Toys R Us Raises In-Store Clearance Discounts

At this point, TRU going out of business sales isnt even relavant to transformers collectors anymore. I went in a TRU last week and they only had a few one step changers left. The entire action figure aisle was looted.

Indeed. The bigger discounts would be wonderful, if everything good hadn't already been taken. There's nothing left but the chum now. Though I did see about 12 boxes of the 'Infernicus' TRU exclusive on the shelf at our nearby TRU, and about 3 'Cybertron' figures.

Yeah, that 40% off is bullshit. It's only on an extremely tiny selection of items. Most things are only 15% off at most. Hell, the fucking Legos are still only 5% off.



Worst. Liquidation sale. Ever.

I was going to mention something about the discounts but I see I was beaten to it. My TRU was still nicely stocked though.

Ironhidensh wrote:Worst. Liquidation sale. Ever.

This right here. My TRU is still 10% off everything. Normal sales gave discounts for more than 10%.

Want to know the only thing that I saw for 30% off yesterday? The *#$@*&$ 2018 calendars. WTH?

Aside from some stuff no one wants, like movie figures, TRU hasn't been getting anything in for Transformers. I work at store 8007 and check the manifest every day. We might get more studio Thundercrackers in, but even that seems unlikely. The best chance might be finding older releases in June before we expect to close.

Absolute Zero wrote:Aside from some stuff no one wants, like movie figures, TRU hasn't been getting anything in for Transformers.

If no one wants them, then how come some toysrus stores are completely cleaned out of TFs at only 10% off?

Also, why are all these toys sold out at only a 10% discount when HTS routinely has 20% off and the older stuff just sits there?

I went in tonight to see what was shaking now that things are "up to 40%." Of course, I didn't see anything that was actually 40% off, but that's beside the point. The store did claim to have "trucks coming every day" so they could liquidate their warehouses too, so maybe some more Transformers stuff will come before the bitter end. I was happy with what I picked up, though. Mostly just a few TRU exclusives I hadn't gotten yet, like Infernocus and Skullotron from TLK and Studio Series Thundercracker. Also picked up TLK Berserker, as it was the only other movie on the shelves that I needed and didn't have. My partner and I are going to take a trip around the Twin Cities tomorrow to check out the other stores that are still open and see if they've got anything different in stock.

william-james88 wrote:

Absolute Zero wrote:Aside from some stuff no one wants, like movie figures, TRU hasn't been getting anything in for Transformers.

If no one wants them, then how come some toysrus stores are completely cleaned out of TFs at only 10% off?

Also, why are all these toys sold out at only a 10% discount when HTS routinely has 20% off and the older stuff just sits there?

We have at least a dozen Infernicus. And still have 3 Windblades from RID. The only thing that moved quickly were the Power of the Primes, and those don't appear to be coming back.

As for why things moved at 10%? People are dumb. The sales tax here is 10.1%. We sold out of Switches and PS4s within the first week and they were (and still are) at 5%.

I spoke to the liquidator. We are not getting anything new. What we have in the warehouses is what we are getting. No new lego sets, no new consoles, no new Transformers. If your store hasn't had wave 2 figures by now, then they likely won't get it. Now, it's possible we could get some old MP figures, but we don't know whats in the warehouse, and we don't know what we're getting until a day or two before the truck arrives.

As for the sale being crap, I know. I hear it several times a day. We thought it would be higher, but TRU wants to try to get as much money as possible, and for the first two weeks, we were making Christmas weekend money on weekdays.

I think we are seeing a company that thinks they will be saved

Seibertron wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Not the closest TRU to me, but one about 10 miles out, on the other side of town. LOL...Yeah Windblade is definitely a "fan favorite"....

That's not fair ... that's the BS "face shield" version. Notice the regular version (of which the one shown in your photo was a remold) has been nowhere to be found in quite a while.

i like the face shield version. She becomes my Reformatted SKYFEATHER!
https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Skyfeather

Our TRU was a blow out before the liquidation and is an even bigger blow out now. I was there today and was shocked that the vast majority of the store has only increased to a 15% discount.

I will give you a little spot of bright light though. I spotted and purchased the studio series Thundercracker today for just a hair over $25. That figure was not there a week ago.

Why is it that they can't run a clearance sale correctly? I mean, seriously, I've never been able to wrap my head around their business decisions and their prices when they were a thriving company, let alone now. I'm just scratching my head. In most cases, that 10%-15% only takes the products down to the regular retail price of Walmart and Target. We haven't even hit an actual "discount" on most toys yet. I refuse to still pay $10 for a TLK Leigon class figure, which is what it STILL COSTS, even with the discounts.

Bronzewolf wrote:Why is it that they can't run a clearance sale correctly?

Well they fucked up their normal operations, why should they be capable of a "liquidation" sale.

You're right though, they are only on par with their competition now and 10% only covers sales tax for me.

william-james88 wrote:That was the most low ball offer I have ever seen, literally pennies on the dollar. TRU Canada's real estate is estimated at close to 1B$

Does TRU own the real estate the vast majority of their stores sit on? I find that hard to believe seeing as how every one I have ever seen has been located in a strip center, most consisting of several other big time retailers. So if they do not own the property and are leasing it, why would that factor into the buy out? That would be for the buyer to deal with once possession was transferred and said buyer had to determine whether to keep said stores located where they are or move locations depending on desired leasing agreement/pricing.

I was able to stop by our local TRU today and would echo pretty much what was already stated: most toys people would be interested in actually purchasing(IMO anyway) are nowhere near the percentage off the giant signs at the door suggest. They do have what I would consider a fully stocked store though. I mean, when you walked in, had you not known the store was closing, you'd never have guessed.

I think the failure here lies in the fact that most of what is there is obviously not brand new and a lot of it is actually old/older(although finding the new Jurassic World toys there was a treat). Ok, that makes sense as they are closing. Why expect new product? However, as a collector/fan/parent shopping for their kids/whatever label you choose, for me to be driven to buy something, it needs to be something I don't already own or something that I may have passed up (for one reason or another) and now I've been given a new reason to buy it.

Simply put, they're not giving anyone a reason to buy a lot of what is on the shelves. The only figure they have left I'd be willing to consider is Cybertron and it would have to have such a steep discount for me to consider it, at this rate, I don't think it's happening.

Here's a fun fact. Did you know that there were 93 Toysrus stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined? That's quite a bit of stores for such a small landmass. Other fun fact, all these toys are now owned by Ireland's very own toy chain Smyth's Toys. That's right, the family owned chain which only had 110 stores yesterday will now add these 93 to their tally of owned stores. They also inherit 4 Toysrus websites and will take on all current staff and management.

This is great news since that means it is business as usual for fans, and more importantly Toysrus employees, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It also brings Toysrus back to its routes of being a family entreprise.

Here is what Smyth's Toys co-founder Tony Smyth said about the deal: “We are convinced that multi-channel toy retailing will develop positively and that we can successfully introduce and expand our brand in Europe.”

This news was reported by Reuters and sent our way thanks to TF fan Alex.

And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

Actually this is good news for tf fans in those regions as it means that they can continue to have more choice in where to buy the toys.

Maybe this will lead to SMYTHS Exclusives

Rated X wrote:And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

Or maybe some people live in one of those countries, used to get their Transformers from Toys R Us and will be very interested to know about this. Toys R Us is/was a huge juggernaut among toy retailers; Transformers, surprisingly, are toys; it stands to reason that ongoing information about a shake-up as big as this (that does affect at least some Transformers fans, believe it or not) would be worth sharing.

I'd like it if a Smyths took over the building where the Cambridge Toys R Us was. It's been rumoured but not seen any confirmation of such so I'm hoping it becomes true.

Qwan wrote:

Rated X wrote:And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

Or maybe some people live in one of those countries, used to get their Transformers from Toys R Us and will be very interested to know about this. Toys R Us is/was a huge juggernaut among toy retailers; Transformers, surprisingly, are toys; it stands to reason that ongoing information about a shake-up as big as this (that does affect at least some Transformers fans, believe it or not) would be worth sharing.

Basically Smyths is buying up real estate. Those stores are not going to be a TRUs anymore. Theyre going to take those big stupid giraffe signs and toss them in the dumpster and replace them with Smyths signs. So in essence the site is front paging the grand opening of new locations of an existing toy chain. Hardly Transformers news. Its just a bizzare fetish the news guys seem to have with TRU. They wont let it go. We all poured out some liquor and told our childhood memories like a month ago. Its time to move on already. The news guys are beating this dead giraffe so hard, its blood is starting to bleed. Im sure Hasbro already has plans on what chain will carry the next exclusives, titan class figures, MP releases, etc. We just need to be patient.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:I'd like it if a Smyths took over the building where the Cambridge Toys R Us was. It's been rumoured but not seen any confirmation of such so I'm hoping it becomes true.

I thought they might in some locations, doubt it would happen to the now closed tru near me as we have a symths not too far away already.

Rated X@ as I said this news is important to those countries where it happened, you may be sick of the news about tru and what happens to some of its stores in other countries but you don't decide what news is, but you can just ignore it I mean looking at the right this is posted above four other tf related news pieces.

Rated X wrote:

Qwan wrote:

Rated X wrote:And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

Or maybe some people live in one of those countries, used to get their Transformers from Toys R Us and will be very interested to know about this. Toys R Us is/was a huge juggernaut among toy retailers; Transformers, surprisingly, are toys; it stands to reason that ongoing information about a shake-up as big as this (that does affect at least some Transformers fans, believe it or not) would be worth sharing.

Basically Smyths is buying up real estate. Those stores are not going to be a TRUs anymore. Theyre going to take those big stupid giraffe signs and toss them in the dumpster and replace them with Smyths signs. So in essence the site is front paging the grand opening of new locations of an existing toy chain. Hardly Transformers news. Its just a bizzare fetish the news guys seem to have with TRU. They wont let it go. We all poured out some liquor and told our childhood memories like a month ago. Its time to move on already. The news guys are beating this dead giraffe so hard, its blood is starting to bleed. Im sure Hasbro already has plans on what chain will carry the next exclusives, titan class figures, MP releases, etc. We just need to be patient.

Our bizarre fetishes are our own business, thank you very much

I visit toysrus germany regualry but online and in stores i can never find any reference what is gonna happen to the stores in germany. And this news gives us atleast some inform whaft is gonna happen to t

Because there is not allot of stores for transformers in germany

Rated X wrote:And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

Was it frightening when the bad man stormed your home, put a gun to your head, and forced you to click on this thread?

For people living in countries that already have Smyth's Toys, how does their stock of Transformers compare to Toys'R'Us? Cause the Toys'R'Us closest to me here in Switzerland always had an absolutely terrible selection of Transformers, usually only stocking the kiddie lines of movie toys. Therefore I don't really care about them disappearing. But with Smyth's taking them over, buying Transformers in stores might actually become a viable option now

xMXUx wrote:For people living in countries that already have Smyth's Toys, how does their stock of Transformers compare to Toys'R'Us? Cause the Toys'R'Us closest to me here in Switzerland always had an absolutely terrible selection of Transformers, usually only stocking the kiddie lines of movie toys. Therefore I don't really care about them disappearing. But with Smyth's taking them over, buying Transformers in stores might actually become a viable option now

Smyths are fantastic in the UK. Since combiner wars, they have consistently been the first store to mass release every new generations toyline and have it well stocked constantly. Everything I've been looking for a single trip to smyths has always been rewarding. Combiner wars, titans return, Kreo blind bags, RID figures, etc. I've talked at length about how bad TRU UK have been for transformers (holding on to dead stock on pegs for over 10 years) so I'll not go into how bad they are when held side by side with Smyths. Their staff are polite, the stores are vibrant, everyone seems to have their finger on the pulse of what the hot toys currently are. And most importantly they don't have a killer TRU mark-up. Their prices always seem spot on to what most people are 'willing to pay' for the various size classes.

Honestly, walking into a Smyths feels exactly what walking into Toys R Us felt like in the 80's & early 90's. My only criticism of them is that they are too far away from me, and you can't order from their website. (yet, presuming if they're picking up toys r us's staff they may be expanding their online presence in coming days too.)

I'm praying quite hard that they make the same decision with buying up TRU UK and turning my local TRU ghosttown into a smyths which is actually within a sensible distance for public transport.

Ironhidensh wrote:

Rated X wrote:And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

Was it frightening when the bad man stormed your home, put a gun to your head, and forced you to click on this thread?

"Bad touch" is better than "no touch".

Ironhidensh wrote:

Rated X wrote:And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

Was it frightening when the bad man stormed your home, put a gun to your head, and forced you to click on this thread?

Its ironic how such a traditionally educated group gobbles up all this fake news.

TRU is not Disneyworld, Universal Studios, or any other type of "attraction". Its not a shrine to Transformers, Star Wars, or any other brand of toys. Its a store. A store that made crappy decisions that led to its demise. They failed in the US because capitalism takes no prisoners. As other countries around the world discover their own versions of Walmart and Amazon, their TRUs will collapse as well. While it may force some toy collectors to expand their horizon, that doesnt make it Transformers related. Time to let TRU go and move on buddy.

Rated X wrote:While it may force some toy collectors to expand their horizon, that doesnt make it Transformers related.

What you are describing is pretty much the closest you could get to a definition of Transformers-related news, without it actually being solely about Transformers. Not to mention you skipped over every response telling you why they find these articles useful, as Transformers collectors, so you could go for the throat on the facetious post instead. Come on now.

I'm confused as to why all the arguing. Toys R Us was one of the primary stores that sold Transformers toys. Smyths also sells Transformers toys. My nearest Toys R Us was one of the few places I could walk in and see Transformers toys on the shelves and pegs and now it is gone. I'd very much like to know if Smyths would take over that building so that there would still be a toy store situated there that sells Transformers toys and Smyths tends to be better at stocking Transformers toys than the Toys R Us was at stocking Transformers toys so I'm really hoping that it'll happen and I'll again have a nice big place to go visit and potentially purchase Transformers toys. So I don't an issue about discussing stores that sell or sold Transformers toys on a forum devoted to Transformers toys. Stop arguing and go play with or admire your Transformers toys. That's why we all come here?

Carnivius_Prime wrote:I'm confused as to why all the arguing. Toys R Us was one of the primary stores that sold Transformers toys. Smyths also sells Transformers toys. My nearest Toys R Us was one of the few places I could walk in and see Transformers toys on the shelves and pegs and now it is gone. I'd very much like to know if Smyths would take over that building so that there would still be a toy store situated there that sells Transformers toys and Smyths tends to be better at stocking Transformers toys than the Toys R Us was at stocking Transformers toys so I'm really hoping that it'll happen and I'll again have a nice big place to go visit and potentially purchase Transformers toys. So I don't an issue about discussing stores that sell or sold Transformers toys on a forum devoted to Transformers toys. Stop arguing and go play with or admire your Transformers toys. That's why we all come here?

The arguing is more about one poster not liking how the news staff is doing things relating to the death of toys r us, so he's venting here. As far as everyone else is concerned, symths taking over those tru is good news and like you I would like the same to happen here.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:I'm confused as to why all the arguing. Toys R Us was one of the primary stores that sold Transformers toys. Smyths also sells Transformers toys. My nearest Toys R Us was one of the few places I could walk in and see Transformers toys on the shelves and pegs and now it is gone. I'd very much like to know if Smyths would take over that building so that there would still be a toy store situated there that sells Transformers toys and Smyths tends to be better at stocking Transformers toys than the Toys R Us was at stocking Transformers toys so I'm really hoping that it'll happen and I'll again have a nice big place to go visit and potentially purchase Transformers toys. So I don't an issue about discussing stores that sell or sold Transformers toys on a forum devoted to Transformers toys. Stop arguing and go play with or admire your Transformers toys. That's why we all come here?

The arguing is more about one poster not liking how the news staff is doing things relating to the death of toys r us, so he's venting here. As far as everyone else is concerned, symths taking over those tru is good news and like you I would like the same to happen here.

ZeroWolf wrote:The arguing is more about one poster not liking how the news staff is doing things relating to the death of toys r us, so he's venting here. As far as everyone else is concerned, symths taking over those tru is good news and like you I would like the same to happen here.

Yeah that's what i couldn't understand. Info about big well known toy stores is totally relevant here.

Qwan wrote:

Rated X wrote:While it may force some toy collectors to expand their horizon, that doesnt make it Transformers related.

What you are describing is pretty much the closest you could get to a definition of Transformers-related news, without it actually being solely about Transformers. Not to mention you skipped over every response telling you why they find these articles useful, as Transformers collectors, so you could go for the throat on the facetious post instead. Come on now.

Finding an article "useful" doesnt make it Transformers related. These news guys have enshrined TRU like it is the holy mecca of all things Transformers. Sheesh its a freaking store...and an overpriced, out of touch with reality store at that. Im not venting as another poster suggested. All the love this failure of a corporation is getting just makes me wanna puke. The TRU saga is becoming like Donald Trumps twitter account. Every stupid post he makes becomes instant "news".

Rated X wrote:

Qwan wrote:

Rated X wrote:While it may force some toy collectors to expand their horizon, that doesnt make it Transformers related.

What you are describing is pretty much the closest you could get to a definition of Transformers-related news, without it actually being solely about Transformers. Not to mention you skipped over every response telling you why they find these articles useful, as Transformers collectors, so you could go for the throat on the facetious post instead. Come on now.

Finding an article "useful" doesnt make it Transformers related. These news guys have enshrined TRU like it is the holy mecca of all things Transformers. Sheesh its a freaking store...and an overpriced, out of touch with reality store at that. Im not venting as another poster suggested. All the love this failure of a corporation is getting just makes me wanna puke. The TRU saga is becoming like Donald Trumps twitter account. Every stupid post he makes becomes instant "news".

ENOUGH

There will be no more thread derailing. And you have been told what to do if you had an issue but have chosen to ignore that. Just wait until Burn wakes up.

Apparently the Asia arm of the company is much wanted as several 1 billion dollar bids have been put forward for it, meanwhile all UK trus will be gone by the 30th of April, guess they were too far gone to save.

Rated X wrote:

Qwan wrote:

Rated X wrote:While it may force some toy collectors to expand their horizon, that doesnt make it Transformers related.

What you are describing is pretty much the closest you could get to a definition of Transformers-related news, without it actually being solely about Transformers. Not to mention you skipped over every response telling you why they find these articles useful, as Transformers collectors, so you could go for the throat on the facetious post instead. Come on now.

Finding an article "useful" doesnt make it Transformers related. These news guys have enshrined TRU like it is the holy mecca of all things Transformers. Sheesh its a freaking store...and an overpriced, out of touch with reality store at that. Im not venting as another poster suggested. All the love this failure of a corporation is getting just makes me wanna puke. The TRU saga is becoming like Donald Trumps twitter account. Every stupid post he makes becomes instant "news".

You were doing so well RX. No one has forced you to click the news link. You did that all on your own. And what did you contribute? Criticism of staff.

Have a week off.

Rated X wrote:And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

We aren't all Americans you know, some of us have very limited places to buy Transformers. In Canada we have Walmart and TRU. If TRU goes, we're screwed.

So yeah, some of us want to read these articles.

TRU has been going for 60 years. Beyond it being a big part in our current collecting, it was a big part of many people's childhoods. People care. Many of the people who visit our site (surprise surprise) also want to know about Toy industry news in general.
I suppose we shouldn't be posting about Hasbro's financial earnings, either, then, because it's not exclusively about TFs. Good to know.

Lets move on from the "is it news or not?" discussion please ...

Burn wrote:Lets move on from the "is it news or not?" discussion please ...

Yes. Apologies.

Can we please get a Smyth's in The Netherlands? While we are at it how about a Target and a Walmart?

It seems like there is more and more good news for Toysrus and collectors worldwide. European divisions are being purchased by a beloved family toy store chain, the Asian division is getting Billion dollar offers, Grotusque is finally being found in US stores and now Toysrus Canada finally has a buyer.

There was to be an auction this month and the 19 $B holdings firm, Fairfax Financial, had made the inaugural bid of $300M, ensuring that the Canadian division would not be sold for less. As it turns out, no other bid was accepted so Fairfax Financial has become the owner. For those unaware, Fairfax is a Toronto based firm founded by Prem Watsa, who is often referred to as Canada's Warren Buffet. He is also the current CEO. Like Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, many of their holdings are value based but they seem to be more concentrated on insurance, aquiring insurance companies based around the globe (the head office in Toronto only houses 30 of its 8,200 employees). They have a habit of buying companies on the verge of bankruptcy at a good but fair price, which is something they previously did with Blackberry and Carillion Canada (an infrastucture service company).

The Fairfax name itself is a portemanteu for "fair, friendly acquisitions" and this is evident in its bid for Toysrus Canada which was higher (and thus more fair) than what toy mogul Isaac Larian had previously bid. In the end, this is great news for fans who liked how things were so far in Canada. Toysrus being bought by a holdings firm (which is only seeking diversification in its portfolio) simply means that they see value in the company and thus everything points to business as usual as far as Canadian stores are concerned.

So hopefully that means Canadian fans can still expect to see shelves like this once in a while.

You rubbing it in will again about what tru is like for Canadian tf fans? only time I saw shelves like that at the tru near me was when the first movie came out and animated launched. Still this is good news to those in Canada

I thought if the Canadian branch got bought it would also save 200 US stores?

Nickster563 wrote:I thought if the Canadian branch got bought it would also save 200 US stores?

IIRC, Toys R Us was originally trying to package 200 US stores in with the Canadian branch for purchase, but that didn't end up happening.

Nickster563 wrote:I thought if the Canadian branch got bought it would also save 200 US stores?

That was a deal TRU wanted to make but it didnt pan out. They recently wrote that ALL US stores will be closing forever (which I found quite dramatic). It was easier, legally and fiscally, to just sell the canadian equity to a holding firm, which is exactly what happened. I think Fairfaz got an incredible deal here, congrats on them using value investment techniques to be able to have enough available assets to do the purchase!

ZeroWolf wrote:You rubbing it in will again about what tru is like for Canadian tf fans? only time I saw shelves like that at the tru near me was when the first movie came out and animated launched. Still this is good news to those in Canada

Haha, not this time. And apparently the UK is not too shabby either with me hearing about how great Smyths Toys is.

But anyways, what I was trying to say, and maybe it didnt come out right, was that there was more at stake with TRU Canada. Most collectors here gave up on TRU US a looong time ago. It was no longer competitive (but it still had a good price match policy so I feel a guy like me could have still profited from visiting that store but whatever). So this news was sad but didnt surprise anyone really.

TRU Canada though (and TRU Hong Kong, among other international places) was a very different story. Unlike the US, this was the main place for anything toy related. More than Walmart. We have no Walgreens or targets or kmarts or those other regional superstores in the US that also order directly from hasbro. So TRU is a really big deal here and it totally takes advantage of its position as a market leader with amazing stock, like what I showed above. So, just to say, way more at stake. And with bids not geting aproved people worried. The states was long gone and had not seen the shelves stocked that well for a decade (at least) but with TRU Canada, it was still happening. And now, it can still happen, pfiew!