The Energon Pub

[william-james88]

Holy S*** this is troubling as all hell. Granted the decision isn't final yet, but it's still really concerning for TRU. One concern of mine is that TRU might be the only option for TF collecting for certain people. I also can't help but wonder what's going to happen to certain exclusives i.e. Studio Series Thundercracker. Are we going to get an alternative outlet for purchasing it, or are we just not going to see it as a result of this?

Thundercacker is already out at TRU, and was the last TRU exclusive.

Not quite available though. It being “out” and “available” are two different things. Especially if your store is really lazy about restocking. A lot of people may never see that thing.

So what? Even in normal times, some people migjt not see toysrus exclusives at their specific toys are us.

The point is this exclusive has been shipped to the stores. There is no going back on it and you will not see it at another outlet aside from a discount outlet ifTRU dumps their stock.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Well, this is depressing. the 'local' TRU, about a half-hour away, wasn't too bad with Transformer or MLP toys. And as others have said, there's a lot of memories there.

[WreckerJack]

I wonder if any other store will try to come and take TRU's spot as being a chain of toy stores. Target and Walmart are the only other places that sell toys. (Sometimes walgreens has stuff but not always, fred meyer stopped selling anything bigger than a titan master) I'll admit I get most my toys off amazon or ebay but I don't wanna be stuck with amazon's pricing system. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's unfair and the worst is paying for shipping. (And screw amazon prime for "free shipping" I have done the math and for me it wouldn't save me anything.)

[REX-203]

I have shopped at TRU for years, I remember the days when they had more chains like Lionel Playworld and children's Palace (non mall stores) and prices were a lot better. I do have fond memories of buying some TF's from TRU like the original Fort Max and Scorponok. Unfortunately recently If I have purchased more than 3 items from TRU a year unlike when I used to get at least 50 - 75% of my toys from them as they are too damn expensive now, and I can get the toys other places. If I visit the only local store once a month I am lucky as lately I have gone 2 - 3 months without stepping foot in one of their stores.

Hey buddy, I will never forget the first time I met you at the TRU on Vets. You had hid an Armada Tidalwave for me, and I went there to pick it up. I saw you there and recognized you from pics you had posted here in the Energon Pub. So glad to still call you a friend after all this time. It's hard to believe that was, what 15 or 16 years ago?

I have very fond and vivid memories of Children's Palace on Vets and Lionel Playworld on Airline. It's funny, I don't remember ever going to TRU until the later '80s after the NES came out and going there to look for TMNT with my brother. Do you know what year it opened here?

I know it looks bleak, but I do really hope something can be worked out. Fat chance, I realize, but I just don't want to see it go...

[Ironhidensh]

The Toys R Us of my childhood has been gone for a couple of decades now.

Over priced, and rarely in stock, the current version will not be missed.

[ScottyP]

The Toys R Us of my childhood has been gone for a couple of decades now.

Over priced, and rarely in stock, the current version will not be missed.

I had started to kind of enjoy going there again when they began stocking fun Gundam stuff from Bluefin. Then they started marking those up to the point where different figures in the same series, that were the same size, but different assortments would vary in price. Happened with Converge, Universal Unit, and even the little two minute kits. Hell I can go to one up the road and spend anywhere from $6-$11 on one Converge figure. It's this huge red flag of a retailer being run by people that don't understand retailing.

In short, I agree

[william-james88]

A lot is going on for Toysrus. Today was going to be quite critical with a decision in bankruptcy court that might involve closing their entire US operations. However, it turns out the hearing was adjourned with no decisions made and anything planned to be discussed today will be discussed Wednesday the 15th instead.

NOTICE OF ADJOURNMENT OF OMNIBUS HEARING SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 12, 2018 AT 2:00 P.M. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT all matters scheduled to be heard at the omnibus hearing set for March 12, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. (prevailing Eastern Time) are being adjourned to March 15, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. (prevailing Eastern Time) and that all matters set for the omnibus hearing on March 12, 2018 have been removed from the Court’s docket.

Many Canadians are concerned since unlike the experiences reported in the US, Toysrus in Canada has been a true haven for collectors. They would pick up any exclusive from retailers that were US specific (BBTS, Target, ect) and thanks to their pricing policy and discounts, it is currently the best place to buy Transformers in the country. So of course, Canadians are very worried with what will happen if the US parent company folds. Well, we have word from the VP of marketing of the subsidiary, Clint Gaudry:

Our business in Canada is operating as usual. We remain committed to providing customers with great service and the best assortment of merchandise in the toy and baby categories. We continue to serve our customers and honour all our customer policies and programs like Baby Registry, Gift Cards and R Club loyalty.

So that's good news for Toysrus Canada but this article from the Financial Post, which looks into the future of Toysrus Canada, and it seems there will definitely be a change regardless. For instance, if Toysrus Canada survives and continues on its own, not being part of a bigger corporation means prices are bound to go up to offset costs of no longer buying as big an order from suppliers.

Any prospective buyer of Toys “R” Us Canada would have to work with skittish vendors and a higher cost base. “Things would change without the U.S. business to support the Canadian unit, anything from marketing costs to merchandising costs,” without the economies of scale of a large bulk-buying parent Minakakis said.

[Ig89ninja]

wait, isn't wednesday the 14th?

[william-james88]

wait, isn't wednesday the 14th?

its thursday, I fixed it

[Aimless Misfire]

It's an extremely slow gradual decline that we've been watching since '88. Everything started going down the toilet around '88='92. All the toy lines died. The cartoons died. The stores started dying off. The economy went to hell. Music went to **** when rap came on the scene. And because of cell phones & other electronic gadgets humans don't even know how to socially interact with each other anymore. You can't stop progress! lol Let it burn! Good riddance to a rotten world.

My local Toys R Us never has anything. I leave empty handed 99% of the time. And their website is just as bad. And back in the 80's Toys R Us hardly ever had anything, Child World was my store. Child World was always better. I still miss Child World & Kay Bee but I won't miss Toys Aren't Us.

[-Kanrabat-]

I really do hope that TrU Canada keep going. If it mean paying more for the exclusives, so be it. At least they won't be scalped to death.

If TrU is gone from Canada, all that will remain is Walmart. And Walmart suck ass for toys. There's never anything in store and their websites is now infected with Amazon Style vendors, their listings peppered through Walmart's. It's garbage.

[Cyber Bishop]

It's an extremely slow gradual decline that we've been watching since '88. Everything started going down the toilet around '88='92. All the toy lines died. The cartoons died. The stores started dying off. The economy went to hell. Music went to **** when rap came on the scene. And because of cell phones & other electronic gadgets humans don't even know how to socially interact with each other anymore. You can't stop progress! lol Let it burn! Good riddance to a rotten world.

My local Toys R Us never has anything. I leave empty handed 99% of the time. And their website is just as bad. And back in the 80's Toys R Us hardly ever had anything, Child World was my store. Child World was always better. I still miss Child World & Kay Bee but I won't miss Toys Aren't Us.

In the 90's TRU was booming, TF generation 2, The Star Wars POTF2 line came out, Beast Wars and all kinds of other toy lines were extremely popular. Every Saturday and Sunday mornings at local TRU's collectors met in droves to see what they received the night before. The downfall shift I and others I know noticed was when Kaybee toys closed down, TRU became a monopoly and then decided to jack their prices up way more than other stores. I know TRU employees that state that they feel the prices are non competitive and this is one of their downfalls. When competition goes away and one store becomes a monopoly that means prices can go up. I remember the golden days of multiple toys stores,'Lionel Playworld, Children's Palace/Child World, Toys By Roy (later merged with Kaybee) you had options but now you only have one toy specific store, TRU, they got greedy and are now paying the price for greed.

[Kyleor]

It's an extremely slow gradual decline that we've been watching since '88. Everything started going down the toilet around '88='92. All the toy lines died. The cartoons died. The stores started dying off. The economy went to hell. Music went to **** when rap came on the scene. And because of cell phones & other electronic gadgets humans don't even know how to socially interact with each other anymore. You can't stop progress! lol Let it burn! Good riddance to a rotten world.

My local Toys R Us never has anything. I leave empty handed 99% of the time. And their website is just as bad. And back in the 80's Toys R Us hardly ever had anything, Child World was my store. Child World was always better. I still miss Child World & Kay Bee but I won't miss Toys Aren't Us.

In the 90's TRU was booming, TF generation 2, The Star Wars POTF2 line came out, Beast Wars and all kinds of other toy lines were extremely popular. Every Saturday and Sunday mornings at local TRU's collectors met in droves to see what they received the night before. The downfall shift I and others I know noticed was when Kaybee toys closed down, TRU became a monopoly and then decided to jack their prices up way more than other stores. I know TRU employees that state that they feel the prices are non competitive and this is one of their downfalls. When competition goes away and one store becomes a monopoly that means prices can go up. I remember the golden days of multiple toys stores,'Lionel Playworld, Children's Palace/Child World, Toys By Roy (later merged with Kaybee) you had options but now you only have one toy specific store, TRU, they got greedy and are now paying the price for greed.

Circuit City did the whole too greedy thing too. It seems like once corporate gets the idea that they're the 'big boys' and 'too big to fail' and 'our customers will pay whatever we say because we're *Company*' it infects most of the company and it's downhill from there.

[tmthor]

The problem I see is prices going up all across the boards. Smaller retailers pay in some cases more wholesale than Walmart or Target sell items for so all that think some white horse will take thier place....not for some as prices will probably double

[Cyber Bishop]

Circuit City did the whole too greedy thing too. It seems like once corporate gets the idea that they're the 'big boys' and 'too big to fail' and 'our customers will pay whatever we say because we're *Company*' it infects most of the company and it's downhill from there.

Pretty much.

[william-james88]

The BBC has just reported that all UK Toys R Us stores are closing. This is due to no buyer willing to purchase this subsidiary. We had reported that it had fallen into administration and now we know officially of the chosen outcome and time frame.

We know the US is getting ready for a liquidation fo their own but no official decision has been made yet. You can click here for the latest news on the US and Canadian front.

Here are the key points from the BBC article:

All Toys R Us stores in the UK are expected to close in the next six weeks following the chain's collapse into administration.

The BBC understands that attempts to find a buyer for the US retailer's 100 stores in the UK have failed.

Twenty five stores have either closed in recent days or are due to shut by Thursday.

The collapse will put more than 3,000 people out of work as a dismal period for the retail sector continues.

[ZeroWolf]

I'm going to be heading to my local either today or tomorrow. Not expecting to find anything great though. Still feels odd that they'll all be gone.

[Big Grim]

Damn shame. They're an institution!

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I'm going to be heading to my local either today or tomorrow. Not expecting to find anything great though. Still feels odd that they'll all be gone.

Not quite all gone I must add. Toys 'R Us has a quite a few stores in Asia, especially in Japan and they seem to be doing more than fine right now. I wonder what would happen to those stores.

[Ironhidensh]

The news just broke: Toys R Us will be closing all 800 US stores.

[Ironhidensh]

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/14/news/co ... index.html

[-Kanrabat-]

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/14/news/companies/toys-r-us-closing-stores/index.html

Damn.
So TrU will remain only in Canada and Asia?

[Burn]

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/14/news/companies/toys-r-us-closing-stores/index.html

Damn.
So TrU will remain only in Canada and Asia?

FYI, TRU Australia isn't part of the TRU Asia group.

[Qwan]

[UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal has a quote from Chief Executive David Brandon on the matter of Toys R Us stores in other countries. Brandon says that the company is likely to liquidate in France, Spain, Poland and Australia, and has plans to sell its Canadian, Central European and Asian arms. The only real light in the tunnel here is the prospect of purchase; the company is currently attempting to find a buyer for a 'package' of sorts, comprised of its Canadian branch along with 200 US stores. Other countries' stores may also find themselves saved if a buyer happens to come along - Brandon has said that "all anyone has to do is offer one dollar more” than liquidation firms - but this is still not anywhere near a guarantee that Toys R Us stores are safe anywhere in the world.]

Sad news today, Seibertronians. After months of tension regarding its fate since September last year, Toys R Us has finally made the decision to sell or close all of its US stores, as reported by CNN. This comes not long off the heels of their postponed decision on Monday, but now we know the answer for certain and it's not a heartening one.

Employees have already been notified by the company's CEO, as the Wall Street Journal reports. There is not yet any word on how this will affect Toys R Us' business in Canada and other countries, though with Toys R Us expected to close all UK stores in the coming weeks as well, things aren't looking too good for the brand at large.

From a more Transformers-centric perspective, it's also unclear how this will affect Toys R Us-exclusive figures like the extremely recent Studio Series Thundercracker, and fans' attempts to acquire them. There's a lot of uncertainty going around right now, but with such a huge change as this, it's only to be expected that many things are in flux with no clear direction or solution.

Share your thoughts below in the Energon Pub if you have any perspectives on this issue, and you can be sure that Seibertron.com will be on hand to report on any further developments to this situation and its multitude of loose ends. Until next time Seibertronians, don't take your toys for granted.

[Ultra Markus]

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