Here is the second installment of the Ollie's inside of a former Toys R Us. To see what this store looked like prior to the conversion to Ollie's click here. Besides the entryway and exterior shapes, this location has been renovated to remove most of the Toys R Us elements of the past.
This was the Kids R Us side of the store near the entrance.
The light fixtures are mostly the same with some minor changes throughout the store.
More views of the store, looking at the checkout area.
As you can see, the signage above the checkouts were removed. The checkout counters don't appear to be the ones used in the former Toys R Us but I could be wrong.
The office area looks like it was the video game pickup counter. The office walls have been extended to the ceiling.
More views of the store.
This sanitizer was probably easily mistaken for alcohol. I remember this stuff was one of the first brands to show up after the initial Covid-19 run on hand sanitizer. This stuff was very tough on hands and was basically pure liquid alcohol.
Could you tell the difference if this was placed in your liquor cabinet?
More views of the store, here is the entrance.
Another view of the front area near the checkouts.
The most recognizable part of the store from the Toys R Us days, the entry and exit hallway.
All in all, this was a disappointing redevelopment. While I am glad that Ollie's is keeping the site active, so many vintage Toys R Us fixtures were removed that could have been used. This was one of the few locations Toys R Us did not remodel in the 90's or 2000's so it is a shame to see it like this now.
More to come on the blog, stay tuned.
Sad to say it, but the TRU fixtures are probably in another state being used by another retailer. Whenever fixtures are put up for auction, they may be purchased in an entirely different region from where they originated.
ReplyDeleteThat would be cool if they did. It is weird that Ollie's scrapped the fixtures at one store and kept them in another nearby store. One of the Toys R Us stores I visited in McAllen had many fixtures and shopping carts outside in the elements so they were mostly destroyed. One of the antique stores nearby had the Toys R Us store letters in their front window so at least that was saved.
DeleteIt was really neat seeing your photos of this store when it was Toys R Us some years ago and now it's neat to see it as Ollie's. Outside of the outside architecture and that great entrance sign where Geoffrey's head was more or less replaced with Ollie's head (I know it's a different sign, but it's styled similarly), there isn't much TRU left at this location. Like I said in the College Station Ollie's post, while the CS Ollie's has more TRU to it than this one, I prefer the look of this Ollie's on the interior. It's got a brighter look to it since it has floor tiles even if those floor tiles are a bit worn looking and mismatched in some areas. Oh well, I guess that's a perfect look for Ollie's, lol.
ReplyDeleteThis Ollie's has the opposite configuration to the Houston Ollie's in the sense that the Houston Ollie's in the old Jones Rd. & FM 1960 Target has a concrete floor and a drop ceiling. This store has an open ceiling and a vinyl tile floor. I think I prefer the look of the Waco store, but the Houston store isn't too bad either. I prefer both to the College Station store.
I did have a chance to visit the Houston Ollie's after it opened. In some ways, the store was bigger than I was expecting it to be and they had more name brand stuff than what I was expecting. I don't know if they went heavy on name-brand stuff at the new store to impress first-time shoppers, but hopefully Ollie's can keep the name-brand stuff in the stores going forward. As I guess Big Lots has learned, people prefer those name brands over odd brands. That said, Ollie's did have some no-name stuff as well.
One major brand that Ollie's sells is Magnavox. They had a lot of Magnavox electronics, appliances, and accessories. I was surprised at how much Magnavox stuff they had and figured something must be going on. I did some research and found that all the Magnavox stuff they have is probably made specifically for Ollie's since the distributor name on the boxes seems to be the initials for Ollie's Bargain Outlet (O.B.O.).
It seems that the local retailers are overstocked with 2020-vintage hand sanitizer. A month or two ago, I noticed that Randall's was selling 2020-made hand sanitizer for bargain basement prices. One of the Kroger stores in my area was giving away free bottles of sanitizers at the checkouts and they didn't even care if people took multiple bottles. Some of the free bottles were quite big too. Between the really cheap stuff that Randall's had and the free stuff Kroger was giving away, I have quite a collection of hand sanitizer now, lol. Hopefully it's not the really bad stuff. Certainly none of the stuff I have will be confused for booze like the Ollie's stuff.
Those tan carts look familiar and they are obviously recycled carts from another retailer. I wonder if those are old Safeway/Randall's/Tom Thumb carts. That's what they remind me of before Safeway started switching to the black metal carts. The Houston Ollie's has a mix of bespoke red plastic Ollie's carts and recycled Kmart metal carts where Ollie's made almost no effort to hide that they are Kmart carts. It's probably the closest to Kmart one will get in Houston!
The entrance to this store is a nice touch. It does modernize the old school look of the former Toys R Us with the Ollie's design.
DeleteFrom what I have seen at the locations I have visited, they do a good job of using up floor space. The smaller locations in Corsicana, Nacogdoches, and Marshall do a good job of managing inventory like the bigger stores.
I have noticed the same thing with name brands all across the store. Even the Champion brand can be found in some of the clothing racks. Big Lots now has a Reebok section of clothes so it makes sense for Ollie's to carry name brands. Their inventory is all over the place so you will see the lower end items as well.
I didn't know stores were giving away sanitizer. Most of those cheaper brands tear my hands up so I can't use a lot of them. Those liquid sanitizers were especially terrible.
I tried to find some labelscar or something else on these buggies. Usually you can find something, but these carts were maybe generic. I am glad the Houston location got some Kmart carts. I was surprised to see that none of the Toys R Us locations had Toys R Us carts.
Regarding the shopping carts, I believe those are former HomeGoods units. They used several models of cart before they switched to what they use now (ironically some of those current ones ended up at certain Ollie's stores). The bulk of Ollie's fixtures were acquired from large, well-known chains, so don't be surprised if they originated from a big box store.
DeleteThanks for the clarification. Those Ollie's shopping carts are just another cool thing about the chain. You just never know what they will have in any given store. I haven't been to the store in Houston yet, but our good friend anonymous let us know that they have Kmart carts. I can't think of any business in the Houston area that has had Kmart shopping carts since the chain left the area.
DeleteUnfortunately they now use carts with their own branding, which are very bland. Pretty much any 2021 or later opening has them by default.
DeleteI didn't know that. The Houston location has old Kmart carts.
DeleteWhile it's a shame this one had more work done to it than the other location you posted, I still think it's probably less work overall than any other retailer would have put in, and I always enjoy seeing what relics Ollie's leaves behind in its conversions. The rainbow stripes and original entrance/exit signs at the other location are great, but I almost think the entrance sign at this store with Ollie's face in the same vein as the classic TRU Geoffrey signs may be even better!
ReplyDeleteI had high hopes when I saw how they had changed the entrance sign to a similar style to the old Toys R Us entrance sign. I was just hoping to see more of the old Toys R Us fixtures saved. I wish I had gotten to revisit this store prior to closing for better photos.
DeleteI was driving by the Kroger on West Rd. and Beltway 8 after a rainstorm and I saw some very visible Albertsons labelscar. You could see all the former Albertsons signage very clearly under the Kroger signs.
ReplyDeleteThat is a cool find, Albertsons is kinda back in the area since acquiring Randall's, but they haven't converted any store names.
DeleteI used to frequent this TRU growing up and finally decided to pop into the new Ollie's (mostly because I heard it's very similar to Building #19; sadly defunct closeout retailer on the east coast that I visited fairly often and I'm pretty certain was the direct inspiration for Ollie's). It was pretty weird since I basically knew that TRU's like the back of my hand and I was imagining walking down familar aisles that no longer exist. Funnily enough, the store smells exactly the same as it did before, so at least there's that.
ReplyDeleteThat Toys R Us location was a throwback to the best era of the chain in my opinion. I never went to a Building #19 location, I bet they were just as cool as Ollie's. I am glad that Ollie's keeps these Toys R Us storefronts mostly intact. Unless Macy's decides to open up at Richland Mall, Toys R Us may not return to Waco. Macy's has been opening up the new Toys R Us locations and now has several open in Texas.
DeleteDon't know if you figured it out already, but the Burlington in that shopping center was originally Mervyn's
ReplyDeleteI could tell, it looks like a few others around Texas.
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