As we know by now, Toys R Us has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but what will happen with the company and all the LEGO exclusives we could get from them? As an employee of Toys R Us/Babies R Us, what I’ve been told by my manager is that we’ll still be running normally like we’ve been running. No stores will be closing in the short term but may close poor performing stores after the holiday season. As for reports that a lot of vendors have refused to ship products, those are only for the smaller companies. I believe the larger companies like Mattel, Hasbro, and even LEGO are still getting products to the stores. There won’t be any “going out of business” sales because this isn’t a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and TRU is not going out of business at this time.
So what happens with all the LEGO products at Toys R Us? There shouldn’t be any change with the selection. For those here in the US who are waiting for the Bricktober 2017 sets, you should still be able to find them in a few weeks. There will still be various sales going on and TRU does price match Amazon and other retailers.
The Toys R Us bankruptcy comes just weeks after LEGO reported lower profits and layoffs themselves. It looks like that the whole toy industry isn’t doing well as a whole as more kids are gravitating to electronics and video games. We’ll see what happens after the holiday season but this is scary news especially since I’m an TRU/BRU employee but I feel that things will work out slowly, hopefully.
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I’ve worked at TRU twice, they still owe me money. I suggest you get the hell out of there, they are going under even if it’s not right now.
I guess this means “going out of business” sales goes for the employees only. Lol!
Good luck man! Hope all goes well for you personally. I have a hard time seeing them come through this successfully, their price strategy is flawed. Offering a price match policy, when they know dang well most products in their stores are above MSRP is preying on uneducated consumers.
Thanks.
It’s a highly competitive environment with Amazon, Walmart and Target constantly cutting prices to gain market share, TRU has not responded well in its marketing campaigns or pricing strategy. TRU is also sitting on allot of old merchandise that should have been clearanced out years ago.
For that matter, every time I go to TRU their Lego pricing is upcharged compared to the Target and Walmart across the street, by 5-10$, so I only go for specials or stuff I can’t find at other stores, like their larger Mega Construx selection or polybags.
I went the other day because the daughters wanted a doll they couldn’t find at target or walmart. I made my way to the clearance section and the sets they had on clearance were marked all the way down to the MSRP….
my favorite are the clearance signs on years old lego sets that are msrp, my guess is that the 30% off clearance coupons work on these, however few people have these. I did find a stack of photo copied coupons by some really old items in one isle.
oh yeah, forgot you work at TRU. Hope everything works out. If not maybe you can open a Bricklink store. There are clearly quite a few people making a living doing that now.
I’ve wondered about the health of the company for a while. When I was a kid, when I would go into a Toys R Us, there would be dozens of people filling their carts. Over the years, the number of people I’d see in the stores dropped significantly. It really hit when I was in my teens or so. Part of it was the decline of some of the truly great toy lines, some of it was the declines of awesome cartoons on Saturdays (thanks Congress!) but I think the biggest problem was pricing. It just got to be so expensive. Taxes where I live have been going up steadily for years, my family lost a lot of income, and every service we rely on costs more. The value of money itself is down. I don’t think the problem is kids going to games and electronics so much as parents not having the time or money to buy toys and kids not feeling as interested in the toys either. I grew up with “G.I. JOE” and “Transformers” as two of the biggest toy and cartoon combos. The classic cartoons were awesome. I really miss those days and the happier, more lively, Toys R Us stores.
Of course, it could be that they wasted a lot of money on clothes but allegedly the clothes kept them afloat. Can’t say I ever saw many people buying a clothes there though.
Clothing actually sells more at Babies R Us than at Toys R Us themselves.