Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada

Friday, March 16th, 2018 4:34AM CDT

Category: Company News
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Bringing us up to speed on the latest of the Toys'R'Us troubles, we now have both an official press release from the company, and an email sent to Canadian users of the country's chain of stores, both commenting on two sides of the issue that has been developing rapidly this past couple of weeks.

The press release, in fact, confirms with further detail what we reported in a previous article, about the international repercussions of the closure of all US stores, while also adding that a transition period of 60 days has been set up to develop a strategy that would allow to minimise that impact.

This also seems to be proven by the email shared by Canadian Seibertronian Kanrabat, in which the company confirms plans to maintain all stores open for as long as possible in the future. There are also some additional comments at this time about an alternative solution circulating, with regards to toy company MGA Entertainment directly acquiring the Canadian branches:

A California-based toy company says it is bidding for the Canadian operations of Toys “R” Us Inc., the U.S. industry giant that entered court protection from creditors last September. MGA Entertainment Inc. confirmed in an email Tuesday it has submitted a bid for the Canadian stores.

“Toys “R” Us Canada is a good business,” said MGA CEO Isaac Larian in a brief emailed statement. “They run it efficiently, and have good leadership. At the right price, it makes economical sense.”

The company, which owns brands such as L.O.L. Surprise!, Little Tikes and Num Noms, refused in a followup email to give further detail about how much it is bidding or whether it wants to buy the entire chain or parts of it.

A final note about these events, as rightly raised by another Seibertronian member chuckdawg1999: the closure and liquidation means that 33000 workers are losing their job in the US alone. And while the feelings towards the childhood company and memories are at everyone's mind's forefront right now, please also consider the employees who will be working their final shifts right now.

Press release:

WAYNE, N.J., March 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Toys"R"Us, Inc. today announced that it has filed a motion seeking Bankruptcy Court approval to begin the process of conducting an orderly wind-down of its U.S. business and liquidation of inventory in all 735 of the Company's U.S. stores, including stores in Puerto Rico. Toys"R"Us will provide more details about the plans for the liquidation of its U.S. stores and going out of business sales in the near term.

Toys"R"Us also announced that it is pursuing a going concern reorganization and a sale process for its Canadian and international operations in Asia and Central Europe, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Company's international operations in Australia, France, Poland, Portugal and Spain are considering their options in light of this announcement, including potential sale processes in their respective markets. The Company's stores in all these international markets are currently open and serving customers.

In connection with the sale process, the motion the Company filed with the Bankruptcy Court included bidding procedures for the Canadian operations. The Company also disclosed that it is engaged in discussions with certain interested parties for a transaction that could combine up to 200 of the top performing U.S. stores with its Canadian operations. While discussions continue on this potential transaction, Toys"R"Us is seeking court approval to implement the liquidation of inventory in all the U.S. stores, subject to a right to recall any stores included in the proposed Canadian transaction.

The previously announced administration of the UK business continues.

Dave Brandon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am very disappointed with the result, but we no longer have the financial support to continue the Company's U.S. operations. We are therefore implementing an orderly process to shutter our U.S. operations and will pursue going concern sales or reorganizations of certain of our international businesses, while our other international businesses consider their options."

Brandon continued, "There are many people and organizations who have remained in our corner every step along the way. I want to thank our extraordinary team members who helped build Toys"R"Us into a global brand. I also want to express my appreciation for my colleagues on our board who have continued to provide support to sustain the brand and our operations throughout the restructuring process. I would also like to thank our vendors who we owe a great deal of gratitude to for their decades of support. This is a profoundly sad day for us as well as the millions of kids and families who we have served for the past 70 years."

The Company and its advisors are working to minimize the impact of the U.S. liquidation on the Canadian and other international markets. As part of these efforts, the Company is implementing a transition services arrangement for the next 60 days and is developing plans for a potential shared service function to support the international operations going forward.

Additional information regarding the Company's restructuring process can be obtained by calling the Company's Information Hotline, toll-free in the U.S. and Canada at (844) 794-3476, or sending an email to toysrusinfo@PrimeClerk.com. Court filings and other documents related to the court-supervised process in the U.S. are available on a separate website administered by the Company's claims agent, Prime Clerk, at https://cases.primeclerk.com/toysrus.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as principal legal counsel to Toys"R"Us, Alvarez & Marsal is serving as restructuring advisor and Lazard is serving as financial advisor.

TRU Canada email:

March 15, 2018

To our valued Canadian customers,

Toys “R” Us, Inc. announced the difficult decision to seek court approval in its Chapter 11 proceedings to wind-down its business operations in the United States. Our team members in Canada are very saddened to hear of this outcome and we are all keeping our U.S. colleagues in our thoughts during this very difficult time.

In Canada, all 82 stores remain open for business to serve you, our customers, honouring all our policies, warranties, Baby Registry, Gift Cards and RClub loyalty programs without change. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure the iconic Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us brands live on for many generations to come in Canada.

Our team continues to work hard at strengthening our competitive position and making the improvements necessary to ensure that we have the products when, where and how you choose to shop with us. Our Canadian operations are continuing in the normal course and we continue to partner with the trend products you want from the brands that you trust.

For the past 34 years, we have proudly served Canada as the trend authority in toy and baby and we remain the champions of play and trusted advisors helping people become parents.

Thank you for choosing to say “yes” to shop and support Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us Canada! We are proud to continue to welcome you in Canada coast to coast in store and online at http://www.toysrus.ca and http://www.babiesrus.ca for all of your toy and baby needs.

Melanie Teed-Murch, President
Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us Canada

Credit(s): Various

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Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946484)
Posted by Dr. Caelus on March 16th, 2018 @ 6:48am CDT

Toys R Us is the closest I've come to getting a job since I became unemployed 3yrs ago. I guess I should be glad I didn't get the job...

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946488)
Posted by X3ROhour on March 16th, 2018 @ 6:59am CDT

Cyber Bishop wrote:
Z3ROhour wrote:i was there when it opened
ill b there the day it goes.

You are 70??

no
i was there when my store opened
n 1984.

i met and shook hands with Optimus
&
Grimlock gave e a hug.

they had a mini parade of costumed hero toys ad dolls.

:-(

my heart hurts.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946509)
Posted by o.supreme on March 16th, 2018 @ 9:31am CDT

lakebot wrote:
william-james88 wrote:
Mindmaster wrote:Very depressing. TRU has came in clutch on more than one occasion for me (its literally the only place that’s even bothered to stock the last three Titan-class figures on the shelves where I’m at). Got quite a few memories from TRU.

I keep seeing this claim about the titans and while its true that they put them in their stores, I dont see how that helps anyone.
Would americans pay 150$ if they see it in a store right now, rather than instead purchasing it for way less at walmart.com https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers ... n/55589165?wmlspartner=FYAGeMjDX6c&=&affs=p&wid=5b6b4213e4b0bcb699adeb9f&u1=&oid=223073.10006940&sourceid=37141976172661509211&affillinktype=3&veh=aff

Or amazon https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... zon/40584/

Those are on sale now but we’re they when it was originally released? Secondly, with things like that, I’m not fond of the waiting for something to go on sale because that can burn you. As for preference regarding buying online or in store, I’d go the store route. I’m not saying that to be the bug in the soup either. I really don’t like having packages delivered. We really have people who swipe them. You are really gambling with that. And after having things arrive damaged, it just seems too much of a chance. If it’s small or inexpensive I could see me chancing it. Gonna have to for Predaking.

Same here. I jumped on Fort Max & Trypticon the first time I saw them, and paid the full $150.00 for both. Sure seeing them on sale online for as much as 50% off at times makes me wish I had waited, but hindsight...and all that. There is no guarantee items like this will go on sale, or be seen again. Heck, as it was with Trypticon, it was just a fortunate event I happened to look behind the customer service counter, I only ONCE saw a Trypticon on the shelf at any TRU in my area. There was a chance sighting at Frys about a month ago they had one for $110...but there's no way I could have predicted that. I'm determined to never again let the "Metroplex incident" (i.e. me not finding one)...ever happen again, especially now that 5 years later :TAKARATOMY:

is selling the reissue at nearly 3X original price.

Now with TRU closing in the US I wonder how the heck I'm going to get PotP Predaking, hopefully HTS will have it for more than a few hours whenever it comes out.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946512)
Posted by william-james88 on March 16th, 2018 @ 9:47am CDT

o.supreme wrote:
lakebot wrote:
william-james88 wrote:
Mindmaster wrote:Very depressing. TRU has came in clutch on more than one occasion for me (its literally the only place that’s even bothered to stock the last three Titan-class figures on the shelves where I’m at). Got quite a few memories from TRU.

I keep seeing this claim about the titans and while its true that they put them in their stores, I dont see how that helps anyone.
Would americans pay 150$ if they see it in a store right now, rather than instead purchasing it for way less at walmart.com https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers ... n/55589165?wmlspartner=FYAGeMjDX6c&=&affs=p&wid=5b6b4213e4b0bcb699adeb9f&u1=&oid=223073.10006940&sourceid=37141976172661509211&affillinktype=3&veh=aff

Or amazon https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... zon/40584/

Those are on sale now but we’re they when it was originally released? Secondly, with things like that, I’m not fond of the waiting for something to go on sale because that can burn you. As for preference regarding buying online or in store, I’d go the store route. I’m not saying that to be the bug in the soup either. I really don’t like having packages delivered. We really have people who swipe them. You are really gambling with that. And after having things arrive damaged, it just seems too much of a chance. If it’s small or inexpensive I could see me chancing it. Gonna have to for Predaking.

Same here. I jumped on Fort Max & Trypticon the first time I saw them, and paid the full $150.00 for both. Sure seeing them on sale online for as much as 50% off at times makes me wish I had waited, but hindsight...and all that. There is no guarantee items like this will go on sale, or be seen again. Heck, as it was with Trypticon, it was just a fortunate event I happened to look behind the customer service counter, I only ONCE saw a Trypticon on the shelf at any TRU in my area. There was a chance sighting at Frys about a month ago they had one for $110...but there's no way I could have predicted that. I'm determined to never again let the "Metroplex incident" (i.e. me not finding one)...ever happen again, especially now that 5 years later is selling the reissue at nearly 3X original price.

Now with TRU closing in the US I wonder how the heck I'm going to get PotP Predaking, hopefully HTS will have it for more than a few hours whenever it comes out.

We are straying very far from what the initial point was. It had nothing to do with seeing the item when it came out. It was about seeing a toy stocked on a shelf right now rather than seeing it at many other places at much better prices.

Because people who wanted trypticon when it came out bought it full price everywhere they could find it, both online and i stores. Where it was located was not relevant to the discussion, they just wanted the toy right away.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946514)
Posted by o.supreme on March 16th, 2018 @ 9:55am CDT

^If day 1 a Titan Class figure was at Walmart, at a less expensive price than TRU, that is a no brainer, of course I'd take it. But as we've discussed previously, up until now, Walmart and Target are unwilling to devote shelf spice to big ticket items such as this. Whether or not TRU closing will change that remains to be seen.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946515)
Posted by william-james88 on March 16th, 2018 @ 9:57am CDT

o.supreme wrote:^If day 1 a Titan Class figure was at Walmart, at a less expensive price than TRU, that is a no brainer, of course I'd take it. But as we've discussed previously, up until now, Walmart and Target are unwilling to devote shelf spice to big ticket items such as this. Whether or not TRU closing will change that remains to be seen.

It wont change anything. Any fan who wants their titans will get it one way or another, and it will surely be online now. Many got it from BBTS last time when it came out.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946537)
Posted by Rated X on March 16th, 2018 @ 11:56am CDT

I do remember a lavish grand opening in like 1985 when they set up shop in miami. They had the dukes of hazzard as special guests. But other than that I cant remember TRU doing anything that made me lavish the "expierence" or want to be a toys-r-us kid. As I got older I always noticed in almost every miami store they engaged in the practice of turning the entrance into a mini maze forcing you to walk through two aisles of baby crap and beach toys instead of allowing you to make a bee line for the main area to seek out what you came for. So f**king annoying. And then came the wonderful TRU rewards card that bombards your e-mail with coupons for baby crap I dont want to buy like playskool stuff. Maybe twice a year you would get a $5 or $10 off coupon that you could actually use for something you chose. Then theres "babies-r-us" which really deserves to die. Do you really need to go to a specialty store to buy diapers or a damn stroller? Cmon now, that store gotta be losing money cause of walmart too why didnt they close that s**t and consolidate it with the main store? And how the f**k they gonna set up shop in Australia and expect to make any money? Look at the crazy prices they charge out there when that island is probally the closest to the Asian mainland where the toys get made! Go figure...I admit Ive gotten some cool exclusives there. But transformers are a hot sales item currently and hasbro isnt the one going bankrupt. Reality check...I dont go there for an "expierence". I go there to buy toys. If I could get the same toy at the corner store at the same price why would I waste my time going to TRU? Obviously im a little biased because I dont have kids. But as a kid, I grew up with TRU and was perfectly content making a bee line for the transformers aisle, picking my toy, and getting the hell out of there so I could open it. I had zero intrest in exploring aisles of toy cars and super hero figures that I didnt care about. But thats was just me. TRU should have changed with the times and came up with a better strategy to stay afloat. There toys will just go somewhere else. One day youll probally be able to have a drone deliver toys to your backyard lol. So I wont be pouring out any liquor over here....it is what it is.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946539)
Posted by o.supreme on March 16th, 2018 @ 12:08pm CDT

From the time I was born there was a TRU open near me in the Bay Area. My earliest memory probably was in 1980, Chuck-E-Cheese opened in the same parking lot, and when I was in Kindergarten we took a field trip there, and my mom took me to TRU afterwards. When I moved to Sacramento as a teenager, there was already one close by. The other in Roseville opened around 1998, and a friend of mine went to work there for about a year. They had this "concept 2000" idea where toys were displayed in *clusters* (basically 6 foot sections in a cross pattern)rather than long aisles. It was a little confusing at first, but did make the store seem more open, then of course they went back to the aisles sometime around 2005, when things started to go downhill.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946552)
Posted by Megatron Wolf on March 16th, 2018 @ 1:21pm CDT

So if a US based company buys TRU canada does that mean theres a chance of them bringing it to the US and other places or would it remain canada only? Would be a good idea since theres going to be a void now for toy sales, especially big ticket items and collectibles.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946555)
Posted by ZeroWolf on March 16th, 2018 @ 1:40pm CDT

My toys r us have always been the same since I remember (my earliest memory of the place is about '89 which is about a year or two since it opened) it's range was unparalleled when I was young till I found the Internet of course. That was of course toy's r us start of decline. There wasn't much they could do to compete against the net other than price match. They could of tried to make an experience out of it but that wouldnt have made a difference in the long run, I don't think.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946578)
Posted by RK_Striker_JK_5 on March 16th, 2018 @ 4:32pm CDT

The closest TRU for me is in Newington, about a half-hour's drive. I got a lot of good memories of that place. It was the first place I had gotten a Transformer toy, and my first Beast Wars toy. this is gonna hurt.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946579)
Posted by Ultra Markus on March 16th, 2018 @ 5:16pm CDT

i remember the glory days of G1 transformers toys completely stocked shelves of the entire first season and for the next few years too and it seemed they never was an empty peg or shelf

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946590)
Posted by Emerje on March 16th, 2018 @ 6:55pm CDT

The only toy I know I got from TRU for sure as a kid was G1 Brawl (my brother got Blast Off). That's it. Outside of commercials the place just wasn't part of my childhood. My parents would rather buy toys locally at Kmart or Zayer/Ames than go 70+ miles to TRU. Even if we went to one of the two in the state that are both next to major malls, they weren't going to take me to a store they weren't interested in going to, not when there was a KB right inside the mall. As you can imagine I spent significantly more time at KB than TRU, I even had one locally for a short time, it closed not long after Machine Wars came out so those were the last figures I bought from that store in 1997.

KB closing in general was much more devastating to me, I bought a ton of stuff from them and their 3/$10 bins. Since my only real experience with TRU was after I was 16 and working (and could convince my brother to drive me) and most of this experience was nothing but disappointment, I really can't say I'm going to miss them.

Emerje

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946591)
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on March 16th, 2018 @ 7:07pm CDT

I don't know if this will happen but I've heard that with the liquidation TRUs might close without notice and without going out of business sales.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946593)
Posted by tmthor on March 16th, 2018 @ 7:37pm CDT

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I don't know if this will happen but I've heard that with the liquidation TRUs might close without notice and without going out of business sales.

I have heard some may just close but the logistics of shipping product around is expensive so I doubt that it will happen that way

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946598)
Posted by tmthor on March 16th, 2018 @ 7:53pm CDT

I take that back friends of mine have just told me alot of the shelves are empty in the tf area all that was there was the exclusives and movie lines ....and the neca/McFarlane area was devoid of anything other than old stuff that they have had for years...and the dolls and wrestling areas were pretty much empty too. But look on the bright side they told me they had TONs of that interactive star wars stuff still at full price...and a whole shelf mabey 6ft and 5 shelves high completely filled with at-act still at 149.99 lol

Basically seems like if it was old they still have it but the new stuff is going fast people are not waiting for clearance so if you want something better hurry and not wait

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946607)
Posted by william-james88 on March 16th, 2018 @ 8:19pm CDT

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I don't know if this will happen but I've heard that with the liquidation TRUs might close without notice and without going out of business sales.

Yes, they are burning through millions every month to keep stores open, some might just close to stop losing money. They could just mass sell their toys to a discount outlet.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946655)
Posted by WreckerJack on March 17th, 2018 @ 4:05am CDT

william-james88 wrote:
chuckdawg1999 wrote:I don't know if this will happen but I've heard that with the liquidation TRUs might close without notice and without going out of business sales.

Yes, they are burning through millions every month to keep stores open, some might just close to stop losing money. They could just mass sell their toys to a discount outlet.

Like I said a few days ago - keep your eyes peeled at Ross and TJmaxx.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946727)
Posted by Chibi Starscream on March 17th, 2018 @ 5:44pm CDT

I went to my local TRU yesterday....prolly for the last time, but I'll try to go again if I can within the next two weeks. There was no Closing sign or special sales. The store was almost devoid of staff except for 4 cashiers, a lady stocking the Beanie Boos section, and the announcer lady. The electronics section had huge gaps in their game inventory, and their TF section was lacking. However, I picked up the last Skullitron they had (a TRU exclusive TLK fig with a dragon alt mode), as well as some Sonic the Hedgehog plush dolls (Sonic Boom "emoji" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles), and 2 amiibos (Pit and Kirby). I had also picked up a pink and a blue Yarn Yoshi and a Sailor Moon transformation rod (Sailor Moon's) but I had to put them back. If I can get there again before they close and they have those, I'll get them next time and maybe another TF or 2. Will see. It'ssad TRU is closing....."I don't wanna grow up. I'm a Toys R Us kid!" *dies a little inside*

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946729)
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on March 17th, 2018 @ 5:49pm CDT

My wife went to our local TRU today and the employees there are well caught up with the current news upon being asked. Furthermore, they're expressing hope that the Canadian buyout will translate into at least US stores staying open, but if the worst comes, they'll be closing by May 14th.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946743)
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on March 17th, 2018 @ 8:05pm CDT

I do a lot of surveys online for points that can be redeemed for various gift cards like TRU. Today I got a notice from one of my sites that TRU will stop accepting gift cards on April 15th. I'm not sure if this is 100% accurate and I don't know if that includes reward coupons like the $5 one I have.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946752)
Posted by tmthor on March 17th, 2018 @ 9:05pm CDT

Some sites are saying the Canada sale will probably not happen or at least the 200 American stores part won't....not sure if vendors would sell merch to them if they did get saved and if they do it could be at a higher price/cod payment terms to get some of their losses back. One issue I forsee with the MGA purchase is they cold give their products more space in stores or even take revenge on Mattel for the Bratz lawsuit and just shut them out completely. Also some vendors might not want a competitor to have sales knowledge of their product think of it as company secrets...MGA could use the info gained from it to boost sales accross the board

Just read on another site the legally the sale would also hinge on the creditors ie Mattel being owed the most and with the Bab blood between MGA and Mattel they might say "blank" you liquidate and give us as much as you can

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946758)
Posted by william-james88 on March 17th, 2018 @ 9:37pm CDT

tmthor wrote:Some sites are saying the Canada sale will probably not happen or at least the 200 American stores part won't

Yeah, the 200 stores part opens so many issues, its not longer clean. With just selling the canadian part, its a whole company run on its own. Like Proctor and Gamble selling a product/subsidiary. Its just equity.

But with the 200 US stores, then you open yourself up to the same trouble you already have, plus the debt. With TRU Canada, you would just sell the business and use the money you got from the sale to pay what is owed.

I know the MGA offer did not have the 200 stores as part of it and many other investors are interested in the Canadian subsidiary (as far as the financial times say) just not the US portion.

And anyways, the 200 store number is pretty arbitrary, the document says any additional store aside from the canadian equity is up to the bidder:

Bids for Canadian Equity: A Qualified Bid must offer to purchase at least the Canadian Equity, and may also identify which, if any, subset of the Debtors’ U.S. stores it proposes to purchase. A single bidder or group of bidders may submit a Bid.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946763)
Posted by WreckerJack on March 17th, 2018 @ 9:59pm CDT

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I do a lot of surveys online for points that can be redeemed for various gift cards like TRU. Today I got a notice from one of my sites that TRU will stop accepting gift cards on April 15th. I'm not sure if this is 100% accurate and I don't know if that includes reward coupons like the $5 one I have.

I'd spend any TRU giftcards or store credit as soon as you can rather than it go to waste.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946788)
Posted by Simplify on March 18th, 2018 @ 3:30am CDT

The Cause and Consequences of the Retail Apocalypse"
Private equity firms overburdened businesses with debt, and now workers are paying the price. Will policymakers do anything about it?
By DAVID DAYEN, The New Republic, Nov. 14, 2018

[...] RadioShack, The Limited, Payless, and Toys 'R' Us are among 19 retail bankruptcies this year. Some point to Amazon and other online retailers for wrestling away market share, but e-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2017 only hit 8.9 percent of total sales. There’s still plenty of opportunity for retail outlets with physical space.

The real reason so many companies are sick, as Bloomberg explained in a recent feature, has to do with debt. Private equity firms purchased numerous chain retailers over the past decade, loading them up with unsustainable debt payments as part of a disastrous business strategy.

Damn you, Cyclomney.

Buyout managers, including Bain Capital and longtime firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, stripped out nearly $2 billion in cash while debt levels rose.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946798)
Posted by Chibi Starscream on March 18th, 2018 @ 5:20am CDT

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:My wife went to our local TRU today and the employees there are well caught up with the current news upon being asked. Furthermore, they're expressing hope that the Canadian buyout will translate into at least US stores staying open, but if the worst comes, they'll be closing by May 14th.

That's good to know. I just dumped a bit over $100 into them...not that that eill cure any debt....but here's to that small shred of hope! Now if we can get more kids unstuck from tablets and put Optimus Primes in their hands instead....but we're asking for a miracle. Note....if I ever have a kid, I will buy them toys. When they're 14 they can have a phone...maybe....

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946860)
Posted by WreckerJack on March 18th, 2018 @ 1:47pm CDT

I won't be having any kids. My toys are for ME! :-D

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946862)
Posted by -Kanrabat- on March 18th, 2018 @ 1:51pm CDT

WreckerJack wrote:I won't be having any kids. My toys are for ME!

YOU MONSTER!

Me too by the way.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946907)
Posted by william-james88 on March 18th, 2018 @ 5:12pm CDT

Having kids is awesome, you can go to the store and pretend the toys you're buying are for them instead and nobody gives you weird looks.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946911)
Posted by Va'al on March 18th, 2018 @ 5:23pm CDT

The staff did a thing, and we'd like others to join us too: share your memories of Toys R Us!

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... -us/40914/

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946916)
Posted by -Kanrabat- on March 18th, 2018 @ 5:35pm CDT

william-james88 wrote:Having kids is awesome, you can go to the store and pretend the toys you're buying are for them instead and nobody gives you weird looks.

I have to admit that in the first two years of toy collecting, I was genuinely embarassed and even ashamed when I shopped for toys.

Then I "grew up" and I no longer give a phoque.

Your turn, CS Lewis:

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946917)
Posted by ZeroWolf on March 18th, 2018 @ 5:42pm CDT

I love that quote of his, and oddly enough I never had much of a problem buying them, there was no odd stares or questions, just the look of someone who would rather be elsewhere then serving customers.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1946925)
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on March 18th, 2018 @ 6:08pm CDT

CNN Money had an article up. Long story short they don't know when exactly stores are closing but apparently there will be sales. Also Tuesday they have to go back to court to get permission to put up store closing signs.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947004)
Posted by lakebot on March 18th, 2018 @ 11:11pm CDT

Simplify wrote:
The Cause and Consequences of the Retail Apocalypse"
Private equity firms overburdened businesses with debt, and now workers are paying the price. Will policymakers do anything about it?
By DAVID DAYEN, The New Republic, Nov. 14, 2018

[...] RadioShack, The Limited, Payless, and Toys 'R' Us are among 19 retail bankruptcies this year. Some point to Amazon and other online retailers for wrestling away market share, but e-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2017 only hit 8.9 percent of total sales. There’s still plenty of opportunity for retail outlets with physical space.

The real reason so many companies are sick, as Bloomberg explained in a recent feature, has to do with debt. Private equity firms purchased numerous chain retailers over the past decade, loading them up with unsustainable debt payments as part of a disastrous business strategy.

Damn you, Cyclomney.

Buyout managers, including Bain Capital and longtime firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, stripped out nearly $2 billion in cash while debt levels rose.

This makes a lot more sense. So, a financial motivation to enter into an untenable business deal.

I do feel for those losing their jobs by the way. I suppose in reality, that’s probably one of the truly more saddening things about all this.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947033)
Posted by Va'al on March 19th, 2018 @ 6:52am CDT

With the stories about Toys R Us dominating the news cycle for toy collectors and fans, something else seems to have made its appearance, sped up by the closure of the giraffe-shaped retail chain, and a name that North American Transformers fans might recognise: KB Toys.

Fellow Seibertronian Sabrblade pointed us towards an article on The Rock Father detailing the entire deal, but it all starts with Ellia Kassoff of Strategic Brands, LLC, posting on LinkedIn about their plans to resurrect KB Toys, and how the TRU closure has affected all this.

we have now accelerated our business plan and hope to have our stores up and running before Christmas. We're in discussions with many of the toy manufactures, as we try to find out the best way to support them and the 20% loss of the US toy market due to the Toys R Us liquidation.

Additionally, Kassoff later posted another message, highlighting their current priorities in terms of the over 30000 people who are losing their current jobs at Toys R Us, along with any other specialist in the toy industry (manufacturer, distributor, retailer, etc) who may be interested in joining the initiative to, as they put it, 'save the toy industry'.

The action is bold, and as Zahn points out in the article on The Rock Father, there are both good pointers and potential hurdles in the whole deal, including the cause of KB's downfall in the first place being the same as TRU's this time round:

Strategic Marks did indeed file for a trademark on the name "KB Toys" back in 2016. What's interesting here is that the original KB Toys fell victim to the same vultures at Bain Capital, who loaded that company with debt and killed it in the same way that they've destroyed Toys "R" Us. Then, in 2009, Toys "R" Us acquired the KB portfolio of trademarks from Streambank, LLC for just over $2M, taking over the domain names and later using the KB Toys name on a series of budget-priced, house-branded toys and games (they were crap) labeled as K•B Classics. Along the way, KB had many variations of their name, including K•B Toys, K•B Toys Outlet, K•B Toy Works and Kay-Bee Toys. It will be interesting to see if Toys "R" Us still considers any of those to be assets in their liquidation, as I was able to find that KBToys.com, KBToyWorks.com and KBKids.com (which once had a $43M push behind it) are all still owned by Toys "R" Us and pointed to the TRU.com server (although unresponsive)

That said, what do you make of this? Is it a positive update in the Toys r Us debacle? Is it something that might interest you to follow through? Join the conversation in the Energon Pub, and share your thoughts!

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947035)
Posted by spiderbob007 on March 19th, 2018 @ 7:22am CDT

Every company that Bain Capital touches seems to go bankrupt.

Two stories of Bain's money management skills:
http://nyp.st/2pgWNyJ
http://nyp.st/2xUP53Y

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947036)
Posted by Galactic Prime on March 19th, 2018 @ 7:27am CDT

North American Transformers fans? KB Toys never existed in Canada or Mexico.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947037)
Posted by Cyber Bishop on March 19th, 2018 @ 7:28am CDT

spiderbob007 wrote:Every company that Bain Capital touches seems to go bankrupt.

Yup, Clearchannel and I heart radio both bent belly up after they bough them. They have the death touch.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947061)
Posted by Kyleor on March 19th, 2018 @ 9:14am CDT

I doubt it would happen, but it would be kind of awesome if KB Toys came back, went into former Toys R Us locations where feasible, and hired on former Toys R Us employees (store only, no corporate) where possible.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947071)
Posted by o.supreme on March 19th, 2018 @ 9:38am CDT

This is interesting...I remember KB toys website for a while would redirect to Toys R Us. It would be interesting if they came back. However I don't think they could support stores the size of TRU. Having smaller stores in shopping malls would evoke that nostalgia, and actually give me a reason to go to malls again (no toy store, no book stores, no media stores...) basically no reason for me to go to the mall in about a decade, except for a discount theater experience LOL....

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947077)
Posted by kurthy on March 19th, 2018 @ 9:55am CDT

This is awesome! :DANCE:

I loved KB much more than TRU. It was my one and only reason to go to the mall with my sisters when I was a little kid.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947092)
Posted by griftimus prime on March 19th, 2018 @ 11:55am CDT

i would like more updates on this. its very unlikely but could be cool. also i did not know kb still existed.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947101)
Posted by SW's SilverHammer on March 19th, 2018 @ 12:48pm CDT

Cyber Bishop wrote:
spiderbob007 wrote:Every company that Bain Capital touches seems to go bankrupt.

Yup, Clearchannel and I heart radio both bent belly up after they bough them. They have the death touch.

Not to get to technical, but Bain capitol isn't a management firm. It's private equities. What they do is take out massive loans, buy companies then slash payroll and cut costs. It makes the business look profitable in the short term so they can take out more loans in the businesses name, pay off their original debts, then sell the company for a greater profit. It's not structural management, its money management.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947105)
Posted by Megatron Wolf on March 19th, 2018 @ 1:03pm CDT

This would be awesome especially if they take over all the TRU spots. KB was my main toy store when i was a kid even after TRU showed up, would be great to see them come back. Just hope they dont take over where they left off, near the end they were worse than TRU is right now. Stll sad to see TRU go but if this goes through itll soften the blow alot.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947109)
Posted by kurthy on March 19th, 2018 @ 1:23pm CDT

FTFY,
What they do is take out massive loans, buy companies then slash payroll and cut costs. It makes the business look profitable in the short term so they can take out more loans in the businesses name, pay off their original debts, then let the company go bankrupt after they've squeezed them for those loans and profits.

They only try to sell the company if they still survive after all that. Also, Bain Capital's "intent" is to use the Bain& Company's management consultancy techniques to streamline the operations, so while they are a capital investment firm, they also apply B&C consultancy, which often leads to bankruptcy. If you want to mince words fine, but BC squeezed TRU dry like a number of other companies.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:
Cyber Bishop wrote:
spiderbob007 wrote:Every company that Bain Capital touches seems to go bankrupt.

Yup, Clearchannel and I heart radio both bent belly up after they bough them. They have the death touch.

Not to get to technical, but Bain capitol isn't a management firm. It's private equities. What they do is take out massive loans, buy companies then slash payroll and cut costs. It makes the business look profitable in the short term so they can take out more loans in the businesses name, pay off their original debts, then sell the company for a greater profit. It's not structural management, its money management.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947143)
Posted by tmthor on March 19th, 2018 @ 6:17pm CDT

Va'al wrote:With the stories about Toys R Us dominating the news cycle for toy collectors and fans, something else seems to have made its appearance, sped up by the closure of the giraffe-shaped retail chain, and a name that North American Transformers fans might recognise: KB Toys.

Fellow Seibertronian Sabrblade pointed us towards an article on The Rock Father detailing the entire deal, but it all starts with Ellia Kassoff of Strategic Brands, LLC, posting on LinkedIn about their plans to resurrect KB Toys, and how the TRU closure has affected all this.

we have now accelerated our business plan and hope to have our stores up and running before Christmas. We're in discussions with many of the toy manufactures, as we try to find out the best way to support them and the 20% loss of the US toy market due to the Toys R Us liquidation.

Additionally, Kassoff later posted another message, highlighting their current priorities in terms of the over 30000 people who are losing their current jobs at Toys R Us, along with any other specialist in the toy industry (manufacturer, distributor, retailer, etc) who may be interested in joining the initiative to, as they put it, 'save the toy industry'.

The action is bold, and as Zahn points out in the article on The Rock Father, there are both good pointers and potential hurdles in the whole deal, including the cause of KB's downfall in the first place being the same as TRU's this time round:

Strategic Marks did indeed file for a trademark on the name "KB Toys" back in 2016. What's interesting here is that the original KB Toys fell victim to the same vultures at Bain Capital, who loaded that company with debt and killed it in the same way that they've destroyed Toys "R" Us. Then, in 2009, Toys "R" Us acquired the KB portfolio of trademarks from Streambank, LLC for just over $2M, taking over the domain names and later using the KB Toys name on a series of budget-priced, house-branded toys and games (they were crap) labeled as K•B Classics. Along the way, KB had many variations of their name, including K•B Toys, K•B Toys Outlet, K•B Toy Works and Kay-Bee Toys. It will be interesting to see if Toys "R" Us still considers any of those to be assets in their liquidation, as I was able to find that KBToys.com, KBToyWorks.com and KBKids.com (which once had a $43M push behind it) are all still owned by Toys "R" Us and pointed to the TRU.com server (although unresponsive)

That said, what do you make of this? Is it a positive update in the Toys r Us debacle? Is it something that might interest you to follow through? Join the conversation in the Energon Pub, and share your thoughts!

Not to bust everyone's bubble but all of you that did not shop at Tru are not going to shop at the new KB why do you ask?.....because Walmart Target and Amazon will still be cheaper. They are not going to be able to compete right of the bat. The problem is Walmart and Target and Amazon are too big...the stiffle competition and yes their buying power is far beyond that of any smaller retailers. Not saying if done right the new KB will fail..just saying that at least in the beginning they will have the same prices if not higher than Tru had. Also on the radio (I have not looked up anything to check the validity of the story) but on the radio they said there Amazon is looking into buying a bunch of the Tru inventory and possibly some of the stores (the ones that are owned by Tru not leased that might be distribution warehouses idk) but the guy reported that might disrupt the Canadian stores deal. He also reported that many parties are interested in the name trademark and the online site. So this might become a big mess as far as the Canadian stores sales go...the might have to change the name if another party buys the name "toys r us"

Another thing that was discussed was that we are seeing the end of the specialty stores (big chain stores not mom and pop ones) they listed many stores that sales figures have forecasted will have troubles they named the following Best Buy, GameStop, Claire's, Barnes & nobel & FYE. They gave a multitude of reasons but the biggest one is....you can one stop shop at Walmart and Target...and get the best price in many cases...and that's what people are doing if not there Amazon...they one reporter laughed and said most likely Walmart will fear Amazon some day the way other retailers fear Walmart now.

Edit
Found the Amazon story they might be referencing look up bloomberg.com

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947148)
Posted by fenrir72 on March 19th, 2018 @ 6:55pm CDT

Concerning TRU and the KB story, read what happened to Kenny Rogers Roasted Chicken franchise! It was a juggernaut back in the 80s but eventually bit the dust.................only one branch in California left iirc. A Malaysian Chinese company eventually bought the name and still continues to exist in SEA.

Same thing wmight happen to TRU. Some Chinese money bags investor/s might buy the name and continue on in Asia (especially China). Doing business in the mainland USA ain't profitable anymore (unless those Chinese investors will learn their lessons from the cluster frack deal they got with Paramount Pictures....cough cough AoE and TLK and GitS :lol:

) and won't tough the brand with a 10 foot pole. :-?

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947158)
Posted by WreckerJack on March 19th, 2018 @ 8:37pm CDT

We have more news regarding Toys R Us going out of business. A quick thanks to Emerje for bringing this to our attention. This news comes to us from Business Insider. Toys R Us is planning to close all of it's stores and liquidate all of it's items. Toys R Us has notified employees that stores and warehouses will be shutting down by May 14th. According to employees, liquidation sales will start Thursday of this week so keep a look out. There is still time for one last visit. If you feel nostalgic you may want to read our editorial, Remembering Toys R Us.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947162)
Posted by EunuchRon on March 19th, 2018 @ 9:40pm CDT

"One shall stand, one shall fall".
KB stands when TRU falls? If that happens, just weird, man. Weird.

Re: Toys R Us Closure Official Press Release, MGA Entertainment Bids on TRU Canada (1947164)
Posted by william-james88 on March 19th, 2018 @ 10:02pm CDT