Toys R Us Liquidation Sale starts Friday March 23rd at most stores

Id rahter fund KB toys revival than save TRU, hate to say it but TRU needs to go and a new store with new owners & management need to come in. Also in case anyone is thinking about going to TRU for the sale dont bother, transformers and other similar stuff is only 10% off & lego is 5% off. Not worth it if you ask me, feel like TRU is just trying to take advantage of us one last time before it dies.

TRU 10% off still doesn't compete with Walmart & Target. I'm basically looking for any exclusive item (not just Transformers) that I can get anywhere else. TRU has a few, but timing is critical. Not sure if the gofundme will succeed or not, but in any event, if it does, I'm sure any surviving TRU would be very different form what we have now, for the better most likely.

ScottyP wrote:I think I'd rather donate to a charity.

I do that too

Don't get me wrong, there's a reason I only tossed in $5. No one should give more than (or even equal to) what they would give to a charitable cause they believe in.

But hey, if any of you are going to throw stones over not giving every last dollar toward saving the whales and curing cancer, I have 2 words:

Earth Wars

this is the transformers section in the Burbank,CA TrU on march 23rd 2018 10am on the first day of liquidation.

this is also how this section has looked most of the 3 years i browsed here. so theres that....

It's time to let go.

TRU was in trouble before the leveraged buyout, and if saved, they will be in trouble again.

The brick and mortar toy store is on life support, and has no place in the modern consumer world beyond local owned specialty shops. This plan to "save" it..... well, it sounds a bit shady.

Ironhidensh wrote:The brick and mortar toy store is on life support, and has no place in the modern consumer world

I strongly disagree. If you absolutely trust the interwebs for all your purchases without reservation that's fine. I use it myself when I have to. But personally, Id always rather See/handle *know what I'm getting* in real life, what I'm going to purchase before I do.

o.supreme wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:The brick and mortar toy store is on life support, and has no place in the modern consumer world

I strongly disagree. If you absolutely trust the interwebs for all your purchases without reservation that's fine. I use it myself when I have to. But personally, Id always rather See/handle *know what I'm getting* in real life, what I'm going to purchase before I do.

I get that, and I ev3n respect and understand the sentiment. The issue is that this whpay of thinking is in the vast minority, and shrinking daily. As the older generations shop less, and the younger generations shop more, online will be the way to go. Only massive corporations like Walmart will survive, and even they will have do make massive adjustments.

Ironhidensh wrote:

o.supreme wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:The brick and mortar toy store is on life support, and has no place in the modern consumer world

I strongly disagree. If you absolutely trust the interwebs for all your purchases without reservation that's fine. I use it myself when I have to. But personally, Id always rather See/handle *know what I'm getting* in real life, what I'm going to purchase before I do.

I get that, and I ev3n respect and understand the sentiment. The issue is that this whpay of thinking is in the vast minority, and shrinking daily. As the older generations shop less, and the younger generations shop more, online will be the way to go. Only massive corporations like Walmart will survive, and even they will have do make massive adjustments.

I agree that shrinking and transformation will happen, but I don't think it will disappear entirely. Business interests, nostalgia, and the desire for "hands on" always seem to keep the online universe from true monopoly.

Look at digital media: that was supposed to replace physical copies long ago, yet DVD and even Blu-Ray sales continue, probably because, besides the "collection aspect", DVDs don't require subscriptions, can't be throttled back, and won't be taken away over a rights dispute.

Need any more reason to not underestimate old ways?
https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-original-television-series-score-vinyl-repress-announced/40874/

Yotsuyasan wrote:If this guy is at all serious, instead of croud funding a "Save Toys 'Я' Us" campaign offering token crap rewards to people he is asking to invest in his business venture, why not strike a deal with the people trying to bring KB back? Think how much easier it might be if they combined efforts, bought up TRU locations, and rebranded them? And then it will be done with real business partners rather than trying to get thousands of average people to invest in their business in exchange for a bumper sticker or a pin.

The KB Toys deal isn't anything to get excited about. It is certainly not a Toys R Us replacement as it is currently being discussed. It's more or less going to be the Halloween pop-up store equivalent except with toys. The Chicagoland area had some of these 2 or 3 years ago around Christmas time where it was just overpriced leftover stock from the past 5 or 10 years with really unfriendly pop-up store employees. The locations I was aware of in the northwest suburbs simply moved in after the pop-up Halloween stores moved out. It was my assumption that it was the same organization, which I thought made a lot of sense (to go from Halloween products to Toys and Christmas products).

One of the articles I read where the guy was talking about the pop-up stores made me realize that this is nothing special at all. What it seems he wants to do is purchase the leftover toy inventory, I'm sure at bargain prices, from Toys R Us warehouses or from toy makers like Mattel, Hasbro, Lego, MGA, etc who need to find a home for upcoming products they already made for Toys R Us prior to its collapse.

As toy collectors, we will most likely have already purchased these products by the time these pop-up stores "pop up". Just putting it on the record that the KB Toys that we might have some possible fun memories of will be very different from of these leftover merchandise pop-up stores that we'll potentially see later this year. From my experience, the products were way over priced and were still over priced even after the blowout clearance prices which began after Christmas that year. For those of you in the Chicagoland area, there is a similar store to the pop-up toy store that is open all year round in the old KB Toys location inside the Golf Mill mall in Niles, IL. This store also carries a lot of KO products as well as leftover retail stock (again at very high prices).

If you carefully read the articles about KB Toys and look past all of the fluff, you can figure out what the guy wants to do with these pop-up stores, and it's not what it sounds like on the surface. There are more articles out there like this one, but I think the CNN Money one sums up all you need to know. Having seen these pop-up toy stores here in Chicago, I can assure you that this is definitely NOT what it seems. It is definitely NOT KB Toys as we remember it from 10 or so years ago.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/20/news/co ... index.html

CNN Money wrote:"My assumption is that there's about half a billion dollars worth of toys that have been produced for Toys "R" Us with no place to go," said Strategic Marks president Ellia Kassoff, in a phone interview with CNNMoney. "That's a big, big void that we're hoping to fill up."

Kassoff said he's been in contact with Hasbro Inc. (HAS) and Mattel, Inc. (MAT) and up to 200 smaller toy suppliers who are looking for new brick and mortar retailers. He said he plans to take advantage of a glut of toy manufacturers that have inventory but no place to sell it.

To get a quick retail footprint, Kassoff said he's working with companies that specialize in holiday and pop-up retail, like Spencer Spirit Holdings Inc., Go! Retail Group, and Party City Holdco Inc. (PRTY)

I'll repost this in the KB toys discussion as well.

Seibertron wrote:I'll repost this in the KB toys discussion as well.

LOL. Apparently this topic is the "KB Toys might make a return" topic as well!

o.supreme wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:The brick and mortar toy store is on life support, and has no place in the modern consumer world

I strongly disagree. If you absolutely trust the interwebs for all your purchases without reservation that's fine. I use it myself when I have to. But personally, Id always rather See/handle *know what I'm getting* in real life, what I'm going to purchase before I do.

Online is just perfect and convenient... as long that constantly paying for the damn shipping fees don't bother.

IMO, I'd rather have the thing in hand before buying too.

I was off today and decided to hit the Hialeah TRU where I was there for the grand opening back in 1985. Got there at 10 am when they opened the doors and started off with the transformers section. Lousy 10% off and only wave 1 potp. Some guy grabbed a primus and then put it back when he realized it was only 15 bucks off. I saw the cart of boxes being unpacked and reconized the hasbro logo. I found 4 studio series thundercrackers. I bought one for me and one for a friend and left 2 behind. (26.99 each) with the crappy discount. I roamed around the entire store to try to get a feel of nostalgia but it wasnt there. As a kid, I was never a buyer of multiple brands so the whole "wonderland" thing didnt really touch my heart. Gone are the walls of video games (1988 Nintendo heydays) when you had to grab a ticket and take it to an enclosed pawn shop style booth to purchase your game. I did also used to buy garbage pail kids cards out there in large cellophane packs with 3 decks. Thats another TRU memory I have. But I cant say I ever ran around a TRU as as kid aisle by aisle like it was some kind of heaven for kids. I never hung out there to play free video games. After about 10 minutes I was done and ready to buy my thundercrackers and get the hell out of there. When I stuck my card in the credit card slot, the machine froze and they had to move to another machine. I called my credit card company and my card got charged twice so tgey go to f**k me one last time. Went back and the manager couldnt really do anything but assured me tge transaction was pending and would be voided by the end of the night since it never made it to the "transaction processed" screen like it did the 2nd time. I wont know for 3 days so hopefully he is right. So there you have it....my final TRU memory. Its not the store you grew up with. All these people going into secere depression over this need to let it go. On a side note, before this closing I had no idea TRU had been around since the late 1950s. I always assumed since my childhood that they opened in 1985 when they came to miami and the "grand openings" were all around the same time. We got the dukes of hazzard signing autographs so I dont know why but I really believed it was a big thing and the store must be brand new. We had Lionel Playworld down the street where I had gotten my first transformers (and also Service Merchandise) and within a few years TRU literally took them out the game. So I always thought TRU had just came into being in 1985. Hell what did I know I was only 8 years old. Oh well, thinking of keeping my thundercracker MISB as a memento especially since I know my friend will likely bust his open. So go pour out a little liquor if you choose. They had a good run. Better than most. Most of the specialized hobby stores closed by 2000 because here in Miami people just dont seem to care about collecting stuff as much as people do in middle America. Theres no money to be made by opening a small brick and mortar business here. Isnt it ironic that TRU killed Kay-bee and now Walmart killed TRU? Survival of the fittest. Oh well, thats just food for thought.

Rated X wrote: All these people going into severe depression over this need to let it go.

Sorry you had that rough experience. I've been victim of really bad customer service there recently as well. However...I don't think anyone is going into "severe depression""...as you say (except anyone who stands to lose their job, which is completely understandable). I'm saddened to be sure, but I'm not losing any sleep over it. It's not like this is the first time this has happened. We lost a local store (Gemco) in the late 80's, probably the best "one stop shop" ever, even 30 years ago, was way better than todays Walmarts, and way better toy selection also. My old elementary school got leveled and replaced by another, Video Arcades are a thing of the past, Shopping Malls that were actually fun to go to, Blockbuster video...I can go on and on. But of course as with all things, there is balance. I'll monitor the situation with TRU closely if for no other reason than it is so convenient I pass mine each day to and from work. But when its all said and done, life goes on, I get it.

I agree, it's time to let go. TRU screwed itself by screwing it's customers and employees. Overpriced and understaffed is the reason that they are going under. They could have saved themselves years ago if they priced things better and didn't do so many bad business deals.

That being said I don't want TRU to go under. I'd rather have them fixed things before they went south, but that happened years ago. I'm probably in the minority here but I have never actually purchased a transformer at TRU. What I really want is a toy store that has competitive pricing and good stock. But of course that's just too much to ask.

Gunmetal wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:

o.supreme wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:The brick and mortar toy store is on life support, and has no place in the modern consumer world

I strongly disagree. If you absolutely trust the interwebs for all your purchases without reservation that's fine. I use it myself when I have to. But personally, Id always rather See/handle *know what I'm getting* in real life, what I'm going to purchase before I do.

I get that, and I ev3n respect and understand the sentiment. The issue is that this whpay of thinking is in the vast minority, and shrinking daily. As the older generations shop less, and the younger generations shop more, online will be the way to go. Only massive corporations like Walmart will survive, and even they will have do make massive adjustments.

I agree that shrinking and transformation will happen, but I don't think it will disappear entirely. Business interests, nostalgia, and the desire for "hands on" always seem to keep the online universe from true monopoly.

Look at digital media: that was supposed to replace physical copies long ago, yet DVD and even Blu-Ray sales continue, probably because, besides the "collection aspect", DVDs don't require subscriptions, can't be throttled back, and won't be taken away over a rights dispute.

Need any more reason to not underestimate old ways?
https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-original-television-series-score-vinyl-repress-announced/40874/

Been to a blockbuster recently? There are no "dvd" stores.

Gunmetal wrote:Look at digital media: that was supposed to replace physical copies long ago, yet DVD and even Blu-Ray sales continue, probably because, besides the "collection aspect", DVDs don't require subscriptions, can't be throttled back, and won't be taken away over a rights dispute.

Need any more reason to not underestimate old ways?
https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-original-television-series-score-vinyl-repress-announced/40874/

DVDs? You mean those things many people buy online from Amazon? You've confused digital distribution with digital products here. Although they can appear the same, they differ.

Regardless, Netflix, Hulu and the likes of Bitorrent are here to stay. I haven't bought a DVD or Blueray since the recent(ish) TF:TM remaster, and then I downloaded a copy of THAT off the internet afterwards. DVDs and Bluerays suffer more from region restriction, higher prices, take up too much space in my room and I have to get up and change the disk to watch something else.

Digital is simply the new standard and that's coming from someone who grew up with G1 in the 80's.

As for digital shops, then I don't care if most regular shops for most products go under. I'm more interested in availability and prices than seeing it in hand. Although it IS nice to do so, ice usually been disappointed in most retail shops due to something being unavailable, due to being sold out, or that shop not selling imported products.

Online all the way for me.

I always like to have a hard copy. Computer glitches suck when they eat all your songs and stuff.

WreckerJack wrote:I always like to have a hard copy. Computer glitches suck when they eat all your songs and stuff.

That's what hard drives and cloud storage are for.

Ironhidensh wrote:Been to a blockbuster recently? There are no "dvd" stores.

Family video chain is still kicking it and apparently doing well, last I heard.

https://www.familyvideo.com/storelocator/

primalxconvoy wrote:

WreckerJack wrote:I always like to have a hard copy. Computer glitches suck when they eat all your songs and stuff.

That's what hard drives and cloud storage are for.

Indeed, but why do all that when I can just pop a DVD in my CD drive or my xbox and watch? Same deal with CD's and my boombox.