|
Post by King Bálor (CM)™ on Sept 8, 2017 22:03:29 GMT -5
TRU has long been in financial crisis. Nothing new. Brick and mortar stores as a whole are in financial crisis. Look at some of the kingpins of retail from not that long ago. Sears, KMart, JC Penneys, Circuit City, Ames, Hills, Montgomery Wards.........ALL DEAD or just about non existent. This trend will continue so long as retail continues to sink its own ship and have no answer for a company like Amazon that has a 1000% lower over head and thus can offer lower prices. People will spend more, but they have to get something for their extra dollar. Mass retail cant compete on price level, customer satisfaction, customer service and are even losing the "I want it now mentality." They cant keep shelves stocked and with Prime, you can have your item in 2 days and never leave your house. I don't know any of those stores after Circuit City Thank you for making me feel old as ing dirt. Wheres Jack Spefcific? Im pretty sure he was there Montgomery Wards opened their first store...a nickel and dime and it was in black and white. Ames and Hills were department stores similar to KMart but they actually stocked their shelves regularly. Montgomery Wards saw changes to their store. In its final incarnation, it was similar to Sears. Clothes, furniture, appliances and even a garage to get your oil changed or tires rotated. But they were a big box store that was around for a hundred years or so. I don't know any of those stores after Circuit City I used to work at a Hills Department store. It was great cause it was during the Bone-Crunching era. And I'd have the pick of the litter. One for them AND two for me. Hmm... I'm not 100% sure why I told you that. I worked there for a Christmas. My first retail job and I made the mistake of choosing cashier over stocking the shelves. I thought stocking shelves sounded too menial and boring. Boy was I wrong. They had all the fun. Only ONCE....did I ever get to jump into the big pile merchandise after the trucks were unloaded during Christmas time. Never since...have I ever seen so many boxes full of stuff. And to be able to climb to the top of the tressels and jump down was so awesome. My friends did it all the time. It also taught me why the stuff on the shelves always looked crushed. You bought BCA....I was buying Hasbros when I worked there. When I worked there, they had just released the blue carding series with The Head Shrinkers and still had those damn Bushwackers rotting on the shelves. I remember getting Fatu and customizing him into a Hasbro Sabu. In a strange turn of events, it would be a several years after that and I would come across the one elusive Hasbro I never could find....THE LEGION OF DOOM! Never, ever did I see that bad boy. Then I walked in one day...saw it hanging in the clearance section with the carding dented in the corners and Hasbros LONG out of retail. I couldnt believe it. The Legion of Doom.
|
|
|
Post by King Bálor (CM)™ on Sept 8, 2017 22:05:08 GMT -5
I used to work at a Hills Department store. It was great cause it was during the Bone-Crunching era. And I'd have the pick of the litter. One for them AND two for me. Hmm... I'm not 100% sure why I told you that. Haha I remember my mom picked me up so many figures from there when they were closing! And the same thing with Ames! Did your Hills turn into an Ames? Mine did. But not the red Ames....I got a green Ames. I never did understand the color thing. I had a red Ames for the longest time. Then it closed down. When Hills, also red, closed....a green Ames moved in.
|
|
mynotmelohs
Superstar
Joined on: Jul 10, 2017 4:22:36 GMT -5
Posts: 526
|
Post by mynotmelohs on Sept 8, 2017 22:23:24 GMT -5
Haha I remember my mom picked me up so many figures from there when they were closing! And the same thing with Ames! Did your Hills turn into an Ames? Mine did. But not the red Ames....I got a green Ames. I never did understand the color thing. I had a red Ames for the longest time. Then it closed down. When Hills, also red, closed....a green Ames moved in. Wow I had no idea that there was a red and a green Ames. We had like 3 Hills stores (from what I remember, I think it was 3. I was probably 8 when they closed; I was born in 1990)in our area with red "Hills" signs. I live in Northeastern PA. But they all turned into Ames with green signs. Maybe it's a case of left Twix vs. right Twix? 😉
|
|
|
Post by Mongo Bears on Sept 8, 2017 22:32:05 GMT -5
I used to shop at Ames. I also was unaware there was a red Ames and a green Ames. I can't remember which color my local store was.
Ames took over for Zayre's in my area. Once it became Ames it didn't last much longer. Fond memories buying all my gijoes at Zayre's
|
|
|
Post by BadGirlRyleigh on Sept 8, 2017 22:40:48 GMT -5
You guys are talking about ancient stores full of Hasbros and BCAs and I can barely remember the last five years of KB Toys
|
|
mynotmelohs
Superstar
Joined on: Jul 10, 2017 4:22:36 GMT -5
Posts: 526
|
Post by mynotmelohs on Sept 8, 2017 22:52:41 GMT -5
You guys are talking about ancient stores full of Hasbros and BCAs and I can barely remember the last five years of KB Toys I remember Hills and Ames, but I hardly remember KB Toys as well. Maybe you just didn't have Hills in your area?
|
|
|
Post by marino13 on Sept 8, 2017 23:04:28 GMT -5
I used to work at a Hills Department store. It was great cause it was during the Bone-Crunching era. And I'd have the pick of the litter. One for them AND two for me. Hmm... I'm not 100% sure why I told you that. Haha I remember my mom picked me up so many figures from there when they were closing! And the same thing with Ames! Did your Hills turn into an Ames? I was there the day they told all the employees that it was becoming an Ames. They told us how it was a good thing for us and it'd be great for business. I left shortly after. It closed less than a year after the re-branding. So... apparently, it wasn't that good for business.
|
|
nwo4lyfe
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Feb 6, 2017 22:56:36 GMT -5
Posts: 124
|
Post by nwo4lyfe on Sept 8, 2017 23:12:57 GMT -5
I have been amazed toysrus has been opened this long when they barely restock the sheleves like they used to. Plus I don't feel being a parent kids only with toys like they used to. I say this because I barely see toy commercials nor do I see cartoons that are turned into toys. The only thing I have seen constantly refreshed from time to time are legos and funko pops. When you have places like Amazon that offer prime shipping or actually throw sales on items why not buy from them. I used to love going to toysrus as a kid and always finding the shelves stocked with the latest items. Now I go and see thing from last year still close to retail price. If maybe they took a peg out of kaybee and offered 3/10 esq sales maybe their debt would decrease.
|
|
drnickriviera995
Main Eventer
Joined on: Jul 25, 2010 23:58:50 GMT -5
Posts: 2,035
|
Post by drnickriviera995 on Sept 9, 2017 1:52:45 GMT -5
I've been buying figures from my Toys R'Us for years. It is more reliable than the Target and WalMarts in my area. I was just there today looking for TJP. There is only one left near me. It is actually one of the only Toys R'Us stores in the world that still has the rainbow-striped colors model from the 80s. It has never been remodeled. My location would definitely go first if there are closings coming soon. I love Toys R'Us, but I've been expecting it for years. That's awsome, where is this store? Is the inside still modeled like they were in the early 90's too? Or is it just the outside look that's ancient? I remember before our Toys R' Us remodeled, the store seemed HUGE. Seemed much smaller after the remodel which I think happened sometime in the mid 90's. I know it was still the classic layout durring all my Hasbro buying, but got redone sometime durring the BCA days.
|
|
|
Post by SmithyPlayz on Sept 9, 2017 2:01:31 GMT -5
I'm not sure how well they do in the UK but there's always a lot of people when I go in. Would hate for my TRU to go since where I live it's pratically the only toy shop In the uk Smyths is way better than TRU for WWE. Yeah I mean if TRU goes I would love it to turn into a Smyths but I can't see it happening.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 9, 2024 20:29:21 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2017 3:42:40 GMT -5
I've been buying figures from my Toys R'Us for years. It is more reliable than the Target and WalMarts in my area. I was just there today looking for TJP. There is only one left near me. It is actually one of the only Toys R'Us stores in the world that still has the rainbow-striped colors model from the 80s. It has never been remodeled. My location would definitely go first if there are closings coming soon. I love Toys R'Us, but I've been expecting it for years. Do they still use the orange price stickers?
|
|
|
Post by Thought Collector on Sept 9, 2017 8:16:30 GMT -5
I've been buying figures from my Toys R'Us for years. It is more reliable than the Target and WalMarts in my area. I was just there today looking for TJP. There is only one left near me. It is actually one of the only Toys R'Us stores in the world that still has the rainbow-striped colors model from the 80s. It has never been remodeled. My location would definitely go first if there are closings coming soon. I love Toys R'Us, but I've been expecting it for years. Do they still use the orange price stickers? You know you're a collector when a price tag makes you misty eyed.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 9, 2024 20:29:21 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2017 8:23:29 GMT -5
Added a video from "Retail Archaeology" on YouTube that was published on 9/7/17 to the original post. This channel is great, he visits stores that have had their heyday pass them by and gives some info on them. This video is from a store in Arizona on a Saturday afternoon in 2017. It's great, he gives his personal experiences, shows old commercials, shows footage from a video game section in 1990, interesting watch.
And this video describes all the Toys R Us in my area, just substitute the location and you can assume how the several in my area are doing.
|
|
hbkowns
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 15, 2011 23:33:52 GMT -5
Posts: 4,257
|
Post by hbkowns on Sept 9, 2017 9:19:28 GMT -5
I'll be heartbroken if TRU was gone for good. When I go to retail I probably find 90% of my figures there. On top of that, the exclusives are awesome.
|
|
|
Post by Artie Kendall on Sept 9, 2017 11:42:57 GMT -5
Added a video from "Retail Archaeology" on YouTube that was published on 9/7/17 to the original post. This channel is great, he visits stores that have had their heyday pass them by and gives some info on them. This video is from a store in Arizona on a Saturday afternoon in 2017. It's great, he gives his personal experiences, shows old commercials, shows footage from a video game section in 1990, interesting watch. And this video describes all the Toys R Us in my area, just substitute the location and you can assume how the several in my area are doing. My ex-friend and I used to do tours of "abandoned" retail stores and ghost towns. We shot it on a AG-DVX100A and had all intentions of making a documentary. Usually if we found out a location was closing, we would go in the last few days and then wait a few months to go back in. If it were a place that had been closed for some time, we would try to locate pictures from our community of the inside of the stores. When we did the Toys R Us location it had been closed for some time, I believe it had closed in 1998 and we did the walk around in 2006. They had never renovated the location. It was really interesting walking around the place that I had been in as a kid to see what it had turned out like. My favorite places to shoot were enclosed malls though. Nothing beats an abandoned mall.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: May 9, 2024 20:29:21 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2017 13:36:40 GMT -5
My ex-friend and I used to do tours of "abandoned" retail stores and ghost towns. We shot it on a AG-DVX100A and had all intentions of making a documentary. Usually if we found out a location was closing, we would go in the last few days and then wait a few months to go back in. If it were a place that had been closed for some time, we would try to locate pictures from our community of the inside of the stores. When we did the Toys R Us location it had been closed for some time, I believe it had closed in 1998 and we did the walk around in 2006. They had never renovated the location. It was really interesting walking around the place that I had been in as a kid to see what it had turned out like. My favorite places to shoot were enclosed malls though. Nothing beats an abandoned mall. Take a look at that YouTube channel, he goes to some great places that you can tell in the late 80's or early 90's was a total thriving place to be.
|
|
|
Post by SporeSpam on Sept 9, 2017 14:43:21 GMT -5
Added a video from "Retail Archaeology" on YouTube that was published on 9/7/17 to the original post. This channel is great, he visits stores that have had their heyday pass them by and gives some info on them. This video is from a store in Arizona on a Saturday afternoon in 2017. It's great, he gives his personal experiences, shows old commercials, shows footage from a video game section in 1990, interesting watch. And this video describes all the Toys R Us in my area, just substitute the location and you can assume how the several in my area are doing. Watched that video yesterday, very interesting and a bit sad. This might be the end of TRU as we know it
|
|
kingpin005
Mid-Carder
Enter your message here...
Joined on: Jul 17, 2014 21:16:06 GMT -5
Posts: 411
|
Post by kingpin005 on Sept 9, 2017 15:13:39 GMT -5
TRU doesn't know when to clearance it's shelf warming items in any toy line like Walmart and particularly target. Target resets its toy dept 4x or more every year. They clearance the warming items and make room for new.
|
|
|
Post by A-Rob on Sept 9, 2017 15:39:14 GMT -5
It'll be a sad day when Toys R Us files for bankruptcy, hopefully they can turn it around.
|
|
FUSamBaker
Main Eventer
Biggest crush on Sami Zayn.
Joined on: Sept 6, 2005 19:25:20 GMT -5
Posts: 3,107
|
Post by FUSamBaker on Sept 9, 2017 17:54:20 GMT -5
Good! They played me, and a lot of others, really dirty with the WWE Superstars pre orders. I just now got my money back this morning after a week and 3 phone calls. No to mention the previous 8 phone calls between July and last week trying to find out where/when my order would ship.
Toys R Us online is just as bad as KMart was with their online ordering. Of coarse at least KMart shipped...albeit they had the wrong item in the box lol.
Toys R Us has been on a noticble decline for many years. My local TRUs are just in shambles. I'm no longer a fan of the store. It's sad because Toys R Us used to be the end all be all of toys. It was even favorable over the Internet. Toys R Us has no one to blame but themselves. They are doing terrible business lately. I'd rather take my buying to Amazon where I'm not jerked around. So let Toys R Us be the nail in their own coffin. They aren't what they used to be.
|
|