JediDefender.com Forums
Community => Watto's Junk Yard => Topic started by: Brian on December 11, 2008, 03:14 PM
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Sounds like they are closing up shop...Linky (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alirQ9fpgzC4&refer=home).
They are filing for bankruptcy and closing all 277 stores that remain. Our local store closed a year ago, but it is kind of sad to see toy stores go the way of the dodo. I hope that TRU still does ok, because I think that's kind of a neat thing to a kid (although probably younger now than when we grew up) to see - and I'd like it to be around for our daughter to remember. I grew up in a small town, and when we went to the "city" and got to visit TRU, it was almost like a vacation. Anyways, not really surprising to me either. All the KB Toy stores in our local area were a horrible place to visit usually. Really crammed, old stuff, usually higher prices, and often a distinct odor.
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Considering the KB nearest me was outside a Boscov's store that had a toy aisle with SW figures for $2 or $3 less... I can't say I weep for KB. They did this to themselves by not competing, nor really even making an effort to do so.
I hate the loss of competition, but KB wasn't even trying so were they really ever considered much of an option by anyone? :-\
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The mall just down the road from our house has a KB and a Kmart, not the best choices for toys really. (There is a few Walmarts and Targets within about 20 miles so all is not lost.)
Still rather disappointing to see KB going away. But the points mentioned above, old stock, high prices and a cramped shopping environment make for an unpleasant and often futile shopping experience. I stopped into KB probably 2 dozen times over this fall, and I think the only time I bought anything was on black friday (I was there at about 2 am on my way to work), and that was to get 40% off a battlepack. They just don't have newer items in stock, and when they have something, its easily 20% more than other stores.
Sad to see them go, but they did it to themselves, going for higher margin on each item, as opposed to accepting lower margin on higher sales.
Also, why was this practically the only store in the mall that every time you walked you were immediately asked if you needed help? I get the employees were made to ask this, but come on, let me shop. If I wander around for a minute, then ask for help, or if I was a 90 year old lady, maybe then, but as soon as I walk in, and when I'm clearly just chasing after my 2 year old?
Still, I'll have to keep an eye on the store down the road and see if I can get in on any liquidation sales (I got some good deals when Ames closed).
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Just came from the Ontarios Mills KBtoys where they were having a 40% off selected items. Star Wars was of course not one of those items. They pretty much had only legacy wave 2 & 3 for $9.99 and some really old TAC pegwarmers for $8.99. Nothing recent there and nothing any good.
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Sounds like they are closing up shop...Linky (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alirQ9fpgzC4&refer=home).
They are filing for bankruptcy and closing all 277 stores that remain.
It is crazy to think that in early 2005, for the launch of RotS, there were almost 1200 KB locations (counting the Toy Works and outlet stores). Over the last 3 years, they've lost 75% of their stores and are basically about to lose the rest. Crazy.
Ah well, I'll just add them to the legend of Child World, Children's Palace, and all the others that have gone the way of the dodo. It makes me wonder when TRU will finally kick the bucket...
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Man Children's Palace had the best ****... I loved that store. That and Hills were the bee's knees. I had no TRU, I had no WM or Target...
Then Family Toy Whorehouse came around, and man they sucked. We had WM, Target, and TRU by then for the most part, and FTW just needed shut down before it even got started.
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It makes me wonder when TRU will finally kick the bucket...
I try to avoid TRU, but I've had to venture in there a couple of times while Christmas shopping. We've always had poor customer service there, but sometimes they're the best resource for things we want to get the kids. I've always known that their prices were high, but I didn't realize just how much higher they were. I had looked at digital cameras for my son and saw the Clone Wars one at WM for $19.99 and the same one was at TRU for $49.99. Most other things I looked at were around 30% more expensive at TRU. It seems like they will just price themselves right out of the market........
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KB always looked a bit dated once TRU arrived on the scene. Their prices were always really high to and that never helps with the other retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, and TRU. However, I did like to go there because it usually meant I could get a harder to find figure there. People seemed to either skip over the figure because of the price or maybe they just never would go in there? There was a decent one when I lived in Illinois. The reason was because they moved out of their original place in the mall to a bigger one when the mall expanded at the time.
It is going to suck going into a mall now and not have an actual toy store there. Like I said it was another opportunity to pick up something there if I could not find it elsewhere. Oh well. They had a good run at it there for awhile.
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It is going to suck going into a mall now and not have an actual toy store there.
I've been without any KB's for about five years or so. It take a little time to get over the new shoe store or whatever takes up its space, but you'll get over it...in time.
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Thats too bad. I still need their DC Classics exclusives. :-\
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Aren't indoor malls going away too. They seem to be replaced by outdoor garden walk-type malls with lots of restraunts, walmart and teenage girl-type stores.
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The writing has been on the wall for this for some time. There used to be about 12 or more KayBee stores within a half an hour's drive of me up until a few years ago. Now there's only 3 or 4. The chain has gotten decimated because they couldn't compete price-wise with the big box stores. Add in significant overhead because of their presence in shopping malls. And the current economic climate is severe enough that a good number of retail chains have already gone under this year.
I still miss places like Child World and Toy & Sports Warehouse too, but they've gone the way of the dodo. And now KayBee will as well.
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Aren't indoor malls going away too. They seem to be replaced by outdoor garden walk-type malls with lots of restraunts, walmart and teenage girl-type stores.
Not in the Northeast. The weather just isn't conducive to doing that.
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I guess in Southern California its different. No one builds indoor malls anymore. It seems all the indoor malls are becoming outdoor strip malls.
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Yeah, it's about 50/50 here... We've had outdoor malls for years, and get some new ones too, but we just got a new indoor mall about 4 or 5 years ago called Pittsburgh Mills that is about the only place nearby to me, actually. Indoor malls seem to come and go though, with their level of traffic. Most go down hill as the area around them gets bad though. That happened to the biggest mall in Pitt area actually, and it's pretty sad.
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When I was growing up we didn't have a TRU anywhere near me (or WM or Target). Binghamton, NY was the closest "big" city and they had KB in the mall. That's the only true toy store I remember from childhood and bought a lot of stuff there both as a kid and as an adult collector.
Unfortunately, their problem was twofold; they weren't big enough in recent years to get the discounts that larger chains like WM, TRU and Target can take advantage of and being located mostly in malls (as mentioned) they had high rents and couldn't leverage real estate like the other standalone stores could.
I'll be sad to see them go as they were another alternative in the collecting market. They've both brought us some cool exclusives over the years and picked up overstock from other retailers making it more available to people around the country.
Obviously with the economy the way it is we'll be seeing more companies go or file for Chapter 11 to try and weather the storm, but I'll never say "good riddance" to a store that was available to help further my chosen hobby of collecting toys.
It's easy to say that you're glad to see them go or it's about time, or that you're waiting for TRU to be next, but when WM is the only show in town is that really a good thing? High prices or not, I'm going with NO. I love Target and have great access to one, but I still wouldn't be happy to see the local K-Mart go nor would I be happy to see KB go if we had one in the local mall. Choice is always better.
E...
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Choice is always better, but KB was never competitive so it really wasn't an impact, and that is what makes me not really weep at the loss of KB... Had they at least tried, then maybe I'd care more. Seeing KM go is a bigger issue to me partly because they're such a large force in the Northeast, and plus their sales make them a competitive store... I could count on my hands the number of items I've bought at KB though, they were that bad, since the modern line's inception. I just never even bothered. :(
TRU, Kmart, and such are much larger losses should they fold... They're competitive. They maintain good stock (KM actually does near me, though they don't stock a TON. They almost always have the latest figures though) and they do promotions to try and remain in competition with Wal-Mart or Target. I haven't even considered KB an option for the last 10 years... Hell, like I said, Boscov's had a toy department that was better stocked and better priced than KB. When that Boscovs folded a few months back, that really hit me hard. That was competition, plus I liked it better than Macy's for general shopping. :( That stung, and it barely even had opened here before it tanked.
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First FAO and now KB the two biggest rip off toy stores in San Diego. so long. the only cool thing about KB is that last year i got a slave Leia unleashed for $14.00. the sad part is that they had a slave girl Leia last year. they also have vintage Terminator toys. maybe when they close they will liquidate all the ROTJ two packs they have in the back...
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I can't say that I'm surprised...it seems for at least the past year, my local KB had about half their items at 50% off. Also, they never sold the Wii or Wii games. Occassionaly you could find new waves of figures there, but their drastically higher prices were certainly a turn off.
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Like others, KB wasn't a player around here for me either. I didn't generally like going there anyways, and only would if we were already in the mall for something else. Our closed shortly after Christmas last year, and I could say I probably was in there 5 times in the four years we lived here prior to that. And never on a special trip. I won't miss them as a store particularly, but find it more sad that toy stores themselves are struggling these days.
TRU on the other hand, I'd be sad about - mainly for the reasons I mentioned earlier. I think its a fun place for kids to go, at least it was when I was growing up, and I'd like it to be there for our daughter as well. It may be a thing where kids these days don't get quite as excited about a simple thing like that, what with kids getting into video games and ipods at younger ages all the time, but it was a pretty big deal for me when I was growing up. Our local store seems to do ok (crazy busy this time of year), so hopefully that's a good sign (KB here on the other hand rarely had anyone in it). I know that TRU is often priced higher, and they rarely if ever put anything on clearance, but if the prices are similar, I try to give them the business. I'm not a big fan of WM necessarily, so when possible, I try to give the business to TRU or Target if I'm buying collectibles.
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Wow. End of an era, but I'm not surprised.
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I just thought about it, and I've bought more SW **** at Ross and TJ Maxx than I did at KB... That's friggin' sad, ya know? Still, it is an end of an era and it's sad in that regard, plus I feel bad for their employees, but that store still irks me because they truly were the least competitive store for SW swag.
Now I did get some 1:18 military figures there cheap this year. Overstock of the line I collect got dumped there 3 for $9.98, which was a steal. The stock is picked over now, but really if any of it went on more sale I'd gobble it all up I think, even if it's stuff I don't want.
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I remember picking up atari 2600 games there on the cheap in the 80's. That's about all I ever really bought there. That was back when Children's Palace was still around. In recent years I've picked up the odd Disney Car, Marvel Legend, Star Wars or just odd line no one else is carrying toy but I rarely shopped there. I'm not going to be missing them.
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Was just in the local KB and prices were only a dollar cheaper than Target with the liquidation sale. When I factor in my discount, Target is still cheaper. Not to mention the fact that they had nothing worth buying.
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I actually made some pretty good finds at KayBee over the years. Scored my Collector's Fleet Executor there which turned out to be a HUGE find. Also got quite a bit of my Action Fleet collection there and at decent prices, too.
It's definitely unfortunate to see this happen, but not totally unexpected. The retail landscape has gotten a lot more competitive. And the rising price in our collecting bread and butter - basic figures - has no doubt hit KayBee harder. Their slightly higher prices were a lot more easy to stomach when TRU or Target was charging $5.99 a figure and KayBee was at $6.99 a figure. Now that those chains are up to $6.99 or $7.99 a figure, KayBee's $9.99 price just isn't acceptable.
The negative for us as collectors is that we have fewer places to shop. And that in turn means less competition for our retail dollars. That could certainly have a negative affect on the hobby. But the flipside of that is how much of an impact was there when Suncoast went out? For Hasbro or any toy manufacturer to lose a retail outlet in malls is serious. But in the grand scheme of things it's only 250+ outlets when there are probably over 2,000 outlets between Target and WalMart alone.
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Not surprised, considering the last time I bought anything from KB was a VOTC Luke in 2004. Our local store shut down shortly after that and I'm pretty surprised this hasn't happened sooner.
KB's glory days were definitely in the 1990's. I used to be able to go in there and find HTF figures easily. Yeah it cost a few dollars more but it beats overpaying for stuff online in the modern era. Like Nicklab said, when KB was about a dollar more expensive (competing with TRU) it was fine but the **** pretty much hit the fan maybe around 2000/2001 when the economy turned to crap and prices started rising.
I think the thing I'll miss most about KB is DoctorPadawan making fun of them and their overstock of 1990's Robocop toys in his Hasbro rants. :)
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I won't miss KB Toys given that they've been extinct in Minnesota for years now. What I do miss in general though is a toy shop somewhere at the mall. I don't get how stores that sell just magnets or ties or socks seem to be able to make it, but a toy store can't? I think they should have just relaunched the stores instead of closing the doors, but oh well.
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They're gone as of yesterday. Hard to believe.
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The web site is still up. and with great KB toys going out of business sales like $40.00 for a PS 2 The force unleashed game. can you believe they are in stock. aren't they $40.00 everywhere ??? ??? ???
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That's a sale price for them.
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Their regular price for Star Wars figures this year was $9.99
So, justice served.
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I have to admit I have used the one in VA all of once this year and thats because I was in the Mall at the time, mind you I did get the Legacy Comic Packs there - so it was cool, as to wether I am sad or not, well nope aint sad they did it to themselves.
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I popped into KB yesterday here, and it's a wasteland. Not one SW figure left on the pegs, nor any of the 3 for $10 military figures, though they had about a dozen IJ figures that I passed on.
Guess I got to the sale late. No matter, it's money saved I guess, but I would've liked to have taken advantage of something there I guess. Still, I was shocked how cleared out they were. I didn't think the % off was that high yet, especially at the inflated prices.
DR, I generally agree with you... KB did this to themselves by not making an effort to be competitive. Prices went up anywhere else and KB followed suit, sometimes even going more than $1... They earned this with a badge of honor I'm afraid. I won't miss them since I think the last time I bought SW stuff there was maybe a VOTC Stormtrooper or something, and that was on a BOGO sale or something. I know I bought a couple things there during the great clearance glut of 1998, but that stuff was super cheap...
Hell, their exclusives were even lame to an incredible extreme... :-\
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I didn't know quite where to post this, so I dug up this golden oldie of a thread!
Check out THIS ARTICLE POSTED ON LINKEDIN (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kb-toys-coming-back-wow-what-response-from-toy-industry-ellia-kassoff//):
Ellia Kassoff, founder of Strategic Marks, LLC posted on LinkedIn they are planning to bring back KB Toys retail stores.
Here is what he had to say:
“As some of you know, our company Strategic Marks, LLC has acquired KB-Toys about a year ago. During that period, we had been working on several models to resurrect the “Great American Toy Store” and to make sure the stores can compete with Toys R Us, other brick and mortar stores as well as on-line retail. Well, with the demise of Toys R Us, this week, we have now accelerated our business plan and hope to have our stores up and running before Christmas. We’re in discussions with many of the toy manufactures, as we try to find out the best way to support them and the 20% loss of the US toy market due to the Toys R Us liquidation. We believe we will have the infrastructure in-place and [hopefully] save the toy industry. If you are a toy manufacturer or distributor, or ex KB Toys associate, please feel free to call us at: 949-424-1664 or email us at: info@kbtoysstore.com. We hope to help the industry and at the same time resurrect the amazing KB Toys name!”
Clearly, the situation with Toys R Us's bankruptcy and liquidation has presented a vacuum in the toy retail sector, and the owners of the KB Toys brand see this as an opportunity to resurrect that chain.
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KB Toys mostly sucked. High prices and weak selection was double threat to their revenue.
The brand name might be worth a little, so if they aimed for strip malls and slightly larger stores it might be worth the trouble, but if nobody is going to buy TRU out of bankruptcy that probably means there isn't much opportunity for KB to succeed.
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If the new KB Toys sticks to the same location model, they're going to have to lease store space rather than buying a lot for a large TRU style location. That overhead will always be present. But they have one advantage that makes them a better option than TRU: they don't have billions in debt to deal with. And they're going to be able to negotiate with toy companies that just lost an account that may have represented 20% of their revenue.
If TRU does truly go out? That vacuum for retail toys will absolutely present an opportunity for KB!
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Hopefully KB wouldn't put stores in malls. Malls are dying pretty fast. I can't remember the last time I went to an actual mall.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/12/news/companies/mall-closing/index.html (http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/12/news/companies/mall-closing/index.html)
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Check out more on the return of KB Toys in THIS CNN MONEY ARTICLE (http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/20/news/companies/kb-toys-toys-r-us/index.html):
KB Toys aims to fill the void of Toys 'R' Us
by Aaron Smith @AaronSmithCNN
March 20, 2018: 3:09 PM ET
Toys "R" Us is on its way out, but KB Toys is set to pop back up.
Strategic Marks, a company that buys and revitalizes defunct brands, owns the KB name and plans to open 1,000 pop-up KB Toys stores for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.
"My assumption is that there's about half a billion dollars worth of toys that have been produced for Toys "R" Us with no place to go," said Strategic Marks president Ellia Kassoff, in a phone interview with CNNMoney. "That's a big, big void that we're hoping to fill up."
Toys "R" Us, which filed for bankruptcy last year, announced last week that it expects to close all of its 735 stores in the US. Those closures will put 31,000 people out of work and hurt toy manufacturers that depended on the national retailer for distribution.
Kassoff said he's been in contact with Hasbro Inc. (HAS) and Mattel, Inc. (MAT) and up to 200 smaller toy suppliers who are looking for new brick and mortar retailers. He said he plans to take advantage of a glut of toy manufacturers that have inventory but no place to sell it.
To get a quick retail footprint, Kassoff said he's working with companies that specialize in holiday and pop-up retail, like Spencer Spirit Holdings Inc., Go! Retail Group, and Party City Holdco Inc. (PRTY)
"We're talking to companies that know how to do it, they have a methodology, they're used to rolling out stuff real quickly," he said.
After the holiday shopping season ends, Kassoff will decide which of the pop-up stores will become permanent, based on their performance and whether he can negotiate a lease.
Strategic Marks bought the KB Toys brand from Bain Capital in 2016. Bain is the same company that bought Toys "R" Us and took it private in 2006, a process that left the toy company saddled with $5.3 billion in debt, from which it never recovered.
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So Bain Capital is run by evil Sith Lord corporate pirates.
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Bain and Lee break even on investment in iHeart radio.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-15/bain-lee-said-to-break-even-on-investment-in-bankrupt-iheart
IHeartMedia Inc. has gone bust, but that doesn’t mean the two private equity firms that bought the broadcaster during the past decade’s mega-buyout spree got wiped out.
They’ll almost break even, because of iHeart debt they bought at deep discounts and millions of dollars in management fees, according to people familiar with the matter. And the two firms, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, might gain even more from parts of the company that they’ll get to keep after it filed for Chapter 11 protection on Wednesday.
Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners teamed up in 2008 to buy Clear Channel Communications, as iHeart was then known, for about $24 billion. They invested about $2 billion of equity for a combined 72 percent stake.
The firms scored much of the return on cash interest they garnered on about $2.5 billion face-value of iHeart loans and notes that they bought as the broadcaster’s income tanked, the people said. They have since unloaded much of that debt, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the details aren’t public.
All told, Bain and Lee wagered as much as an additional $900 million on the debt, one of the people said. They financed their debt stakes with borrowings, pocketing the difference between their financing cost and the high effective interest rate on their debt. Until Feb. 1, iHeart hadn’t missed an interest payment.
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Check out this toy industry presentation (http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/05/09/kb-toys-ceo-ellia-kassoff-playcon-presentation-363532?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter) with the CEO of Strategic Marks, who is reviving KB Toys. He discussed their strategy about reviving the brand and plans for KB Toys store locations that may be opening later this year. The projection for this holiday season is for there to be 300 - 400 pop-up stores. KB will re-evaluate following the holiday season, and work on establishing more permanent locations for the chain.