Why babies may be to blame for the end of Toys R Us

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Declining birth rate is a factor, but Toys R Us probably could have adapted and survived, had it not been looted by investment firms.

The BBC reported (in Toys R Us to close all US stores):
The business was bought in 2005 by a group of investors, including private equity firms Bain Capital and KKR, which loaded it with about $5bn (£3.6bn) in debt.

The company was landed with interest payments that were as much as $400m a year.
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I think that could be the real reason Toys R Us is going down.
 
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I’m personally very nostalgic about Toys R Us but as an adult can clearly see the advantage of buying toys online rather than going to a busy shop which might not even have it in stock. We shop differently now.
 
While I am not informed about the inner workings of the company I can say that since becoming a parent I have been in toys r us a couple times and never bought anything. It’s just too expensive. I am not paying 75 dollars for a child’s toy. Of course I get almost everything at consignment sales anyways. With costs the way they are for things we have learnt to do without more.

I will be a bit sad to see babies r us go down though. They are also expensive but had a great selection including speciality items.
 
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Well it’s pretty well known the downfall of Toys R Us is mostly due to their debt and poorly run operations. I recall around 10 years ago they were downgraded to junk bond status and never recovered. They were paying hundreds to millions of dollars just to service the debt before filing for bankruptcy.

They were also getting crushed by other retailers. Namely Walmart, in which Hasbro and Mattel sold more than twice the amount of product than to Toys R Us. Consumers also started shopping online at places like Amazon.

I don’t think blaming the birth rate paints the full picture. People today have more consumer debt and almost no disposable income. Though this would also reflect in the lower birth rate and an attitude of more conscience spending.
 
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As someone who was overjoyed as a child when the local Toys R Us opened, I’m sad but completely unsurprised. The last time I was in there, the store felt cramped and shabby, the selection was not good, and the prices were cheaper at Wal-Mart and on Amazon. There was no reason to go.
 
I’d agree it was likely corporatocracy. The point of the modern economic and political system is to extract as much personal wealth as you can while you can from the system. By the time the obvious bad results of your scheme are evident you are on your way out of town holding the cash.
 
How ironic that Toys R Us would be a contributor to Planned Parenthood, which mostly plans non-parenthood.
 
It was their prices, plain and simple. Wages have not risen. Cost of living has skyrocketed where we are (DFW, TX) and something has to give. The kids get less, better quality toys now. Often used. We only ever go to second run ‘dollar movies’ when we go at all. No dining out. The people with young children (TRU’s target demographic) are often the most money crunched segment of society.
 
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That there hasn’t been a good Cabbage Patch Doll style riot in the store for decades should have been a big, red flag to the management that business was declining.
 
Yep. And very young children need very little in terms of consumer goods. Those who are having children are less into “stuff” than their parents and grandparents are.
 
I loved Toys r us as a kid, but I can see why they went down. They did it to themselves. They don’t offer competitive pricing, which is why everyone buys toys online or at Walmart and Target. Having worked there before, I can say that their customer service is terrible. I remember the CS counter having 1-2 employees running it, at putting callers on hold for several minutes. They could’ve adjusted to the new market, but they chose not to.
 
giuseppe96 said:
They did it to themselves. They don’t offer competitive pricing
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This cannot be said enough. They lost me when I went to one of their outlets in a mall and the items I knew the price of where about 10-15% above the MSRP! The did the opposite of sales and inflated prices above what literally everyone else in the country would sell the same item for.
 
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