Last month, I observed that “K-Mart is closing stores and Toys R Us is going out of business. Those are definitely topics for another day.” Today is that day, at least for Toys R Us.*
I begin with CNBC’s The Rise And Fall Of Toys R Us.
One of the most famous toy stores Toys R Us is closing its doors for good.
Oh, look, Bain Capital is involved with a failed toy store chain. Where have I seen that before?
There’s a double irony here. First, Toys R Us bought the KB Toys brand and was using it on its line of self-manufactured toys as of 2012. Two years ago, it sold the name off and the new owners are planning on taking advantage of the former owner’s misfortune. WKBW in Buffalo has that story, reporting KB Toys aims to fill the void of Toys ‘R’ Us.
Toys “R” Us is on its way out, but KB Toys is set to pop back up.
Strategic Marks, a company that buys and revitalizes defunct brands, owns the KB name and plans to open 1,000 pop-up KB Toys stores for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.
“My assumption is that there’s about half a billion dollars worth of toys that have been produced for Toys “R” Us with no place to go,” said Strategic Marks president Ellia Kassoff, in a phone interview with CNNMoney. “That’s a big, big void that we’re hoping to fill up.”
…
After the holiday shopping season ends, Kassoff will decide which of the pop-up stores will become permanent, based on their performance and whether he can negotiate a lease.
I’m glad to have KB Toys back and wish the new owners luck. They’ll need it.
Of course, I can’t be all DOOM all the time, so here is Jimmy Kimmel having some fun with the bad news as Geoffrey the Giraffe Despondent Over Toys ‘R’ Us Closing.
Toys ‘R’ Us is going out of business and is closing all 735 of their stores. There are many people who are upset about this, including Geoffrey the Giraffe who stopped by the studio to share his feelings on the situation.
Go home, Geoffrey. You’re drunk.
*I’ll get to KMart in a future set of posts. In the meantime, stay tuned for three more parts to this sad series.