Toys R Us merger

[Nathan]

Link

From the front page: "Stockholders officially agreed to the merger of Toys R Us with a large investment group, and the deal is expected to be closed by the end of July. So what does this mean to the everyday collector and toy lover? Will we see a large number of stores closing? Let's hope not, but only time will tell..."



No matter what reorganizations go on behind the scenes, I can't see them retiring the TRU name. It would be capitally stupid to throw away brand recognition like that.

So whaddaya think?

[Jesse James]

The fact a real-estate factor is involved can be scary...  A lot of TRU stores are planted right amidst some prime real-estate (usually within close proximity to a mall, at least in my area, which is land that can garner quite a penney).  Could spell store closings, but that's just a thought I throw out there...

I think TRU can work, I just think the way in which it's run now isn't going to work.  This store rarely has clearances, it rarely has sales (much less sales at a peak time...  Like why aren't SW figures $1 off right now in an effort to clear some room?  If they can run a sale like that once they can run it now and undercut WM a bit who I doubt would drop their prices to match...  But whatever).

TRU, like toys in general, is going to have to change...  If they want to stay around in any capacity anyway.  It's a shame though because it shows how our times have changed.  When I was young it was Children's Palace, then TRU which was slightly different, and now Toys are something along the lines of Toilet Paper...  Blah.

I'm not a WM fan so any detrimental news to TRU is sorta disheartening to me...  I've had the misfortune of studying WM inside out, and I'll never look at that company with anything but contempt...  TRU just isn't trying the right ways though, and have some work to do.  I would not be the slightest bit surprised at further store cuts for real-estate value that outweighs store profitability either, but I think/hope the Toys R Us chain will still live for a while at least...  How they alter to fit the market will determine how long they go on... 

Then again they could close up shop all together...  I think I'd be surprised at that though.  I don't thinkt hey can turn-over their properties to make the deal they worked out worth closing up shop all together.

[Ben]

I doubt my local TRU will last much longer. They rarely have anything new. The only thing I purchase there is McFarlane stuff that's just slightly cheaper than Sam Goody.

But then again, the part of town it's in isn't the "hot" part of town, real estate-wise. But it would still sell.

But I can bet they'd close it just to sell the ground it's on. Why else would a firm like that buy a store that's not doing well?

[Darth Broem]

To be honest if they really want to get TRU back on track they need to close a number of stores.  That is just how it's going to be.  If you think your area TRU is struggling you can almost count on it being closed by the end of the year.  I don't see any other way around that.