Goodbye KB Toys

[Dressel Rebel]

Their regular price for Star Wars figures this year was $9.99

So, justice served.

[CookieeMonster]

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.

[Jesse James]

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... 

[Nicklab]

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:

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.

[Dave]

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.

[Nicklab]

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!

[Phrubruh]

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

[Nicklab]

Check out more on the return of KB Toys in THIS CNN MONEY ARTICLE:

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.

[Phrubruh]

So Bain Capital is run by evil Sith Lord corporate pirates.

[Phrubruh]

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.

[Nicklab]

Check out this toy industry presentation 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.