite all the best photoshop efforts of the seller.
Shipping/returning computer parts is easy. Toys with their huge but empty and fragile packaging are a pain.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:20PM (3 children)
I know! Build an App for that!!
With a bit of market skills it will be valued at billions in 2 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Snow on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:29PM (2 children)
A VR app is actually a pretty good idea.
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:33PM (1 child)
But unless the app lets you drop the virtual toy and watch it break into a million sharp plastic shards, it doesn't address bob_super's concerns about flimsy toys.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday September 19 2017, @11:29PM
If it gets the backing of major VC players, who gives a dam'?! Consumers gonna consume anyway.
Showing the toys are virtually** indestructible will be even an advantage for the manufacturers/sellers! Just imagine them bidding for an ad placement, don't you salivate at the idea how high the bid can go?
(large grin)
---
** ᴛᴇʀᴍs ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴏɴᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴs ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴇᴀɴɪɴɢ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇʀᴍs ᴍᴀʏ ᴀᴘᴘʟʏ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:29PM (4 children)
We need a place where we can actually take kids to look at toys and provide feedback, but where we can also check if something is flimsy and will break, despite all the best photoshop efforts of the seller.
You still have Walmart. They're not going anywhere anytime soon.
(Score: 1) by WillR on Wednesday September 20 2017, @03:40PM (3 children)
There, saved you a trip.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:22PM (2 children)
They're the exact same mass-produced cheap-crap toys that you'd get at Toys 'R Us.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:22PM (1 child)
They're the exact same mass-produced cheap-crap toys that you'd get at Toys 'R Us.
I cannot imagine how TRU can expect to survive when they are selling the same crap as everyone
else, but for a higher price. The shops are always a mess, and neither child nor adult friendly.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:15PM
"The shops are always a mess"
lmao. fat little corn syrup coated brats playing with everything their dumb parents can't afford. they haven't been taught any manners, so they leave the Kid Grease covered chinese shit on the ground.
toy-r-us ignored the internet so they died. what a waste. they had cool stuff when i was a kid.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Snow on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:29PM (3 children)
I'm with you. It's nice to have a place to see what you are going to get before you buy it.
This is clearly a trend, and it's not going to stop. People are increasingly going to the physical stores to check out toys/items, then checking to see if amazon has it cheaper (which it frequently does). The physical store ends up becoming Amazon's showcase.
Maybe the solution is to change the customer. Instead of the person walking in being the customer, maybe the toy manufacturer should be the customer. The store doesn't primarily make money by selling product, but rather by showcasing products. The manufacturer would pay for shelf space instead of the customer paying for the product. Maybe the store could charge the manufacturer extra to keep some stock for a 'Get it now' option.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:54PM
It's called "market development fees"
Gee that's a nice product there. We wouldn't want to fail to get distribution
(Score: 2) by goodie on Wednesday September 20 2017, @01:03AM (1 child)
Isn't it how it already works? At least in grocery stores, shelf space is paid by the manufacturer/maker of the product from what I know.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Wednesday September 20 2017, @02:30AM
Ya, something like that, but taken to the extreme. The store wouldn't make any profit on a sale. They only profit from selling shelf space.
It almost certainly wouldn't work, but fun to think about :/
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:31PM (5 children)
With Amazon reviews, assuming you can weed out the fake one, you can find out how flimsy it is without touching it. And you can get a wider variety of stuff that kids could find amusing to stuff in their mouths, like magnets, metallic play-doh, syringes, and chemistry kits.
Probably next-in-line-for-killing-Toys-R-Us-is-Wal-Mart. The last store I was in seemed to have a pretty extensive toy/bike/etc. selection, not to mention the Halloween in September crap and loads of candy. More than good enough to make kids get their whine on. There's also Target and maybe Best Buy. All of them offering more stuff for parents to look at.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by requerdanos on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:09AM (3 children)
How about The Next Person might find out how flimsy it is because I wrote a review pointing it out...
But they also might not, because my review is placed among reviews written by idiots ("Grate product! I bought it for my sister's kid and she toatlly tried it reel well and it did not brake. Five Starse!") and outright fake reviews ("This real good product, I totally speaker native, not paid shill. Very nice product whatever it is. 谢谢.").
I know -- maybe we can somehow get a place where we can go see, touch, and try the products in person. Man, that would be nice. I would totally do that, as long as I could later buy the product online at deep discount so the try-it location doesn't make any money or anything.
Hmm. All the ideas in this response seem to have problems.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:58AM (2 children)
Your opulent air-conditioned Toys-R-Us is apparently an unsustainable business model. Go to Wal-Mart instead.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Paradise Pete on Wednesday September 20 2017, @11:30AM (1 child)
Walmart is not air-conditioned? Toys-R-Us is opulent? The few times I've been in a Broke-R-Us store I thought it was even worse than Walmart.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:07PM
Wal-Mart has food and other items inside of it, rather than a giant selection of toys that nobody is touching or looking at. So they can have A/C.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by slap on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:32AM
Before internet sales were significant Toys-r-us was already suffering from WalMart having expanded its toy selections for the holiday season.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:18PM (2 children)
We also need to be able to pay cash so that we can buy products anonymously. There are still stores right now, but this online trend is toxic for anonymity and privacy.
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:26PM
Kids these days ... hacking into the T-R-U customer database to find a credit card number and cross-referencing the Equifax leak to trace all the way back to Santa.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:20PM
online trend? that's funny. go watch terminator 2 for a more accurate representation of the future.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday September 20 2017, @03:44AM
They spent so much money on custom fonts for their reversed Я that they went bankrupt just when typing that became easy.
Killed by quirky typography.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday September 20 2017, @09:20AM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:22PM
that was not true when i was a kid. they had some good stuff but they were always higher $. after walmart beat their ass for way too long toys-r-us probably tried to lower quality and price. not gonna work. neither did ignoring the internet. dumb fucking suits.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:53PM
Day care? Something like a tupperware party for kids? Youtube, kids love lets play videos?
Also most gifts are bought by declared affinity (She likes hello kitty, here is the hello kitty fishing rod (a real product btw)) or looks nice enough to be a gift. It doesn't matter if it falls apart or looks worn out as long as the kids done with it first.
Thinking back on my own kids experience they didn't destroy much before having their fun with it. Some expensive stuff like lego or thomas the tank engine wooden track products are pretty indestructible. Something that is junk out of the box is $1 special seasonal toys like water guns (which are probably banned now OMG guns!) or similar water/pool toy garbage.
I would say most of toys r us is/was good enough with the exception of stuff that will last generations like lego/wooden thomas.
(Score: 4, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:39PM (14 children)
Hundreds of companies have filed for bankruptcy. I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. #MAGA 🇺🇸
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Sulla on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:09PM (13 children)
Businesses owned by President Trump is somewhere between 268 and 515
https://qz.com/461688/a-list-of-everything-donald-trump-runs-that-has-his-name-on-it/ [qz.com]
Of those he has had six bankruptcies. So 1-2% of the businesses he has had control/influence over have failed. Not bad. I wish 98-99% of my investments gave me positive returns.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bob_super on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:22PM (10 children)
True.
On the other hand, when you slap your name in giant letters on the biggest Casino in Atlantic city, against the recommendations of market experts, and it goes bankrupt, you're reminded that not all bankruptcies are equal...
Leasing a name to a bunch of condos build by someone else during a bubble is something I'd like to be able to do, but it's not a gauge of my investment prowess.
The man is now the CEO of a place running on 100%-of-gross debt, and we'd like to see a plan with some kind of sensible objectives.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:36PM (4 children)
And let's not forget the helpful tailwind of shady foreign buyers for those Trump condos.
https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate [newrepublic.com]
A review of the public record reveals a clear and disturbing pattern: Trump owes much of his business success, and by extension his presidency, to a flow of highly suspicious money from Russia. Over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, and even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money. Some ran a worldwide high-stakes gambling ring out of Trump Tower—in a unit directly below one owned by Trump. Others provided Trump with lucrative branding deals that required no investment on his part. Taken together, the flow of money from Russia provided Trump with a crucial infusion of financing that helped rescue his empire from ruin, burnish his image, and launch his career in television and politics.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Sulla on Tuesday September 19 2017, @11:53PM (3 children)
Good point, lets bomb them to show that no American should ever have any business dealings with the great red menace.
How much have we looked into similar business dealings by the Hiltons or any other family with large foreign operations? This is not to justify bad behavior by pointing out bad behavior but instead to point out that it is highly unlikely you will find any rose in New York or Washington. Personally I prefer corrupt business dealings to taking money in exchange for selling radioactive materials, but what do I know.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:10AM (1 child)
None of the Hiltons are the President of the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:44AM
Yet... be careful what you wish for. It might become true.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 20 2017, @05:41PM
Most of us advocate impeaching Trump, not bombing Russia. Nice strawman.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Sulla on Tuesday September 19 2017, @11:48PM (4 children)
I am a big fan of having a balanced budget and the idea of removing the debt ceiling is disgusting to me. That said I got really tired of the "but look at his bankruptcies!" argument during the election.
Very unfortunate that we are screwed no matter who we choose for office.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:17AM
> Very unfortunate that we are screwed no matter who we choose for office.
Rumors has it that both major candidates got chosen by some of the most attended primaries ever. Whoever ended up on top of such a dense field was assuredly the candidates most qualified, and representative of the goals and ideals of the people contributing to this extremely high turnout. Wisdom of the masses. Democracy at its finest. The best cream of the most competent crop, as carefully vetted by the best electorate in the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:47AM
The debt ceiling has little to do with spending limits. The money has already been spent. Failing to raise the debt ceiling is the same as deciding not to pay your credit card bill. You've already spent the money, you should pay the bill.
Balanced budgets would be great if they actually got balanced. Most of the time they're balanced against projected future revenue and not adjusted if the revenue is insufficient. They also tend to not consider the costs of not spending money on things like maintenance and education.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:29PM (1 child)
Very unfortunate that we are screwed no matter who we choose for office.
The voters screwed themselves. They had the opportunity to elect better people during the Primaries, and instead they chose the worst possible candidates on both sides. This isn't a failure of the system so much as it's a failure by the voters themselves. Our voters are idiots.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:26PM
oh lordy, i'm agreeing with grisnahk!
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @01:20AM
There are other ways to fail other than bankruptcy. Plus, a huge number of those companies are obvious shells and managing corporations, which inflates the number of "successful businesses."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:44PM
Bankruptcy is the extreme form of failure - what percentage of his businesses have returned a profit > simple investment in a S&P 500 index fund? Overall, how's his business' performance compared to an S&P 500 index fund?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday September 19 2017, @09:52PM (5 children)
Retailers are fragile things.
Just ask Caldor [wikipedia.org] or Radio Shack [wikipedia.org] or any of these guys [wgrz.com].
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:01PM (4 children)
Radio Shack
wasis hardy, not fragile.http://www.theonion.com/article/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-b-2190 [theonion.com]
http://www.theonion.com/graphic/timeline-the-collapse-of-radioshack-37958 [theonion.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Funny) by NotSanguine on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:39PM (2 children)
So they were. My apologies. I'm just glad you straightened me out before I got more confused. And you were even able to find a reputable news source, not like the Fake [nytimes.com] News [cnn.com] favored by the sheeple [xkcd.com]!
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday September 20 2017, @01:06AM (1 child)
Way to miss the point.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @11:33AM
Way to miss the sarcasm.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:47PM
80+ years of success in the "new technologies" market is a pretty good run.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack [wikipedia.org]
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Sulla on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:01PM (6 children)
I will pay an extra 20-30% over Amazon prices to check something out in person, maybe even 50-60 depending on the item and if it is a store with good service. I am not willing to pay an additional 100-200% over Amazon prices for the same item with a worse return policy and employees who do not know what they are talking about.
I have recently been paying way more than I should for some model railroading items and some of those wooden train toys at a local hobby shop, but if I have any issues I can go to the shop and they will spend all the time needed to figure out the issue. Some of the markup here is 50-75% but they make it worth my while.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:02PM (1 child)
Amazon is pretty good about returns and refunds. It's the Amazon third party sellers that you have to watch out for.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday September 20 2017, @09:41AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 19 2017, @11:20PM (1 child)
Our toysrus problem is if our son (moderately autistic) does something worthy of a reward (great behaviour in stressing situations, trying something he hates, etc) a reward HAS to be fairly immediate, or at least he knows we are heading there: so we WILL pay the premium.
Mostly he chooses jigsaw puzzles and is working towards 1000 pieces: currently, he will dump 3 100-300 piece puzzles on the table and then put them together at the same time. Makes me laugh, but he's far better at them than I am (probably because I really don't care for them much).
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:39PM
if you haven't already maybe take a look at some nootropics. maybe they can help. l-theanine, etc.
http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2016/3/brain-benefits-of-l-theanine/page-01 [lifeextension.com]
https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/evidence-brain-chemical-imbalance-drives-autism-symptoms [autismspeaks.org]
(Score: 2) by goodie on Wednesday September 20 2017, @01:05AM (1 child)
Interesting, I've been trying to find some painting advice for gunpla and other model kits recently. I can probably find the products for cheap on amazon but at this point I am looking for good, reliable advice from somebody who can show me something (no, YouTube does not do it for me sorry). I'd be willing to pay a good markup for that and i'd be happy to do so. But right now, my only choice is Michael's so... probably not gonna happen lol.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Wednesday September 20 2017, @01:53AM
No local "toy and hobby" or warhammer/mechwarrior store?
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:40PM (8 children)
Radioshack, where you can grab circuit kits and components, kaput. Toys'R'Us, it was the magic palace for kids, now kaput. Even k-mart, where you can muck around with Commodore computers, kaput. Sears, where you could pick up high-quality life-time warranted kraftsman tools, almost kaput.
All kaput. It won't be long before it's my time.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Sulla on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:42AM (7 children)
In all fairness it is Sears own fault for allowing their tool and appliance quality to degrade.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:54AM (5 children)
Yup, it's all about short-term profit. Immediate greed, driven also by high-speed stock trading greed. I will not buy new Craftsman junk. If I can't find the good stuff used, I'll buy SnapOn, S-K, Proto, Channellock, Chapman, Klein, etc. http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/tools.html/ [stillmadeinusa.com]
(Score: 1) by Paradise Pete on Wednesday September 20 2017, @11:40AM (1 child)
Was that site designed in 1993? I think I saw it on Mirsky's Worst of the Web.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday September 20 2017, @03:56PM
Being that the web was born in 1994, I don't think it could have been. But I get your sarcasm.
Everyone's entitled to their opinions. I personally greatly prefer sites of that design, and hate hate hate much of the newest website design styles. I don't use the web for the fun of the ride or the artistry of the designer. I'm trying to do something, or get some information. I need it to be simple, clean, clear, functional, etc.
Case in point: I needed to log in to paypal yesterday and I had much difficulty figuring out where things are now, what is a clickable link, what is a dropbox, etc. It's a flat, functionally mushy, tiled mess. I don't have all day to keep clicking to try to find some simple thing that used to be obvious. I hate it so much I may close my paypal account.
There's an age-old battle between form, fit, and function. I have a strong artistic side and love art, but not when it gets in the way of function, especially when function is the main point of the thing in life.
Sorry- way off topic! Yes, Toys Я Us. Sad, very sad. Was great, great for America, great for China. But they Яested on laurels. Not good. Laurels die when flattened, sunlight blocked, soil compressed, not enough water. Market saturated, people tire of cheap junk, people were going to Walmart anyway, why make 2nd trip to Toys Я Us? If buying cheap junk, who cares to see it up close? Better not to see it, just buy from pretty online pictures. A few will return things; most will just say "oh well" and move on to the next thing.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:47PM (2 children)
The best place to get hand tools now is Harbor Freight. They're pretty inexpensive, the quality is pretty good now (a lot better than Crapsman), they're made in Taiwan (not China like Crapsman, Stanley, etc.), and they have a lifetime warranty. SnapOn has gone the way of Crapsman: the quality has gone down and they're riding on their name, with a ridiculous price tag. If you want tools that really are super-high-quality, forget the USA, you need to buy stuff made in Germany. But unless you're a professional relying on that tool every day, it's almost never worth the price; just get it at Harbor Freight.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:21PM (1 child)
Thanks for that info. Yes, I have a few (too few) awesome German and Swiss tools.
I've bought a few things at Harbor Freight. Trouble is, after going into a Harbor Freight or Walmart, I feel like I need a shower.
I forgot to mention Blackhawk tools as being good. I've always liked things that are well-made and last a very long time. I really hate having a tool break, strip, etc., in the middle of a major job- mine or for others. With cheap tools you'd better buy 2 for when you have your car apart and the tool breaks and you can't get to the store to buy another tool.
I'd rather see society putting $ (productivity, etc.) into better things like disease research, rather than wasting it on cheap crap that very soon goes into landfills.
Cheapness is a huge loss overall. In spite of what people think about today's high-tech, we're way way behind where we could have been if we had focused more on quality, building on what we've done and doing better, rather than cheaper. I know it's more of a social-psychological study- why so (too) many people choose short-term cheap rather than long-term quality.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:15PM
I really hate having a tool break, strip, etc., in the middle of a major job- mine or for others. With cheap tools you'd better buy 2 for when you have your car apart and the tool breaks and you can't get to the store to buy another tool.
I have a lot of tools, both really cheap stuff and some decent stuff (Craftsman back when they were made in the USA, 90s-era), and I've done a good amount of work on cars in the last couple decades (including one engine rebuild a while back), and honestly, there have been very few times I've had a problem with a tool like this. There was a crappy set of ratcheting straight wrenches from Costco where the open-end side fairly easily bends if the torque is too high, and I think I've broken one Craftsman (USA) socket and one Craftsman (USA) socket wrench. Maybe if you're working on a lot of old, rusted-out stuff you'd have more problems like this. Personally, when I encounter something that problematic, I get out my impact wrench, but I don't work on anything that's more than perhaps 2 decades old, and I don't live in the northeast.
I'd rather see society putting $ (productivity, etc.) into better things like disease research, rather than wasting it on cheap crap that very soon goes into landfills.
The people buying hand tools aren't spending money on disease research directly, though indirectly they may be through their high medical bills. The last thing they need to is be spending all their money on higher-quality stuff, so they can't afford to go to the doctor or get a procedure. If the cheap alternative costs 1/10 as much and won't break for 90% of the buyers, it's a net win for society.
And again, I really wonder what people are doing to break hand tools. I have a lot more trouble losing tools than breaking them; sockets are the biggest problem, despite my best attempts to religiously replace them in their holders when I'm done. And losing a cheap tool is a much better situation than losing one that cost a small fortune.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:50PM
Sears has been "on the ropes" as far as I have been concerned since about 1985. The Discover credit card was the beginning of the end for them.
Maybe this is the precedent for Equifax's CSO having a music major?
>Ray Kennedy, Sr, father of country singer Ray Kennedy and the credit manager for Sears, conceived the card.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(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.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:42AM
when you take on a shit ton of debt for reasons, then suddenly you can't pay the mortgage. The business model of Toys-R-Us needs to die a sudden and painful death.
Bad decisions, great stories
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:09AM
This is the classic "Bust-Out" scam, done at LBO scale. Done to KB Toys, Hostess Foods, and now Toys-R-Us.. to "legally" steal all the value of a company, rip off worker's pensions and walk off with the loot... and not go to jail..
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829 [rollingstone.com]
Exerpt:
Fans of mob movies will recognize what's known as the "bust-out," in which a gangster takes over a restaurant or sporting goods store and then monetizes his investment by running up giant debts on the company's credit line. (Think Paulie buying all those cases of Cutty Sark in Goodfellas.) When the note comes due, the mobster simply torches the restaurant and collects the insurance money. Reduced to their most basic level, the leveraged buyouts engineered by Romney followed exactly the same business model. "It's the bust-out," one Wall Street trader says with a laugh. "That's all it is."
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:12PM (2 children)
As much as I loved going there as a kid, you reap what you sew. There used to be plenty of local toy stores until toys r us came around. Many of them went out of business by the 90's because toys r us was bigger, cheaper, carried more variety, and could more easily handle holiday rushes for the popular toys. They couldn't compete unless they knew what they were doing like specializing in action figures, collectables, or video games. That or they sold mostly chinese import crap but those were found in poorer areas. Now the tables have turned and toys r us can't compete with online retailers. That's progress I suppose.
One thing that I fondly remember: going to Toys R Us to buy a video games in the late 80's. They would have a big wall instead of shelves with all of the game box covers on display. Under each box was a vinyl pocket with a paper ticket on it with the name of the game, barcode and some other info. You took the slip to the register, paid, got the ticket stamped and then you went to a pickup window behind the registers where you got your game. As a kid it was magical to walk down that aisle full of brightly colored video games box covers plastered along that wall. Another fun thing was looking at the other systems and games for them wondering how much better it might be than your Nintendo.
(Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:58PM (1 child)
You reap what you sow.
You rip what you sew.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday September 20 2017, @11:34PM
Jawohl herr Grammatikführer!
(Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Wednesday September 20 2017, @01:09PM (1 child)
Income inequality: You don't need middle class shopping facilities if your political goal is the destruction of the middle class. You need a way for 1%ers to obtain kids toys for the nanny to keep them busy, and there's 3rd world grinding poverty where the kids aren't going to get chinese plastic crap because they're not even getting hot meals without the school lunch program. The purpose of our economy for decades has been to eliminate anyone in between, so any facility or organization that relies on that genocided group is going away. Where are the kids of the wealthy factory workers and middle managers going to shop? No problem, they don't exist anymore.
The demographic replacement issue is euros are into toy stores and hipster crap but 50% of kids are immigrants, don't speak English, only shop at Walmart, etc. I mean, you don't see toys r us booming in the jungles of the Yucatan, so you intentionally replace the white anglo locals with immigrants, the immigrants simply don't need white people stores. You can thank hipster chicks living in trendy urban condos with their fifty cats for the gradual elimination of whiteness from the USA. No white babies means no more "white kid stores".
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:19PM
I think there's got to be some insidious middle at work in the last several decades. I've seen too many middle class bedrooms packed floor to ceiling with plastic Chinese crap - it's like the "voluntary tax on those who can't do math" that is the lottery, Toys'R'Us et.al. was a voluntary donation of disposable income in exchange for mostly worthless brightly colored petroleum byproducts.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:48PM (1 child)
My kids have buckets and buckets of toys. Most of it we got for free, because our neighborhood is chock-full of young families that are forever putting old/unwanted toys out on the sidewalk for anyone to take. Some of it we bought at Target or the like. The kids played with any given thing for a day and lost interest. My wife has culled their hoard twice in the last six months and the kids didn't notice.
They do play with popsicle sticks and cotton swabs and cardboard that they cut out and assemble into doll houses or action figures. They seem to have a blast LARP-ing and RPG-ing with all of it; the cowboy they fashion out of swabs and scotch tape is more real a character to them that the full set of Star Wars figurines I had loved as a kid that I scored from a box somebody set out on their stoop.
We didn't do anything to encourage or discourage any of that. The only thing I can figure is that we don't have TV, so they're not exposed to toy commercials.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:21PM
I take our son "yard sale-ing" every saturday. For $5 cash (plus another $5 in mileage expense), we come home with 4 to 6 items every week - each of which usually cost $10-20 at retail, sometimes more, often less than a year prior to our buying it at yard sale.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @05:49PM
Said a spokesman for Toys R Us: