
The Toys”R”Us story enters into a new chapter that many of us were not expecting. After closing all their 800 US stores, we were surprised to inform that Toys R Us may be attempting a comeback. Now we can share the news that Geoffrey’s Toy Box Is The New Toys “R” Us.
The information comes via friend site The Toyark, revealing Toys”R”Us’ move to come back one more time into the market. Geoffrey’s Toy Box will be the new brand and name, working with locations that will be a store-within-a-store concept. We should spot these pop-up stores inside big retail outlets. The plan is to open the first locations in November of this year at regional Midwestern retailer.
Surprised? Happy? Curious? Which do you think this regional Midwestern retailer could be? Let us know your impressions on the 2005 Boards!
BenjaminXavier
Yes, Kroger brand stores had them over the holidays. Locally to me, they were in Fred Meyer stores
Maximus Danz
Has there been a Geoffrey's toy box in the US yet?
AzT
Are former Toys R Us execs reviving the bankrupt retailer? | Toy World Magazine
https://nypost.com/2019/01/24/former-toys-r-us-execs-planning-potential-comeback/
Prime135
Got around $200
Vector Oracle
Well,it turns out that the investment banker I'd been talking to was actually eight stories tall and a creature from the Paleolithic era. I said "Dammit,Loch Ness Monster! Banking is already stressful enough,we don't need you doing it for us!"
Lody666
I got about tree fiddy
WishfulThinking
Looks like the Hardship Fund is happening.
Report: Former Toys ‘R Us employees get checks from hardship fund
Anyone former employees here get a check? If so, how much was it if you don't mind me asking?
WishfulThinking
For those still stinging from being laid-off, the new IP owners are actually doing something nice for you.
Definitely a good PR move if they plan to make a full fledged comeback.
WishfulThinking
That's not a GTB pallet drop. That's a Hasbro shipper.
A pallet drop literally comes on a slab called a pallet and is dropped on the floor over night with a pallet loader.
A shipper is just a small temporary cardboard display filled with smaller goods.
Kroger stores have also been getting BB movie shippers, as seen above.
Feralstorm
No wonder I haven't seen the "Toy Box" branding at my Kroger stores. I should've been looking next to the WINE!!
Infosaur
(I really don't think I have much to contribute here, but I feel I have one more point about what's being said here.)
1.) the general ignorance of the public or casual toy shopper
2.) Wall Street's penchant for investing in vaporware.
We all know that TRU is deader than Elvis. (And I guess by we, I only mean the fans who have been following this closely, the lawyers, and the people directly connected. Employees, vendors and stakeholders and the like.)
But the general public, and our barely competent news industry have a very casual relationship with the facts. When someone says "Geffory's Toy Box" and shows an old stock photo of Geffory Giraffe, people say, "oh Toys R Us is back!"
It's not.
Now, here's where it gets interesting, Wall Street style. Somebody, somewhere in this mess has walked away with the licensing for the name. That's all he/she has, the rights to name a business Toys R Us. Through the bankruptcy process it has been divested of debt, overhead, payroll, real estate, inventory or legal obligations. All it is is a sheet of paper.
But this name, this brand, still has tons of value, as demonstrated by saying the words "Toys R Us" to the average consumer, they know immediately what your selling. THAT is what is of value to Wall Street.
If you were to start a brand new brick & mortar toy store tomorrow, (call it "Woody & Buzz's Toy Store E", lol) well not only would you get a call from Disney's lawyers, you probably wouldn't get much funding. But if you had the rights to the name "Toys R Us"? You'd be up by millions of dollars in advertising, probably lots of free news coverage. It's not perfect, but it gives you a massive head start, and investors would probably be more ready to forward you a line of credit on that basis alone.
So yeah, somebody's got the rights. And maybe, sometime soon, they might do something with it.
But mostly, I'm curious how this holiday season is going to go, because now that TRU is out of the game, there's a big hole in the market for the "casual toy shopper."
And nature abhors a vacuum.
Gangu Stars
So far 1 out of 3 nearby Krogers have the GTB pallet setup. Being the largest of the stores around, it will likely be the only one to feature it. They also had this endcap in the same general area. A much more impressive offering than what the Geoffrey's Toy Box has.
MrSoundmeister
Oh baby, Now that's a BIG comeback, a TITANIC return! Toys R' Us is…
… At your local supermarket.
G1 Cassette Hunter
If this is what people think Toys'R'Us is..IS..than they have no actual concept of a toy store. It's a very sad, sick joke to even attempt to copy what every supermarket & drug store has been doing for decades, try to upsell DEAD merchandise for a 2nd or 3rd time on a marketplace that refused it already. Guess anything for a dollar still applies. Break those dreams now – Geoffrey is cheaper than the KO Factories in China….
Metalwario64
Wow! Toys R Us is back baby!!
RandomDude1337
I found one today. All they had were one step changers.
Nemisispath
Kroger to revive Toys R Us for the holidays
Geoffrey's Toy Box will show up in 600 Kroger-owned stores across the US, featuring 35 toys ranging in price from $19.99 to $49.99.
GizmoTron
Yes, and sadly I imagine that in a few years or so no one will have to distinguish that they're referring to the US version of TRU when making that statement anymore.
WishfulThinking
Exactly this. TRU making money off it's own IP is fine within bankruptcy laws. If a person declares bankruptcy, there's nothing stopping them from making crafts and selling them at a fair. And they can keep all their profits as long as the courts declare their filing as satisfied to all parties, of which, AFAIK, they have.
TRU is essentially no longer a retailer – they are now just a generic toy brand IP holder.
Now, they say they want to expand back into retail at some point. I'll believe it when I see it.
Sportimus
TOYS "R" US is DEAD in the US. Period. This new name is also essentially an all-new company based on the ashes of TRU. It can and never will be the same as TRU in terms of all the great virtues TRU once had. It won't be the same experience (of the good times that is).