Toys R Us physical store reboot 2019-2021
After the bankruptcy and liquidation sales, Toys R Us stores in the United States came back for about 13 months. The Houston Galleria store #2 and featured in this article opened on Saturday December 7, 2019 and closed on January 15, 2021.
The New Jersey store #1 at Westfield Garden State Plaza opened on Wednesday November 27, 2019 and closed on January 26, 2021.
We visited the new Toys R Us a total of around 5 times during the operation of this store.
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November 20, 2019, two weeks before the grand opening.
Our first visit to the new store on December 11th a few days after the grand opening.
There was a lot of activity in the store, but I was able to get a handful of photos on my visit.
Many sections of the store had themes such as this one. Most of the shelving units were appropriately sized for kids to reach and see the products off of the shelves.
The treehouse in the middle of the store. The stairs were open for kids to climb up and look around the store.
The Lego section not only had this huge display, there was also a table to build your own mini-creation.
The store had a lot of smaller displays as well.
The Nintendo department was especially cool. Lots of demo models to try out games and a decent selection of the most popular games Nintendo had to offer at the time.
The Nerf section had an area to test out the toys. You will see that later on in the article.
This is looking from one side of the store to the other. The store was much smaller than the old TRU stores of the past. The store was about the size of the average Toys R Us Express stores.
A much smaller display area towards the back of the store with a product testing table.
In the back of the store was the activity room.
The magical mirror was an interactive booth where Geoffrey mimicked your movements.
Here is what the screen looked like.
A look from the back of the store to the front mall entrance.
Lining the ring around the treehouse were books for the kids. There were seating areas near the treehouse where kids could read.
The Lego building stations.
The checkout area.
Here is the activity room. The old Toys R Us jingle was spelled out across the walls.
The huge Geoffrey was a nice touch to welcome visitors to the store.
An up-close look at the Nintendo game selection.
The Nerf testing area had several products to try out.
The events schedule in the theater/activity area.
February 2020
November 2020 post Covid lockdown visit. About 7 weeks before the store closed. The interactive displays were gone or covered up and the large treehouse was blocked off.
The Nintendo display had been reduced to this small kiosk and was replaced by a different product line (not pictured). As you can see, the display models had been covered up as well. They did have the still hard to find full sized Nintendo Switch units in stock, most retailers had been struggling to get those in stock since February.
The Nerf area also no longer had the testing area, reduced Nintendo selection pictured as well.
The new stores couldn't have opened at a worse time. Just a few months after opening, malls across the US had to shut down due to Covid restrictions. When the stores finally reopened, the interactive displays had to be closed off or removed to keep people from spreading germs. These stores were built on interactions between the consumers and products. Kids were invited to interact with each other and have fun while trying out the products. These stores were also built with some nostalgia in mind, a lot of people were taking photos early on in the store, but not a lot of people were buying things. The Toys R Us model worked when the stores were huge and there were tons of toys for each and every age, even adults. This store concept had an uphill battle even if the Covid lockdowns had not happened. It was a neat concept while it lasted and we did make some purchases here while they were around.
Toys R Us is still alive online at toysrus.com, but you will be redirected to Amazon.com to make purchases. When the website initially relaunched, you would be forwarded to the Target website to complete your purchase. Plans for the future of Toys R Us are a work in progress. We can hope that larger physical stores return in some form in the future.
At least they tried is about all I can say about these Toys R Us stores. When they opened, I remembered feeling not too optimistic about these stores surviving very long. I remembered the high profile failure that the FAO Schwarz store was that was across from The Galleria in the former CompUSA/Barnes & Noble shopping center many years ago. I figured the Toys R Us would have a similar fate.
ReplyDeleteWell, the situation was even worse than I expected. These stores didn't have a chance once the pandemic restrictions started. The whole interaction aspect of this store was basically rendered useless. It's a shame these stores weren't given a real chance, but it would have been a challenge for them given that a lot of these products could have been purchased for less (presumably) online or at Walmart.
Still, these stores looked neat. They put a lot of thought into things and they have a bit of a retro feel without feeling overly retro. I like that picture with the display of Hasbro board games. I remember almost all of those games being sold decades ago at places like Best Products and Service Merchandise with almost the same box designs and store displays. For the most part, those stores sold toys without having to go through the conveyor belt process. I wonder if today's kids play board games like that or if adults buy those for nostalgia purposes.
Anyway, it's neat that Houston got one of these Toys R Us stores and it's great that you were able to capture it. I'm sure most people won't even know that these stores even existed so it's neat that there is a record of them. They are almost as strange as that new hhgregg store in New Jersey!
I did not expect this concept to last very long either. The fact that no stores opened after January despite a goal of over a dozen stores was suspicious. I guess they had taken a wait and see approach once Covid started really spreading across the globe in early 2020.
DeleteIt is cool that this concept, hhgregg, and the Comp USA reboot came to life. We never got to see Montgomery Wards, Service Merchandise, Foley's or Circuit City stores come back even though it was part of the plans at one point.
I wonder if any of the Fry's locations will have any takers if they are indeed closed. It would be awesome if a flea market opened in those buildings and kept the fixtures intact. That is about the only way I can see these store interiors surviving into a new use.
Such an innovative concept that, even if it did have an uphill battle, was very promising. Like you said though, it just couldn't have come at a worse time. Such a shame. I'm glad you got to visit and get some documentation of the place for everybody, though.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate the comment. I also appreciate you letting me know about these stores closing in January. I wonder how much these stores lost in the short time they were open.
DeleteMy pleasure. And that's a very good question. I'd like to know the answer to that too!
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