Toys R Us

[Bogatan]

Apr 23, 2018 18:15:49 GMT browny87 said:

I'm assuming there will b very little left in stores

Probably not. I would have liked to have one last wander around though, but my local one closed yesterday and I didn't realise till too late.

[KnightBeat]

Apr 23, 2018 18:18:11 GMT primenova said:

I got a load of candles for a total of 31p

In TRU? Seriously?

[Pinwig]

Portsmouth one closed Saturday according to the local paper. I was going to go, but decided it would all be a bit sad.

[primenova]

So TRU has been saved in the US - should Hasbro use them? They still owe Hasbro a DW level of money don't they?

[Bogatan]

As Hasbro are most likely one of the creditors the plan to relaunch the company rather than auction of the IP will almost certainly have their backing already. In which case Ive no doubt Hasbro will use them.

Im honestly not sure how I feel about the news. The employees are gone, their pensions etc gone/short changed. The too large and too expensive to maintain stores have been sold off or leases cut short and now sudenly the creditors want to "save" the company. Im sure the US business could have been saved without hurting so many people first. TRU Canada managed it.

[drmick]

That story is bollocks. Purely an attempt to inflate the value of the brand, for auction.

[The Doctor]

Oct 3, 2018 11:27:41 GMT primenova said:

So TRU has been saved in the US - should Hasbro use them? They still owe Hasbro a DW level of money don't they?

Where was this reported?

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

news.tfw2005.com/2018/10/02/toys-r-us-u-s-version-2-0-its-not-over-prime-360868 amongst others.

A long, long way from bing a going concern again

[The Doctor]

'Debtor Geoffrey'?

So GEOFFREY THE GIRAFFE WAS REAL ALL ALONG!!!

-Ralph

[primenova]

www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/toys-r-us-has-canceled-its-bankruptcy-auction-a-possible-return/42158/

I was reading it on here then reading the comments

[legios]

Oct 3, 2018 11:27:41 GMT primenova said:

So TRU has been saved in the US - should Hasbro use them? They still owe Hasbro a DW level of money don't they?

The old company owed Hasbro money - but the old company didn't _have_ that money. Hence why the creditors - Hasbro included - were looking to sell the trading names, as they are the only thing that can be sold to raise any money toward the settlement of those debts.

Any new company purchasing the name would be a separate legal entity, not liable for the previous owner of the names debts. Essentially the debt is owed by a company which no longer exists, and its debts - once what is left of its assets are sold - die with it. They don't get passed to any other company which might happen to purchase the name and branding.

Karl

[browny87]

the obvious problem is the name has negative connotations and if it went bust once whats to stop it happening again.

would be a brave company to take the mantle on again

[Jim]

My local Toys R Us had been (partially) converted to a Smyths as I passed today

It was a bit weird, the staff were still wearing TRU uniforms, but Smyths logos had been hastily put up over TRU logos and it was really quiet (I am so used to hearing the Toys R Us jingle playing there that its absence was eerie).

I had kind of hoped that they'd maintain the brand but really, there's no reason to expect that. Smyths somehow looks ... cheaper ...

[drmick]

UK? Or Europe?

[Philip Ayres]

Jim lives in Germany.

[Jim]

Yes, sorry, this was here in Sunny Berlin, the Steglitz branch to be precise.

Toys R Us was still going as Toys R Us until at least the weekend before Christmas when I was last there.

[duffism1981]

I am surprised it too this long for them to change the name. Smyths is "supposed" to be a more discount toy store, which is probably why they don't stock some brands such as Scalextrix or Hornby.

[Jim]

I hope they bring some of that sensibility to German toy retail, discounts here are generally laughable. SALE!!! RID figures now €24.99 instead of €26.99!!!

[Philip Ayres]

TRU returning to the UK

www.unilad.co.uk/news/toys-r-us-is-returning-four-years-after-going-bust/?source=facebook

[The Doctor]

I'll believe it when I see it.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Might struggle now Smyths have opened up in the business parks TRU used to be in.

[Bogatan]

That article pissed me off. TRU didn't go bust because on online retailers, it went bust because Private equity bought it and stripmined the business.

[primenova]

If you look at UK toy stores currently. Tesco have removed all Transformers toys from stores. Most small The Entertainer have mini figures from 3 years ago or Cyberverse & maybe 1 Kingdom Inferno. Sainsburys have 2 year old Cyberverse. Morrisons have new Rescuebots. Smyths have everything. B&M & Homebargains have Cyber & those alpha beta figures (the Ratchet one looks the best)

[Benn]

My Entertainer is still selling POTP Primemasters.

[Pinwig]

Can you make your time machine run a bit faster? Get The Entertainer as far back as Unicron trilogy? Or even Beast Wars?

[Llama God]

Yeah, it's been very disappointing to see Transformers vanish from supermarkets and the like. Oh for the days when Tesco was getting Titans Return figures and Generations exclusives... I wouldn't mind so much if Generations had gone from the supermarkets if they were at least carrying Cyberverse (which is meant to be the main kid-appeal line), but no. That said, some stores are now carrying Star Wars Mission Fleet stuff, so it's not like they're abandoning action figures all together. I guess the real test will be when RotB launches, and whether they actually get any movie tie-in toys or not...

So there is room for a new Toys 'R' Us to deliver something. But it very much depends if they can be bothered. And also if distributors are actually going to offer them anything, or whether it'll just be the same stuff that Smyths has...

[Pinwig]

That moment when TRU lost exclusivity on generations at the start of CW was very liberating. Remember how we had to guess what TRU was going to decide to give us, then suddenly it was all there in Asda. It's like Hasbro went to the Supermarkets and conned them into believing generations was the 'good stuff' so they all bought into it, then slowly over the next year realised it wasn't quite the smasheroo they'd been led to believe, so they all pulled out again.

I think at this point having everything in Smyths makes it easy. I would not want the American situation where you've got to go to Walmart for some stuff, then Target, then Walgreens etc.

[The Doctor]

I much preferred TF's in supermarkets. So much easier to buy.

-Ralph

[Benn]

Oct 30, 2021 22:22:28 GMT Pinwig said:

Can you make your time machine run a bit faster? Get The Entertainer as far back as Unicron trilogy? Or even Beast Wars?

I can try.

(Starts pedalling faster)

[Bogatan]

Oct 31, 2021 10:24:55 GMT Pinwig said:

That moment when TRU lost exclusivity on generations at the start of CW was very liberating. Remember how we had to guess what TRU was going to decide to give us, then suddenly it was all there in Asda. It's like Hasbro went to the Supermarkets and conned them into believing generations was the 'good stuff' so they all bought into it, then slowly over the next year realised it wasn't quite the smasheroo they'd been led to believe, so they all pulled out again.

I think at this point having everything in Smyths makes it easy. I would not want the American situation where you've got to go to Walmart for some stuff, then Target, then Walgreens etc.

The problem is Smyths doesnt carry everything. They didn't carry any of the smaller sizes classes prior to Core clas and they seem to have barely stocked those and quickly dropped what they did have.

And then theres all the Cyberverse stuff that almost certainly was offered by Hasbro. If the supermarkets arent interested (and honestly Im confused by the way all of them have dropped all but the lightest smattering of Rescuebots-ish stuff at basically the same time) TRU coming back would be a good thing if they do offer something different.