Here is a brief article about one of the Houston area Toys R Us locations. More surprising new posts are coming soon, research always takes too much time! Stay tuned.
Toys R Us Westheimer Rd is a regular Toys R Us/Babies R Us combo store. These images were taken the weekend prior to the announcement of the liquidation of the chain.
Views of the front of the store in the final days of normal business.
A large electronics section with a large selection of video games.
As seen on TV
I am guessing this was an area to test out drones.
TRU exclusive board games.
Lots of TRU in the center of this photo.
The entrance to Babies R Us
Gotta love the Nintendo Switch advertisements.
Video game cases
This image shows how massive of a game selection this particular Toys R Us had.
Remote controlled cars and video games. As a kid this would have been an awesome part of the store to see.
Action figures
Fast Lane is a generic looking brand that had a lot of TRU exclusive merchandise.
Sportscards
A troubled retailer inside of a troubled retailer.
A handy measuring card to see what size bike you would need.
Getting to pick out one of these cards would have been a dream come true as a kid. I remember the feeling of picking out a video game like this.
Babies R Us, this is a part of the store that I did not spend much time in over the years. The prices here were almost always higher than at other stores.
Back to the Toys R Us side.
The end cap displays are cool especially the Lego one.
Another look at the Babies R Us entrance.
Now for the outside of the store.
It is strange how lights always seem to burn out when a company goes into bankruptcy.
Thanks for the photos of this Toys R Us. I am glad you were able to get some photos before the liquidation sales started so that people can relive the store when it was open during normal operations. Although I don’t know how old the store is, it does have a retro look to it. I’m guessing it must be from the 1980s at least, but the Babies R Us must be much newer unless it used to be a Kids R Us.
ReplyDeleteNow that I think of it, Toys R Us must have been an early adopter of the open ceiling style. Of course, one of their biggest competitors in town back in the day, Children’s Palace, had open ceilings and concrete floors before either became normal if I remember correctly. Children’s Palace (which I think was known as Children’s World in some other places) has become quite forgotten as far as I can tell, but I assume the legacy of Toys R Us will live on for quite a bit longer.
It’s interesting that they still had sports trading cards. I wonder if kids these days still buy those. I know Walmart/Target still sell them up front by the registers, but I never see people browsing them. I know it was a thing in the 1990s for adults to buy sports cards, but I don’t know if that’s still in fashion or not.
Having a Power Wheels was something I could only dream about way back when. It certainly seems like today’s lucky kids have a lot more options when it comes to Power Wheels than the kids back in the day had.
I also have photos from Willowbrook and The Woodlands TRU stores prior to the sales.
DeleteChildren's Palace was a nice store but they expanded too quickly. Toys R Us had the better locations and Geoffrey was more recognizable than the Panda Children's Palace had.
People still buy sports cards, but the retail packs at a big box store usually do not have as many good cards as the hobby packs.
Yeah there were no battery powered vehicles that I remember being available in my younger years.
I will reply to the remaining comments later. I have more very sad Sears news from earlier today. Sears announced that they are closing the last 3 North Louisiana stores. Shreveport, Bossier City, and Monroe all got the axe today. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/transportation/2018/06/01/288149/work-starts-on-billion-dollar-project-to-replace-houston-ship-channel-toll-bridge/amp/ Rolling Oaks in San Antonio may be another store that is on the chopping block since it was mentioned in the news today as well. https://m.mysanantonio.com/business/local/article/Sears-gives-update-on-Rolling-Oaks-Mall-store-12972435.php
Louisiana will only have 3 Sears stores and 2 Kmart stores all located in the Southeast portion of the state.
Oops wrong link for the Louisiana Sears stores. Here is the correct one.
Deletehttps://www.ktbs.com/news/sears-closing-shreveport-bossier-stores/article_c386eb5c-69c9-11e8-a43b-6f797cced9e2.html
Thanks for the link, I didn't realize that Sears was closing even more stores than what was on that list. I'm not surprised to hear that Rolling Oaks might be on the chopping block, but it's sad to hear about all the stores in Louisiana that are closing. As you say, there will be very few Kmarts and Sears left in the whole state and they will be concentrated in one area. We probably at a point now with all the Kmart/Sears closings that there are significant parts of the country without any of those stores within reasonable driving distance. That makes it even harder for the rest of the chain to continue to exist.
DeleteI am looking forward to seeing the Willowbrook Mall area Toys R Us. That was the local store to me, but I never did go to the new store after they moved down the road. It'll be interesting to see how a modern Toys R Us compares to one that was in an older building.
I expected the St Vincent Sears to go but I'm surprised about the other stores. With the Tyler store planning to be split up that would leave Longview with the only remaining full sized store in the area.
DeleteLongview may not last either, I read a while ago that the building was sold and is being leased by Sears. I believe these agreements give the owner the right to terminate the leases at any time.
DeleteLouisiana had over 50 % cut of the remaining stores with these recent closings. 5 stores still open and 6 stores closing. I really hate to see this and wish they would at least reconsider the Lake Charles Kmart. I think the Beaumont Sears is not going to last much longer either.
DeleteThe Willowbrook and Pasadena Toys R Us stores had a newer look than your average 1980's store conversion. Those stores appeared to have higher ceilings and wider aisles than the older stores.
Longview was sold to Washington Prime, the mall's owner. I suspect it isn't long for the world, especially with both Shreveport AND Bossier City closing (didn't expect both to go at the same time). They are also closing Monroe and Alexandria, plus both Lake Charles stores (Kmart and Sears) were already closing. That leaves only Baton Rouge (Mall of Louisiana), Hammond and Metairie for Sears, and the two Metairie stores for Kmart. Kind of makes me sad and angry at the same time.
DeleteI hate to see all of those stores go, especially Kmart. Both of the Shreveport area Malls are going to hurt unless the vacant Sears stores are replaced quickly.
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