A well-known children’s products and goods store chain that declared bankruptcy several years ago is planning to make a location comeback.
The Toys R Us company, which closed its final stores in America around five years ago, has announced that it plans to open a series of what it calls “flagship stores” in some two dozen locations across the country.
The brand, which was purchased by the company WHP Global, plans to also open smaller shops in airports, with the first such location expected to be open for business next month inside the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Founded in Washington, D.C. in 1957, Toys R Us had nearly 750 stores at its height, initially selling baby furniture before it expanded into a wide array of children’s toys and clothing.
The company’s sales began to decline in the 1990s due to competition from such big box retailers as Walmart, Target, and Costco. The emergence of online retail giant Amazon, beginning in 1994, only made things tougher.
Finally in 2017, Toys R Us, confronting reported debts of around $5 billion, announced it was filing for bankruptcy.
But now the company has said it plans to launch a new and unique strategy seeing it opening stores in such unusual places as airports and on cruise ships. Toys R Us has also opened locations inside the more than 500 stores run by the Macy’s department store chain.
In a statement, Yehuda Shmidman, chief executive officer of the New York-based WHP Global, remarked that Toys R Us is “growing fast and our expansion into air, land, and sea is testament to the brand’s strength.”
Shmidman also disclosed that the company has increased its “global retail footprint by more than 50%” with openings in locations Great Britain, India, and Mexico, among other countries.
Former Toys R Us stores measured around 45,000 square feet, while some of its locations in smaller markets came in at around 25,000 square feet. It is not certain if WHP Global plans to build any new stand-alone stores for the brand.
By Garry Boulard
