OK, so two stores is a pretty small chain, but Tru Kids Brands, the owners of the Toys 'R' Us brand, closed the two stores it had been operating in Houston, Texas and Paramas, New Jersey in January, according to CNBC, ending the latest experiment in brick-and-mortar retailing for the company. The company attributed the closings to the Covid pandemic, according to the report, and plans to open new stores where there is better shopper traffic. The stores that were closed were both in malls.
Toys 'R' Us closed all of its brick and mortar stores in the U.S. in 2018 (see "Toys ‘R’ Us Closing All US and UK Stores"). Tru Kids, the new company that ended up owning the trademarks coming out of bankruptcy, opened the two new stores in 2019 for the holidays (see "Toys ‘R’ Us Plans New U.S. Stores for Holidays") and ran into the pandemic shortly thereafter.
Tru Kids does operate the Toys 'R' Us website, but it has no inventory or logistics capabilities; orders are sent to Amazon to complete.
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Posted by Milton Griepp on February 2, 2021 @ 4:03 am CT