Toys R Us (Or: Die, Dinosaur, Die!)

[BillCable]

Holy ****!  I had heard about TRU getting product on credit, but that's just ludicrous!  And the fact that they owe Mattel over $150 million?  I can't believe anyone would do business like that.

Why not?  It's Toys R Us, not Dark Side Toys... also, if you can't sell the product and pay for it, manufacturers just take the product back at bankruptcy...

That's a horrible deal for the manufactures.  Now they'll be sitting on millions of dollars of pegwarming inventory.

[CorranHorn]

Holy ****!  I had heard about TRU getting product on credit, but that's just ludicrous!  And the fact that they owe Mattel over $150 million?  I can't believe anyone would do business like that.

Why not?  It's Toys R Us, not Dark Side Toys... also, if you can't sell the product and pay for it, manufacturers just take the product back at bankruptcy...

That's a horrible deal for the manufactures.  Now they'll be sitting on millions of dollars of pegwarming inventory.

Many of the manufacturers will turn around and sell their wares to discounters like TJ Maxx and Five Below with the hope they will sell their. Some money will be better than none. Unless of course it is more cost effective for the manufacturers to just trash the toys...

[Nicklab]

Ooooh!   $5 Constable Zuvios!!!!!!

If only those things could wind up in the same landfill as that Atari ET game...

[Dave]

Toys R Us owes Hasbro an estimated $59 million

Holy ****!  I had heard about TRU getting product on credit, but that's just ludicrous!  And the fact that they owe Mattel over $150 million?  I can't believe anyone would do business like that.

This is standard retail stuff.  Things are shipped with 30 to 90-day net terms in most industries.  I know it sounds like a lot of money, but $59 million might only be two month's of Hasbro sales for TRU and line up with 60 day net terms.

[Jeff]

The head of the company that makes those awful Bratz toys is trying to buy the Canadian wing and keep it open under the old name. He is also looking into buying some of the US stores and doing the same. Kind of a  long shot, but who knows.

From the "you can't be serious" file, the Bratz guy is now trying to launch a crowd-funding project to get $800,000,000 so they can save TRU.

Oh sure, let's all pitch in over three-quarters of a billion dollars so the CEO and his investors can buy TRU and keep it open.   

[BillCable]

Toy manufacturers stand to lose the most from this deal.  Can't fault them for trying (as ridiculous as it might be).

[BillCable]

$10,000,000+: #SaveToysRUs bumper sticker, pin, magnet, “I’ll ALWAYS be a Toys“R”Us Kid” t-shirt, invite to a local Toys“R”Us reopening block party, a signed thank you letter from Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment, AND Kid CEO for the Day experience including a trip to a southern California theme park, travel and accommodations, and Toys“R”Us store dedication naming rights for location of your choosing and toys for life from Toys“R”Us. 1, 2

[Nicklab]

Crowdfunding $800 million?  Yeah, right!!!!

Manufacturers definitely have a vested interest in keeping retail outlets open and running.  But this seems misguided.  And in order to keep 400 locations open?  It seems more ambitious than the 200 store concept that's been circulating.

[Qui-Gon Jim]

I checked out the Chino Hills TRU no signs up for store closing yet. However the Clare's section was almost completely empty. I guess Clare's took their merchandise back. I wonder if TRUs are going to start finding weird unsold Star Wars figures from TVC or ROTS laying around. I assume places like Koles and TJ Max will start seeing more toy inventory soon.

I think I read somewhere that Claire's is also going knockers-up.

[Matt_Fury]

Decided to check out the TRU in Aurora since I work near there and I did pick up a couple of Lego sets for the boys and the TRU Exclusive X-wing for myself.  Managed to unload the only gift cards we had left.

I talked to the cashier and they are going to stay open until everything in their warehouse has been sold.  Also, this affects Babies R Us as well.

[McMetal]

I went yesterday since that was supposed to be the day the liquidation sale started but there were no sales whatsoever, and no new stock either. I was hoping for a bunch of stuff to show up as their warehouses started purging inventory.

[Nicklab]

So this MGA bid is hinging on Isaac Larian raising $1 billion in order to save 400 of the TRU stores?  And the target date they have is by the end of May?  I really have to wonder if it's possible to raise that kind of money that fast.  And if it's not?  It certainly seems like the hedge funds like Bain and Blackrock will probably do what they did with KB - hang on to the brand for a while and sell it off at a later date.  Because the name definitely has value.

[Phrubruh]

Do you remember this:

[Jeff]

I wonder what this time-table means for the Solo toys. Aren't they hitting in April?

If the liquidation is supposed to conclude by May 15th?  I don't think any Solo product will land at TRU.

Toys R Us owes Hasbro an estimated $59 million, so I agree with Nick that it's pretty doubtful they are getting any Solo product.

Yakface has TRU store reports for Solo Black Series 6" (Texas) and Nerf products (California), so I guess they did already get some Solo product from Hasbro.

Seems crazy to me, but I suppose it was already shipped and en route to TRU before they decided on total liquidation.

[Nicklab]

Wow.  I'm surprised that they would have shipped that much product out a month in advance of the street date.  But it would probably cost Hasbro more to reclaim that stock and figure out a way to re-distribute it.

Today I walked in to what I consider my "home" Toys R Us store.  I’ve been going to that store since the 80's when they put another toy chain, Child World, out of business.  And when I saw the “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS” sign it was like a slap in the face.   

Notable signs?  All sales are final as of today.  Action figures are discounted 10%, and construction/LEGO is discounted by 5%.