Toys "R" Us - 50% scraps are all that's left

[Average Guy]

I know one thing for certain: If TRU  does close it's doors I will personally go to 2 of the stores to congratulate 2 managers on a job well done. Who says spite can't be a reward?

[Darth_Raichu]

29 minutes ago, Val-E said:

Time for a "Will you miss TRU if it closes?" poll?

Nope, but I feel like deleting a thread or two today

 

[Litterbaux]

I've had such bad experiences with TRU online shopping I'll be the first to say I won't miss them. Whether it's getting the wrong item or finding things missing from the package my experience has been terrible. The last kick in the knickers was last week when they cancelled an order because it wasn't available (I made a post in daily deals) when you could still put it in your cart online.

TRU you disappointed my son, he's five. Even if they get thru this debt debacle why would I take a chance buying thru you when amazon never screws up, honors online orders and my five year old already is a fan?

Adios.

[Ed Mack]

I am a Toys R' Us supporter.  I often go to my local TRU, even if I have to pay more.   I appreciate the store and its place in the retail world.  The stores have a certain smell that brings back good memories to me.  It would be a sad day for my family if they closed their doors.   

That being said...TRU does nothing to help online sales.  They offer very low to no affiliate commissions to websites.  Foolish move.  All one has to do is look to Amazon and see how a successful affiliate program works.

[Val-E]

Well, the news has gone viral around the world faster than Gingebread House lady managed it.

For North American buyers, will this make you stop buying gift cards and making online orders? I guess you would still have paypal or credit card protection for the latter if orders were not fulfilled.....

It does make you wonder how they will tackle the Xmas campaign stockwise. A good time to close would be in early February.

[Voltron]

In UK Argos might step up to buy over toys r us, as they are the next biggest toy retailer.

Won't really miss TRU, end of the day it is just another victim of online shopping, unfortunately won't be the last toy shop to close. 

[exciter1]

7 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

I am a Toys R' Us supporter.  I often go to my local TRU, even if I have to pay more.   I appreciate the store and its place in the retail world.  The stores have a certain smell that brings back good memories to me.  It would be a sad day for my family if they closed their doors.  

My TRU has a sewer problem.

[macpro76]

It's what they get for limiting purchases to sets.

[Val-E]

3 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

My TRU has a sewer problem.

Maybe it´s the Nexo.

[Ed Mack]

10 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

My TRU has a sewer problem.

You are full of sh*t.   ?

[Shewie]

42 minutes ago, Val-E said:

Does the title have anything to do with the content of the article? I am still waiting for them to give facts why Lego is in deep trouble. The MF is a bad example.

AFOL's won't save the company, period.
Millennium Falcon is like Buggatti Chiron/Veyron. They are making minimum profit on it it's time consuming to make a single set, R&D, costs of marketing, transportation etc.
VW is using Buggatti Chiron as a "boundary breaker" pure "showing off" example where sky is no limit, with every Chiron sold *** Group is loosing money. 
Because it's more expensive to make than the asking price in saloon.

Edited September 19, 2017 by Shewie

[SLL]

3 hours ago, pcaster said:

https://www.toysrusinc.com/uploads/tinymce/uploaded/Project Sunrise/Customer FAQ.pdf

#4 - "We expect to continue honoring return policies, warranties and gift cards. Customers should expect our loyalty programs, including Rewards“R”Us, the Toys”R”Us Wish List, Geoffrey’s Birthday Club and the Babies“R”Us Registry in the U.S., to continue as normal in their current forms. International customer programs will continue as usual as well."

I wouldn't take it with a grain of salt. The Bankruptcy Code lays out a priority scheme for which creditors get paid before other creditors. Generally, the highest tier is the secured creditors’ claims. If the secured creditor has a security interest in all assets of the debtor (the company in bankruptcy), then the secured creditor must be paid in full before any money is distributed to other creditors, in other words, some priority claims get paid ahead of other priority claims. In a bankruptcy case, cash flow is paramount, period. Honoring GC affects a debtor’s cash flow because all or a portion of the sales to future customer will not generate any cash. The sale proceeds previously were collected and spent. That's why they used *expect* not *will* in their statement.

[Phil B]

21 hours ago, Miami Bomb Squad said:

I Hear Eddie Lampert is going to bail them out with one of his private loans.................  The new name will be:  Sears 'R' US

No kidding .... they have already started implementing some of Eddie's excellent business strategies:

[Darth_Raichu]

9 minutes ago, Phil B said:

No kidding .... they have already started implementing some of Eddie's excellent business strategies:

It lacks the spinning wheel

[flynnibus]

2 hours ago, jeff_14 said:

Another issue that has come into play lately for a lot of retail operations is the land value. I don't know if TRU owns many of its locations since most seem to be in malls, but there have been many cases where bankrupt companies were basically sold at a price equal to the value of the land they own. Up here in Canada, Bell telephone bought out Computer City just to obtain an instant network of retail locations for its new store rollout. They dumped all the other assets as they didn't want to be in that business.

In the states they are usually stand-alone locations or strip mall locations in my experience.  The property itself is probably why part of the buyout last time was a real estate firm... but now the outlook for retail footprint is so bad... I guess it really depends on what kind of properties they are and what kind of re-development potentials they have.  But you have to imagine at such scale, the number of duds would outweigh the diamonds in the rough.

[Val-E]

2 hours ago, Shewie said:

AFOL's won't save the company, period.
Millennium Falcon is like Buggatti Chiron/Veyron. They are making minimum profit on it it's time consuming to make a single set, R&D, costs of marketing, transportation etc.
VW is using Buggatti Chiron as a "boundary breaker" pure "showing off" example where sky is no limit, with every Chiron sold *** Group is loosing money. 
Because it's more expensive to make than the asking price in saloon.

Every little helps.  Do you think they are making money out of Nexo if you discount the app development and all the advertising they have thrown at it plus the heavy discounts for big retailers?

I understand what you are saying but if they really did sell 20k Falcons in one day, it´s hardly a drop in the ocean.

Plus, kids today are tomorrow´s AFOLs and today´s AFOLS are the enablers for kids to get lego.

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Val-E

[Alpinemaps]

Just going to leave these here (both in store and on the forum):

[Val-E]

They want to clear them, they just don´t know how.

[exciter1]

5 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

Just going to leave these here (both in store and on the forum):

This is a one-way ticket to a cash infusion.

[Shewie]

3 minutes ago, Val-E said:

Every little helps.  Do you think they are making money out of Nexo if you discount the app development and all the advertising they have thrown at it plus the heavy discounts for big retailers?

I understand what you are saying but if they really did sell 20k Falcons in one day, it´s hardly a drop in the ocean.

Plus, kids today are tomorrow´s AFOLs and today´s AFOLS are the enablers for kids to get lego.

 

every next generation is different from the previous one in many aspects, trends are changing every single year and sometimes in a unpredicted way. I'm working in advertising and I'm spending tiresome hours studying new trends, aspects, dimensions, new approaches especially when consumers have pejorative approach to the matter. You can freely apply this theory to the toys. Falcons are the drop in ocean. They've made a massive investments in far Asia, not to mention increased employment rate by 20% year after year because they were blinded by double digit growth. Without a "blockbuster" idea they won't perform any better. People are getting used to every year Disney SW release, SW won't drive sales for LEGO again like in 2015 after more than decade without SW themed cinema release.
If You were a dairy farmer, would you employ twice as many milkers as you had cows?

If I would be in LEGO I'd suggest to lean towards Augmented Reality digital enviroment that Apple for example is pushing forward especially in their new releases.
You can buy LEGO but with active AR you can visualize for example more sets together (those you don't have actually) or play some action, record cinematic with your set etc. Sky is no limit tbh.
 At the moment TLG digital assets are worth no more no less than the frown of eyebrows. Great story telling - terrible visual execution.  I'd love to see LEGO digital offer in more a like "Lego Movie" style with some grittiness and more realism.

Besides.
Nexo is surpassing SW theme in Eastern Europe. I don't know why you have a banter with NEXO

[jeff_14]

3 minutes ago, Shewie said:

every next generation is different from the previous one in many aspects, trends are changing every single year and sometimes in a unpredicted way. I'm working in advertising and I'm spending tiresome hours studying new trends, aspects, dimensions, new approaches especially when consumers have pejorative approach to the matter. You can freely apply this theory to the toys. Falcons are the drop in ocean. They've made a massive investments in far Asia, not to mention increased employment rate by 20% year after year because they were blinded by double digit growth. Without a "blockbuster" idea they won't perform any better. People are getting used to every year Disney SW release, SW won't drive sales for LEGO again like in 2015 after more than decade without SW themed cinema release.
If You were a dairy farmer, would you employ twice as many milkers as you had cows?

If I would be in LEGO I'd suggest to lean towards Augmented Reality digital enviroment that Apple for example is pushing forward especially in their new releases.
You can buy LEGO but with active AR you can visualize for example more sets together (those you don't have actually) or play some action, record cinematic with your set etc. Sky is no limit tbh.
 At the moment TLG digital assets are worth no more no less than the frown of eyebrows. Great story telling - terrible visual execution.  I'd love to see LEGO digital offer in more a like "Lego Movie" style with some grittiness and more realism.

Besides.
Nexo is surpassing SW theme in Eastern Europe. I don't know why you have a banter with NEXO

I don't think Lego's fortunes rise or fall as Eastern Europe goes. Perfect example of the exception that proves the rule. Lego and Star Wars have both been extremely popular since pretty much the exact same time. These tastes have not changed. Even if Lego doesn't make as much off a Star Wars set as its own proprietary themes, the Star Wars sets are surely a gateway to those themes and have always been popular, even in the 10 years between Episodes 3 and 7. 

[Val-E]

23 minutes ago, Shewie said:

Besides.
Nexo is surpassing SW theme in Eastern Europe. I don't know why you have a banter with NEXO

And Ninjago in Germany. The problem is every country seems to like a different theme so if they listen to everyone, they´ll have  a huge catalogue - oh wait they already do.

For me they need to rationalise and focus on core business and markets.

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Val-E

[stackables]

Just used one gift card to reduce the price of the Red Hulk set.  Now I have to figure out what to buy with my $100 gift card.  The last couple times ordering from TRU, I had to check out with paypal.  The site wouldn't let me update my credit card.

[exciter1]

LOL.  Tha's hilarious something similar is wrong at my local TRU.  Not storewide but like 20 percent of the store back by the bathrooms.

Sometimes the whole store smells like Woodstock porta johns.

[scuttfarkas]

My Son (age 7) wanted a Nintendo Switch for his birthday.....and all he asked for from the extended family were Toys R Us giftcards to buy it with.  He got 250.00 worth of them.  I don't expect them to be getting any more Nintendo Switchs in (does anyone think they will?)....so I guess I'm just going to buy them from him and give him the money to go buy the Switch from a reputable merchant.

 

The thing that sucks is that when I went to the local TRU today to start using the GCs.....they had a sign up that said their "giftcard, merchant card and debit cards systems were down.....but they were working on the problem". I'm burning a toy store down if I can't use these things.