The New Toys “R” Us Store opens at Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey.
Source: Tru Kids Brand
Toys R Us has closed the only two stores in the US.
The legendary toy retailer made the decision based on the troubles caused by the Covid pandemic and plans to shift resources to opening new locations where there will be better customer traffic, a CNBC spokesperson told CNBC in a statement emailed With.
“Consumer demand in the toy category and for Toys R Us continues to be strong and we will continue to invest in the channels in which the customer wants to experience our brand,” the person said.
Toy sales in the US rose 16% last year to $ 25.1 billion, market researcher The NPD Group reported on Monday as families turned to toys to keep children busy during the health crisis. However, a significant portion of these sales have gone online.
Tru Kids, a company that acquired the intellectual property of Toys R Us during its liquidation in 2018, opened two smaller stores in late 2019: one at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, New Jersey, and a second in Simon Property Group’s Galleria in Houston. The Houston site closed on Jan. 15, the spokesman said, while the Paramus site closed on Tuesday.
Representatives from URW and Simon did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Tru Kids still runs the Toys R Us website, which ultimately sends customers to Amazon to complete a purchase after marketing toys. It continues to license the brand worldwide.
Many consumers have stayed away from brick and mortar stores during the pandemic and have instead bought more online. Retailers in shopping malls have suffered extraordinarily. It will likely take time for shoppers to get used to returning to the malls, and a retail research firm predicts that up to 10,000 store closings could be announced by retailers in the US this year, which would set a record.
Bloomberg first reported on the closure of Toys R Us on Friday.
