Toys R Us Files for Bankruptcy

This. How do you survive when you are almost double than the box store? And they were more expensive than the mom and pop tox store.

I have six kids and never go to Toys R Us, which is a pretty decent indicator that they are missing the mark.

I'm so sorry for this.  What a horrible thing for a company to do.

I stopped shopping there about 10 years ago because of their horrible customer service.  But my experience doesn't come close to this.  

We were talking about this on facebook with my cousin yesterday. He said did anyone NOT have a bad experience there lol! but I had been to four different stores of theirs and a few sports stores looking for a pink soccer ball for one of my neices. We found one there. I am short it was on a higher shelf, even DH was just out of reach so you're supposed to get help right? Well, we went to the check out and one girl there. I said can someone help us get it down. She said I'm all alone in the store. (This was late Oct so toward Halloween starting to get busy time). I said it's late afternoon and you're all alone? A line was starting to form behind me. I worked for years at Mervyns before it went under so I try to have a lot of patience with her. Not even five min later a guy comes walking through with a walkie talkie on his belt carrying a box. Dh asked if he worked there and if he could help us. He said 'no I just stalk shelves- I don't do customer service!!" It was a good thing Dh was there cause I nearly lost it on both of them. Even the guy behind us was really mad. two ladies put their stuff back and walked out.

I think their mistake(s) is that they only sell toys (that not a lot of people buy on a regular basis) and their merchandise is more expensive than other stores for the same item. They should have found a way to expand their necessity as a store.

I feel like toys stores are geared more towards younger children, and with the creation of 2-day shipping, what mom wants to dress the family and drag the kids out (who will have a case of the gimmes) when it can just show up on your doorstep for 30% less?

Ours always had more variety than Target and Walmart. So for certain things I would go there. And while I love Amazon at Christmas time most of their collectible toys are 4x normal selling price. I hope they make it.

This is what's happening in our family too. Her big Christmas present last year was a pair of roller skates. Our 7yo doesn't have a lot of interest anymore in regular toys. She does like games she can play with us or with friends but she would rather play on a tablet, draw or do crafts, ride her scooter or bike, roller skate, or jump on the trampoline. If you asked her today what she most wants for Christmas, her answer would be Robux gift cards.

Full disclosure: I'm a former design manager at Toys R Us corporate, and your comment kind of epitomizes what TRU was meant to be: the kind of toy store where you could find anything, not just the most popular toys. Sure, you can find toys cheaper at Walmart or Costco, but you'll never see anywhere near the choices as at TRU. Of course, Amazon beats Toys R Us anytime, even TRU.com, but that's the case with almost any kind of retail merchandise.

On the corporate level, the company is always trying to improve the customer experience, and my own personal experiences have almost always been good. Corporate employees were encouraged to volunteer to work in a TRU retail store on Black Fridays, and I did. It was chaotic but fun. Well organized and well staffed.

In the years before I worked for TRU, when my own kids were little, I often found shopping there frustrating and depressing. But the past few years they have really made the stores much more open, user friendly and attractive. I was involved in several panels that were tasked with coming up with design and implementation programs to improve the shopping experience. (Sorry about surly and unhelpful store staff, that's just inexcusable), and the stores were always evolving.

If Toys R Us closes its doors (which I pray does NOT happen), it will be a huge blow to the toy industry. It's not just one less toy store, it's the reason for existence of many small toy manufacturers and toy lines. Even large companies will greatly suffer if TRU is gone. Amazon is fine, but it's difficult to shop Amazon unless you know what you want. Also, I believe if TRU is gone, Amazon will have fewer choices, because some manufacturers will fold. Brick and mortar stores are still important, and in an industry as small as the toy industry, essential.
I hope some of you who have stayed away will support TRU as they sort through their restructuring. If you haven't been for 15 years, you'll find it much changed.

Oh, and several of you mentioned your kids "aging out" of toys at younger ages- this has been going on for a long time, and in my 35 years experience as a toy designer, this is one of our biggest challenges: how to keep children interested in traditional play until they are at least 8 or so. But you might not know the breadth of the imaginative and exciting toys for kids (including tons of tech toys) unless you actually visited a Toys R Us store.

And I had nothing to do with setting the prices, sorry for that!

I certainly can agree with that. I haven't set foot in a Best Buy for years!

My main worry is how this bankruptcy might affect April , Oliver, & Tajiri the giraffes and everyone at Animal Adventure Park in little Harpursville NY. Toys r Us became their sponsor and hope that isn't going to be a hardship for them. Haven't see that aspect discussed anywhere yet.