Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Toys R Us Willowbrook Mall Houston Texas

Here we are at one of the newest TRU locations in the Houston area. This store was built in 2008 as a replacement of another store on the other side of Willowbrook Mall. I visited this store in the week prior to the official liquidation announcement. As you will see, shelves were already beginning to empty out but the store was very neat and clean. At this point rumors of the chain liquidating were already beginning to circulate so the trip to the store had a feeling of sadness.
A view of the huge baby and toddler side of the store.


Some of the board games available.
A price scanner.

The toy trains.

Board games with a touch screen interactive video display.

Legos




A look at some of the toys featured in the aisles.

TRU exclusive toys all over the store.

Superhero aisles.

Lego aisles.

TRU exclusive Minion toys.

The end cap of each aisle had a large display sign, some were advertisements for products on the end caps.

Mini skateboards and a TRU exclusive BMX set.

Lego displays with detailed lighting.

Huge Nerf section.


Seriously how cool are these next 2 TRU exclusive toys!


Drone zone.

And now for my favorite section of the store video games.



This shot shows just how large this store was from front to back.

Lots of small electronics for the kids.

A look inside of the video game cases which were already looking barren.



Right across from the video games, the toddler aisles began. 

Another TRU exclusive toy.

Lots of action figures from popular movies and TV shows.


Nintendo is back!


More electronic toys and robots.

A closer look at the drones.

Discounted video games and movies.

More of the popular movie and TV show aisles.


More exclusives.


Clearance aisle


Musical instruments.

The Toddler and Baby sections of the store.

This aisle in the baby section was already wiped out.


Ads for the many services TRU offered.


The newer toy display at the front of the store.

Baby and Kids R Us clothing.

A part of the board game section of the store featured large displays.

Checkouts

The store 2 days after closing.



Lots more coming soon, Toys R Us, Sears, Kmart, and more malls!


6 comments:

  1. I'm pretty sure all the Toys R Us that opened 2006 and aftermath were either Toys R Us express, Toys R Us Outlet's or relocating from other Toys R Us stores. I only know of two of them in my area, Algonquin and Rockford and they are both very big stores. However they don't have that classic look or feel like some of those old ones do.

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    1. The 2 that I can think of quickly down here at Willowbrook and Memorial City were both relocations. Several malls and outlet malls had TRU Express stores down here as well. Sorry for the late response, I was out of town for a while.

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  2. I am glad to see what my local Toys R Us looked like on the inside since I never stopped by it while it was around, thanks for the photos. I'm quite sure that this store is newer than 2008 though. I'm thinking it was built around 2010 or 2011. The property the store is on used to be part of the shopping center that's next to it, but part of the shopping center was torn down to make room for TRU. There used to be a Just For Feet store in the parking lot, but I think that's gone now so that must have been torn down. Maybe it's still there, I don't know. Just For Feet is long gone though and I can't remember who used that building afterwards. I think it was a furniture store.

    It's good to see what this TRU looked like before the liquidation sale really made a mess of the place. That said, as you point out, it looks like TRU was having inventory/supplier problems even before the liquidation due to the pending bankruptcy. Anyway, the store does look clean and well-organized. It's not tremendously different from the older TRU stores though aside from not having a vintage looking front of the store.

    It's great seeing that Lawrence Taylor toy, but I must admit to being a bit surprised to see that. Kids these days probably have no idea who Lawrence Taylor is and he's hardly considered a role model given the problems he had during his career and after it as well. Perhaps that was marketed towards adults? I'm not sure if a toy store is the best place for adult collectibles, but who knows. Well, anyway, it's great seeing the old-school Giants helmet as well. It certainly reminds me of the glory days when the Giants won Super Bowls XXI and XXV with those helmets.

    I'm looking forward to seeing the new posts. It's great that the blog is still going strong. It is unfortunate that the recent Kmart and Sears store closures are providing so many things to cover. Hopefully you'll make it to the Memorial City Mall Sears before that historic store goes away.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the trip. I unfortunately never made it back before they closed like I intended to since they closed a few days earlier than other locations.

      TRU actually had a strong following in the adult collectibles especially those POP figures. I saw many adults picking through those figures in my visits looking for good ones. I read that the last Geoffrey POP is worth about $100 now.

      As you may have heard, TRU may be getting a second life as Geoffreys Toy Box. They cancelled the remaining asset sales and plan on working out leases to reopen some of the stores. I wonder if Humble will be one of those, they covered up the exposed wall with concrete this past week. It would be cool if they actually finished the remodel of that store and reopened it. Sorry for the late response, I was out of town for a while.

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  3. It's fascinating to get a glimpse into the store's history, built in 2008 as a replacement for another location. The fact that you noticed shelves beginning to empty out, even though the store remained neat and clean, adds a poignant touch to the narrative. End cap display

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