Toys R' Us Bankruptcy - RIP June 29, 2018, or coming back ???

[potato]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

I should've known..TRUs or at least my local TRUs and there are a ton near me, they release new collectible product so random now when in the 90s or early to mid 2000 they stocked the newest hottest franchises very quickly as soon as they were available.

I think companies aren't seeing the turnaround of product so they must be cutting down shipments to the stores in the last few years.

you need to remember, back then there weren't many toy shops, toys options were pretty limited and during that time most kids aren't really exposed to Japanese toys apart from those Hasbro brought in, thus Toysurus strived, and when they are making good money everyone is happy, including the staffs, thus the good customer service.

but as technology advanced, toysrus remained as it was in the 90's. while people are getting more interested with higher quality toys from Japan (some similar priced as local toys), toysrus customer group are now left with clueless parents & small children. so when their business go down hill, they have to find ways to reduce their lost, upping the price and continue leeching on clueless parents, lowering the salary & bonus & closing down poor performing branches are what you as the CEO should do.

Toysurs did try to participate in online shopping but as online shopping makes price comparison easy, this further exposed the expensive pricing toysrus has.

 

[Darthvong]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

That sucks but can't say I'm surprised. I haven't bought anything at TRU in years.

 

[darthkush]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

This really bites. My 4 year old son and I go in there and look around at least once every other week, even if we don't buy anything. It's been a stable of my existence my entire life. When I was a child, I remember going there almost every Saturday from age maybe 6-10(yes, I was a spoiled child). So many memories. I don't begrudge the workers there. They are paid very little. Though to the credit of my tru, everyone there has always been very friendly and helpful to me, especially once I had my kid. I think collectors they find weird, but collectors with kids? I think it's different for them. Suddenly you're a parent who knows ***** about the industry and makes it easier for them to help you.

I'm sorry to see Toys R Us go. So many memories. I could go on and on with all the "treasure" stories I have from that place.

 

[karamazov80]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

Cable is not going amywhere...

https://variety.com/2017/biz/news/cord-cutting-2017-estimates-cancel-cable-satellite-tv-1202556594/

In 2017, a total of 22.2 million U.S. adults will have cut the cord on cable, satellite or telco TV service to date — up 33% from 16.7 million in 2016 — the researcher now predicts. That’s significantly higher than eMarketer’s prior estimate of 15.4 million cord-cutters as of the end of this year. Meanwhile, the number of “cord-nevers” (consumers who have never subscribed to pay TV) will rise 5.8% this year, to 34.4 million.

 

[EVILFACE]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

Cable TV will have to restructure or go to a la carte. If packages are required for some channels to survive, then those channels need to be dropped.

HBO, Cinimax, Stars apps show that cable isn't needed beyond providing the bandwidth.

We dropped premium channels and haven't missed them at all. We just pay for Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO app.

 

[karamazov80]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

Same here. We haven't had cable for a couple of years. They kept raising prices, I guess to offset their losses in the cord-cutting age, while the consumer (myself) had much much less incentive to keep going with them or one of the satellite providers. Now we've got Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Sling, and use a digital box for network channels and PBS. I get HBO for a couple of months when Game of Thrones comes out, then cancel. I'll end Sling after football season ends.

It sucks that they are maintaining their monopoly over the internet, though. There should really be competition in that market, but the damn ISP lobbying industry is a beast.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/329982-telecom-giants-spent-11m-on-first-quarter-lobbying

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

I probably haven't had cable for 10 years

 

[MrSteerpike]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

I'm not surprised. In southern Ontario their stores have always been very over priced. It's never been a place I was crazy to go to, even as a child.

As an adult my NECA and other collectibles have come from other outlets like comic shops and smaller vendors. I won't miss them but it's unfortunate news none the less.

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[Mad Old Lu]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

I never liked TRU. I remember when it first opened in my area (South Miami) around 1982 or so. Before TRU opened, there was Lionel Playworld. THAT is the toy store I LOVED. I would go there as often as possible. Luckily, it was in the same strip mall as the supermarket, so we had to go there often and I would beg my Mom to take me. They had a fantastic selection of action figures, and of course, Star Wars action figures during their peak in 1978-1983. I remember getting SuperJoe action figures there too (the 9” figures with light up chest armor). When TRU opened, I remember being bombarded by their TV commercials, and everyone at school gushing about the new toy store and singing the theme song (I wanna be a Toys R Us kid!). When I finally went, I was sorely disappointed. I found the selection really pretty bad. They didn’t have nearly the amount of action figures Playworld had. I remember it seemed skewed more towards sports, bikes, outdoor play sets, etc. But their action figure selection, and SW in particular was meager. There were more action figures at my local Kmart! Actually Kmart used to have a great selection of toys back then too.

Regardless of their lacking inventory, TRU managed to put Playworld out of business and I really hated them for that!

Sure, I would go to TRU occasionally since they’re really the only toy store left standing, but I always resented them. The last time I really went was right before I discovered Sideshow and Hot Toys. Iron Man had just come out so I got a couple of those figures. But once I discovered high end 1:6, I never felt the need to go again. Nowadays I may quickly zip through the aisle at Target to see what action figures are out.

 

[guyver1]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

I wonder if I will ever start seeing a " Going out of Business Sale " at my local TRUs next year

It is kind of bitter sweet, the store closet to me has a guy working there I've known for a long, long time, back when he was starting out as a shipping clerk in the backroom and now he is one of the head managers, but he's always been a good friend. I'll probably ask him what he intends to do if the stores close

 

[Ropen]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

https://variety.com/2017/biz/news/cord-cutting-2017-estimates-cancel-cable-satellite-tv-1202556594/

I work for direct tv/uverse the problem has always been with the channels, they are the greedily ones tv is going the way of direct tv now where you have an app and stream everything and have dvr content, people have netflix, hulu, amazon, hbo now, showtime, now that disney wants you to pay to access their content in the future the standalone prices for stuff like will make you get bundled cable where if today with provider log in, you can access all on demand content from all providers through a single login rather than pay individual, a year i would have been like oh hell no, but now its like dang, boomerang, fullscreen, mubi, everyone wants a piece of that pie.

Same thing with toys r us, they will be fine.


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[ReplicantSavior]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

Screw online retailers many of you dont know this but on hot ticketed items bots purchase inventory and start the whole scalping process.

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I've come across that with Mondo posters and sadly recently with videogames. I thought it would be easy getting Night Trap on PS4 but apparently bots and flippers got it. The company doesn't even make the games special like Mondo screen printed posters. Just physical copies. They did do a limited time pre-order on Ys Origin which is how they should handle all their games. Or at least normal versions of games. But then they couldn't even release a special version of Ys with a soundtrack. Which every recently released Ys game has packaged in. They make a big deal out of sealed boxes...So they cater to flippers...

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

There are Bots for Mondo and Bottleneck Gallery

 

[Sidewinder]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

They're not actually closing down though, just restructuring. I don't even know what Bankruptcy means these days....there seems to be many loopholes to remain trading even after filing.

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[guyver1]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

Yeah found out they only filed to get back balance to their creditors. So TRUs might be around for a while

 

[Raven]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

How the hell can a bot purchase anything?

 

[j97e1]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

How the hell can a bot purchase anything?

If anyone knows - Don't tell him!!!!
We don't need another bot

 

[darthblitzwing]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

From what I read the LBO from KKR put almost 7 Bil. in debt on their books and was too much for them.

 

[OrangeCrush]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

They're not actually closing down though, just restructuring. I don't even know what Bankruptcy means these days....there seems to be many loopholes to remain trading even after filing.

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Bankruptcy can actually be a very smart move and it most certainly doesn't mean a company is going out of business. Its basically a restructuring of debt that allows a company to start clean and as long as there are still investors/backers behind it with enough money to make it happen, the company can still continue on after bankruptcy. Just look at individual bankruptcies. The average millionaire in the US declares bankruptcy 3.5 times. Depending on the situation, declaring bankruptcy can be one of the smartest moves a person, company, corporation etc. can make.

 

[OrangeCrush]

Re: Toys R' Us Files for Bankruptcy!

How the hell can a bot purchase anything?

Wow, really? No offense, but you clearly don't have a firm understanding of what a bot is and what it is and isn't capable of doing. For roughly 15 years, limited edition prints and lithographs were by far my single favorite collecting hobby and Mondo was without question one of my favorite companies the first couple years they started selling prints, but ultimately bots and flippers, and Mondo's utter refusal to address the issue, made me give up on collecting them altogether. I refuse to spend 2-5x the original price on the 2nd hand market because Mondo is unwilling to set up a better way of selling their prints and make no mistake about it, Mondo is well aware of the bot problem. All Mondo cares about is making money. As long as their prints continue selling out, its all good. They couldn't care less if the people buying them are actual collectors or flippers and at least for me, that is not a company I am willing to support, regardless of how much I like their prints.

Then again, I am kinda thankful as it was really the whole Mondo situation that made me take a big step back regarding the types of prints I was buying. I now only buy limited editions that are original pieces of artwork. I won't touch digital giclee prints anymore and I will only buy screen prints from companies/artists that actually care about the whole flipping aspect of the market and have a fair sales model and unfortunately, Mondo is most definitely NOT one of those companies. They know full well that the vast majority of prints being sold are being purchased by bots, yet they refuse to do anything about it. So I ceased buying Mondo and sold my Mondo collection. And I really can't complain on that end as I wound up making around $4500 in profit off of my Mondo print collection, tho I will admit that I do miss collecting them as many of them really are amazing prints.