Toys R Us Will Close All 800 US Stores as Toymakers Scramble to Rescue Retail Chain
Toys R Us, which was once the biggest toy store chain in the US, is now looking to close all 800 of its stores across the country if they can't sell them off. The company is now effectively out of the retail chain business in the country after six decades, with as many as 33,000 jobs on the line.
This news, as reported by a source familiar with the announcement, surfaces months after Toys R Us has filed for bankruptcy in late September of last year. Even that drastic step still left the company struggling to pay almost $8 billion in debt, most of which was incurred in 2005 from a leveraged buyout, as the Washington Post noted.
The U.K. arm of Toys R Us has also gone into administration, a form of creditor protection, less than a month ago. Just recently, this Wednesday, March 14, the company has announced that all of its stores in the U.K. are now being closed, with around 3,000 jobs in the region about to be affected.
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Meanwhile, in the U.S., Toys R Us have reportedly informed its employees that closures will be done gradually, according to an anonymous source. As many as 33,000 employees and their jobs are now hanging on the line as the company now deals with its inability to compete with online retail and competition from big-box companies like Walmart.
Isaac Larian, chief executive of MGA Entertainment which holds some top toy brands including Bratz and Little Tikes, submitted a bid to buy out the Toys R Us Canadian arm and its 82 stores on Wednesday, March 14, along with a group of other toymakers.
"There is no toy business without Toys R Us," Larian said, recalling the time he sold his first toy to the company in 1979.
"It's a big deal and I'm going to try to salvage as much of it as possible," he added, as Larian said that he is also looking into buying as many as 400 U.S. stores in the U.S. to keep the Toys R Us name going.
