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WreckerJack wrote:Toys 'R' Us may make a return. According to IGN Toys 'R' Us has canceled it's bankruptcy auction. What this means is Toys 'R' Us is planning a revival of the brand. Toys 'R' Us closed their doors earlier this year in the US. The Wall Street Journal has the details of their plan which includes opening and operating in person stores. Things seem to be early in speculation for now so we can't draw too many conclusions just yet. We here at Seiberton will be crossing our fingers that things turn out. We will give you all of the details as they happen.

I hoped for their return as a long-time customer, let us pray for a miracle.

Toys R Us Rebrands as Geoffrey’s Toy Box?
Published 1 day ago on October 4, 2018 By Ashley Wilbanks

News broke a few days ago that Toys R Us was cancelling their pending bankruptcy plans, with plans to reemerge in the marketplace. Just how and when that comeback would take place was still a mystery, until now.

Geoffrey the Giraffe was spotted at the Fall Toy Preview in Dallas sporting a “Back from Vacation” cape, which made a few headlines on Twitter and Linkedin. This led to a little Internet snooping, which turned up the following information…

Geoffrey’s Toy Box will launch consumer locations across the country this coming November as a “shop-within-a-shop” concept, initially partnering with “a prominent Midwest retailer.”

The new venture, for now, is being operated out of the Toys R Us headquarters building in Wayne, New Jersey, where a small number of former Toys R Us executives and employees continue to report to work.

How will Toys R Us succeed in a marketplace that has changed dramatically in a few short months? Amazon and Walmart are starting a huge push to replace the failed toy company. Walmart plans to add dedicated space for pop culture collectibles in the coming weeks, and Amazon has been signing exclusive rights for various toy lines (like Funko’s Primal Age line).

As always, leave your thoughts in the appropriate places…

ABOUT GEOFFREY’S TOY BOX:
Wholesale toy distributor and intellectual property company whose focus is on popular play patterns across trusted brands that kids and parents love. Geoffrey’s Toy Box is a fully outfitted organization with design, development and global sourcing expertise. Portfolio includes popular brands like Journey Girls, Fastlane, True Heroes, You & Me, Imaginarium, Just like Home and more!

Source :USA Today

https://dccollectors.com/2018/10/04/toys-r-us-rebrands-as-geoffreys-toy-box/

We had covered the other day a story about the ongoing troubles of international toy retail chain Toys R Us, in which a return of the store to the US had been advanced by the company on a number of outlets. You can read that again here, but also integrated with some further details below.

According to USA Today, TRU is planning on a series of strategies to remain as a presence, including keeping Geoffrey the giraffe as its mascot, using pop up locations, and changing the name to Geoffrey's Toy Box. The full article here details further what is happening, including the short term business plan, and the presence of Solus Alternative Asset Management and Angelo Gordon funds behind the new company, plus some worker discontent at the latter, and how the new Geoffrey LLC owns the name for TRU and Babies R Us in all countries except Canada. Read more below!

They are also saying they hope to have pop-ups in place inside the stores of a regional mass merchant in time for the holidays, and to relaunch Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores down the road.

Geoffrey's Toy Box introduced itself to toy manufacturers and sellers Tuesday at the opening of the Dallas toy show, with an exhibit booth and a costumed Geoffrey mascot, who was spotted wearing a cape with the words "Back from Vacation." Toy manufacturers at the show were tweeting and posting on LinkedIn that they had spotted Geoffrey and Richard Barry, the former chief merchandising officer at Toys R Us who appears to be heading the new venture for the investors.

The new venture, for now, is being operated out of the Toys R Us headquarters building in Wayne, New Jersey, where a small number of former Toys R Us executives and employees continue to report to work.

That actually sounds a lot like what Amazon is doing, having "brick and mortar" locations inside other stores. I'd think that the larger chains would welcome that as a potential boon: they'd make money off the space and not have to actually purchase the product to put there. And GTB won't have to have the outlay of funding their own building. With the Internet, the days of stand-alone toy stores is likely done but this seems like a very viable alternative.

THe downside is that the space would be smaller as would the selection, potentially. I suspect they would have a robust online presence and selection, but minimal real-world footprint.

Could not be happier to hear this! Amazing news. We are all Toy R Us kids in the end.

I think it's important to remember that your local stores aren't re-opening, at least not in the same locations and that all those people who lost jobs probably won't be rehired.

TheTfboy wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Decepticon Stryker wrote:Ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease

I cannot stress how close to meaningless all this is. All they have is just a name they do not want to sell yet.

Also, seriously, do you anericans miss toysrus? Not the toysrus of your childhoods, i mean the store you could have walked into last year. Have your purchasing habits been affected in anyway since it closed?

All are welcomed to respond.

Homestly, It would've been a great distributor for the Transformers TCG, because I don't know about you, but here in central Florida, finding card packs is a pain.

They are readily available in Walmart(of all places) so you might try there. I was really surprised by that but given how big the MTG and Yughio sections are, I guess I'm not that surprised.

As for the question posed by william-james88, yes. Yes my habits have changed. None of the Target's or Walmarts carry bigger items and they are very hit or miss on what they carry in general. I will say however, the big thing I miss is the non-tf toys. No other local stores carry the Necca lines unless it's the comic shops or the Think Geek store in the mall and some things are a little harder to find. Comic shops mark them up a good $5 or $10 too.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/lam ... -this-time

Related. Another legend/contemporary bites(will bite) the dust for real this time

"Sears hasn’t earned a profit since 2010.

The company faces a cash crunch as it needs to stock its remaining Sears and Kmart stores for the holidays, and many vendors, from appliance makers to toy companies, now require the company to pay upfront in cash.

Sears has canceled orders from some appliances manufacturers, according to two appliance industry consultants."

lakebot wrote:As for the question posed by william-james88, yes. Yes my habits have changed. None of the Target's or Walmarts carry bigger items and they are very hit or miss on what they carry in general.

So does that mean you now order your bigger items online?

william-james88 wrote:

lakebot wrote:As for the question posed by william-james88, yes. Yes my habits have changed. None of the Target's or Walmarts carry bigger items and they are very hit or miss on what they carry in general.

So does that mean you now order your bigger items online?

Do we even have a choice anymore? I hate it because majority of the time you have to pay shipping and it always ends up costing more in the end...especially now that states have caught on and are hitting is with sales tax.

First-Aid wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

lakebot wrote:As for the question posed by william-james88, yes. Yes my habits have changed. None of the Target's or Walmarts carry bigger items and they are very hit or miss on what they carry in general.

So does that mean you now order your bigger items online?

Do we even have a choice anymore? I hate it because majority of the time you have to pay shipping and it always ends up costing more in the end...especially now that states have caught on and are hitting is with sales tax.

I dont really get either point because for the shipping:
1- Amazon has free shipping for those items
2- BBTS only charges 4$ flat rate

As for taxes, you would pay those if you bought it in stores so I dont see how that would play into this discussion. Unless you meant tax on the shipping but thats still just very marginal based on the figures I wrote above.

Just trying to understand the issues. I am personally waiting for black friday to pick up predaking on amazon and i would have done that whether I found him at brick and mortar retail or not (which turns out I did see at Brick and Motar but didnt pick up).

I think there is also that ever present doubt in some people's minds when it comes to whether or not they are going to buy a figure. I know in some cases, I'd rather have seen the product in person before purchase. The internet is a great thing, but nothing beats an optic inspection.

I also am a cheap sonuvabitch. So four bucks...damnit, that's two bottles of Boone's Farm! I hate shelling that out when it can go for much grander purposes!

william-james88 wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

lakebot wrote:As for the question posed by william-james88, yes. Yes my habits have changed. None of the Target's or Walmarts carry bigger items and they are very hit or miss on what they carry in general.

So does that mean you now order your bigger items online?

Do we even have a choice anymore? I hate it because majority of the time you have to pay shipping and it always ends up costing more in the end...especially now that states have caught on and are hitting is with sales tax.

I dont really get either point because for the shipping:
1- Amazon has free shipping for those items
2- BBTS only charges 4$ flat rate

As for taxes, you would pay those if you bought it in stores so I dont see how that would play into this discussion. Unless you meant tax on the shipping but thats still just very marginal based on the figures I wrote above.

Just trying to understand the issues. I am personally waiting for black friday to pick up predaking on amazon and i would have done that whether I found him at brick and mortar retail or not (which turns out I did see at Brick and Motar but didnt pick up).

To answer your question, sometimes. Perhaps I am paranoid but I do not like having anything large delivered to my home. My work hours vary every single day. And depending on the method of delivery service, I or my wife may not be home. So it will sit outside on the front porch. I'm really not even so worried about an item being stolen as I am that someone may open it and then either keep coming back or just burglarize my home thinking I have some very massive/expensive collection(I don't and have made it a point not to but that doesn't help me if they break in before they realize that).

This doesn't account for the damage that can occur during the shipping process.

Sadly I do not feel we have much of a choice anymore at this point. But that does not mean I have to like/agree with it. Some of the people here may be used to doing the online route only. I do as well for certain things. But not for anything big if I can help it. That is why I was frustrated about trying to get Trypticon in store. They couldn't even do that right and I had to go BBTS. As for Predaking, I will wait to see if Think Geek has it. Online will always be my last option.

First-Aid wrote:I think there is also that ever present doubt in some people's minds when it comes to whether or not they are going to buy a figure. I know in some cases, I'd rather have seen the product in person before purchase. The internet is a great thing, but nothing beats an optic inspection.

I also am a cheap sonuvabitch. So four bucks...damnit, that's two bottles of Boone's Farm! I hate shelling that out when it can go for much grander purposes!

The shipping with BBTS is really great when you think about it. I could not ship items that cheap to anyone and they aren't bad when compared to other outlets(with several having free shipping) so I certainly don't grimace at the price. I don't haveto see the item first either.

Another point someone mentioned was Walmart clearing space to, I guess, expand their toys sections? Not from what I have seen although I understand we are still early on in this post "TRU whatever we are calling it".

Despite the feeling I get from conversation that a lot of people feel online is the way to go, and the way everyone prefers to buy, I don't believe it. The mall and anywhere near the mall will be a total mess come Black Friday-Christmas eve. I feel people do whatever they find most convenient and for whatever reason(s) online may not always be the best option for them.

Meanwhile in Canada...

Video Unavailable.

Burn wrote:Video Unavailable.

How ironic. TRU Canada is available, but the video the Canadian shares is not

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Burn wrote:Video Unavailable.

How ironic. TRU Canada is available, but the video the Canadian shares is not

nah, that's just Billy-Jim's Canadian bias showing through again.

william-james88 wrote:Meanwhile in Canada...

How to Share With Just Friends

What is it supposed to be?

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Meanwhile in Canada...

How to Share With Just Friends

What is it supposed to be?

A Canadian Beast Wars figure...turns from a robot to a beaver. Name is Hoser. The tail in animal mode turns into a hockey stick weapon in robot mode, and one of the teeth in beaver mode is missing...

Trying to get that video to work, this is what I was trying to post. Can anyone help?

After months of searching, we are pleased to announce our newest Chief Play Officer, 11 year old Méganne Dagenais!! We surprised Méganne at her local Toys “R” Us Canada store in LaSalle, Quebec, to announce she had won the coveted role to be our brand ambassador. Check out the video to see! #CPO #Play

Here is the URL
https://www.facebook.com/ToysRUsCanada/ ... 325028752/

I try to post it and get this:

The Toysrus bankruptcy of last year is still a very sour spot for fans as well as Hasbro's CEOs and fellow investors, where it monopolizes shareholder meetings even in the latest quarterly discussions. However, I thought it would be fun to look at how well Toysrus is doing in the places where it is still thriving, in the wake of the international stores fully separating themselves from the original American company with a look at Canada and the Philippines.

In the Philippines, the store in Robinsons Galleria now has a giant Cybertron/Galaxy Force Optimus Prime tearing through the Transformers display. This works perfectly with the upcoming leader class figure.



In Canada, Toysrus is making sure kids have something to do for March break (next week) with activities every day. They can be seen below. This was posted on their Facebook page along with a video showing them keeping a yearly tradition. They had a contest to find the next Chief Play Officer. The announcement happened to take place at your fellow editor's local Toysrus store.

You can watch the video here

After months of searching, we are pleased to announce our newest Chief Play Officer, 11 year old Méganne Dagenais!! We surprised Méganne at her local Toys “R” Us Canada store in LaSalle, Quebec, to announce she had won the coveted role to be our brand ambassador. Check out the video to see! #CPO #Play

And here are the March Break activities:

MONDAY
Dragon Trainers Unite!
Five years have passed since Hiccup and Toothless united the dragons and Vikings of Berk.
Join “Us” for a puzzle make and take and tote bag giveaway to celebrate their return!
Max. 70 per store.

TUESDAY
Design & Create a Bracelet
Spin up some fun with the KumiKreator™ from Spin Master! Your child and their bestie can enjoy an interactive product demo that will have them and our product expert spinning up a unique bracelet!
Max. 100 per store.

WEDNESDAY
It's Morphin' Time!
Your kids can become a certified Ranger. Take part in our Power Rangers training activities and learn to think, act and dress like a Ranger. PLUS free swag!
Max. 50 per store.

THURSDAY
Build a LEGO® City Dragster
Ready, Set, Go! Join the racing crowd at this awesome LEGO® make and take activity!
Max. 100 per store.

FRIDAY
Express Yourself with Beads
Spell it out and express your individuality with the Alphabet Bead DIY activity! Kids can create a unique bracelet or keychain and take it home!
Max. 100 per store.

Whenever I bring up Toys'R'Us, someone points out the US closing. It's gotten a little annoying tbh, especially when they have to tell me 'TRU is closed, what are you talking about'... not in Canada.

TFanPage101 wrote:Whenever I bring up Toys'R'Us, someone points out the US closing. It's gotten a little annoying tbh, especially when they have to tell me 'TRU is closed, what are you talking about'... not in Canada.

Agreed!
The first comment on twitter whenever an article like this is posted is "What's toysrus" or "Toysrus, you sure about that?" or some BS like that. Its annoying, but we all know why they do it, they are just jealous

william-james88 wrote:

TFanPage101 wrote:Whenever I bring up Toys'R'Us, someone points out the US closing. It's gotten a little annoying tbh, especially when they have to tell me 'TRU is closed, what are you talking about'... not in Canada.

Agreed!
The first comment on twitter whenever an article like this is posted is "What's toysrus" or "Toysrus, you sure about that?" or some BS like that. Its annoying, but we all know why they do it, they are just jealous

So for something different then.

Your video is geo-blocked.