Posted on 10/27/2025 12:13:44 PM PDT by BFW
The beloved and former toy industry leader, Toys “R” Us, is revamping its brand ahead of the holiday season with new stores across the country, including two in California.
The company announced a nationwide expansion on Oct. 16, unveiling 30 new locations. The rollout includes a flagship store at the Camarillo Premium Outlets in Ventura County and a seasonal holiday shop at Bay Street Emeryville Mall in the Bay Area.
According to the company, the new stores are designed as convenient, family-friendly destinations featuring popular toy brands such as LEGO, Barbie, Hot Wheels, NERF and Paw Patrol.
Camarillo/Thousand Oaks are very upscale overall.
I can’t even remember them advertising for Christmas beyond the token commercials. Even Amazon sends paper toy catalogues in the mail, complete with stickers - younger kids can look through the catalogue (just like we did as kids) and put fun stickers on what they want. As a parent I. An open the catalogue, see what they want, and a pretty good idea of where ail buy it.
For TRU, the toys were way overpriced compared to competitors. Every time I went to the local store I was reminded why I seldom went there - store was a mess, product on the floor so you could barely get down some of the aisles, things just thrown on the shelves, and expensive compared to elsewhere.
Beloved, hell.
They put three excellent, very old and individually owned GREAT toy shops out of business.
Hate chains; I don’t like to spend money at anyplace I don’t know the owner by name and on sight
The one in Hayward CA was haunted at the right end of the building because they built it right over the spot where a guy chopped his leg in an apple orchard and bled to death .. The toys would fly off the shelves by themselves in the right end of the building. It was published in the Oakland Tribune in the 1980’s with witnesses.
They didn't just fail to pivot to the online world, they failed spectacularly - three times. They first failed at it in the 1990s, resulting in crying children and furious parents when items weren't delivered until after Christmas or orders were canceled because the inventory systems were inaccurate. They then partnered with Amazon who breached the contract a few years later because Toys R Us couldn't properly manage inventory. This forced Toys R Us to try again on their own, this time contracting with third party logistics companies, but they had serious supply chain failures.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-settles-suit-with-toys-r-us-for-51-million/
Toys R Us was a company that was in the red each year until Black Friday. While you could run a company like that back in the day with a skeleton crew and augment it with seasonal staff for the Christmas season, the computerization of retail industries required a higher level of talent than Toys R Us could hire and retain. When it came to year-round, full-time talent, they weren't competitive.
They were carried for years by the toy companies who knew what customers wanted and were very aware that Toys R Us was one of the few means of reaching them in brick and mortar stores. The customers (more specifically the kids) themselves knew what they wanted, which meant Toys R Us had little burden of educating customers or need for specialized customer service.
With customers who know exactly what they want, and companies that can advertise to them directly, the industry shifted well to online sales. For those parents, relatives, or family friends who were unsure of which gifts to buy and wanted to browse, they could shop in the seasonal section of retailers such as Target and Walmart, or a "pop-up" toy store.
As for competition between 'Spirit Halloween'/'Spirit Christmas' store and 'Toys R Us', I'd give the advantage to 'Spirit Halloween'/'Spirit Christmas' stores over 'Toys R Us' for three reasons:
1. 'Spirit Halloween'/'Spirit Christmas' can sign longer store leases since they could combine Halloween and Christmas.
2. 'Spirit Halloween'/'Spirit Christmas' can offer temporary staff longer employment and have the advantage of hiring them earlier in the season.
3. 'Spirit Halloween'/'Spirit Christmas' would have more freight cost leverage since their shipments span two seasons.
(Purchasing power is a wash between the two competitors since few Halloween vendors are also Christmas vendors).
Actually. Isn’t HOBBY LOBBY the real Spirit Christmas?
TRU #1 was in Rockville MD.
I had a landlady once whose family owned a toy store. She hated Toys "R" Us because they could undersell them. I doubt that their company is still in business.
In some places they are called “We Be Toys”.
Emeryville is not Ingelwood, they’ll be fine
PING
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