https://www.insideretail.com.au/blog...dministration/
http://www.news.com.au/finance/busin...fde6e0e53e3e90
Note that stores will still be trading as usual.
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https://www.insideretail.com.au/blog...dministration/
http://www.news.com.au/finance/busin...fde6e0e53e3e90
Note that stores will still be trading as usual.
Unfortunate. Could we see a similar “sell everything for pennies” liquidation approach if/when the days start counting down?
Content of articles mirrored below.
Inside Retail
Quote:
Toys ‘R’ Us Australia falls into administration
May 21, 2018
Toys ‘R’ Us Australia and sister brand Babies ‘R’ Us have fallen into voluntary administration, following the collapse of US-based Toys ‘R’ Us Inc.
Insolvency firm McGarthNicol was appointed as the administrators after a bid to purchase the Australian business was withdrawn.
McGarthNicol said in a statement on Monday that all Toys ‘R’ Us Australia stores will continue to trade as options for a potential sale of the standalone Australian business is explored.
44 retail stores and around 700 permanent staff are caught up in the administration.
Toys ‘R’ Us Inc has been seeking to offload its international businesses for several months amid a liquidation process that is seeing more than 700 stores wound down in the US.
It has already entered into agreements to sell off its Canadian and European businesses, while its US operations remain in play.
Toys ‘R’Us Inc has also said that multiple offers have been made for Toys ‘R’ Us Asia, which it owns an 85 per cent stake in.
The Australian Toys ‘R’ Us business has been struggling for some time, booking millions in losses in recent years, but was being expanded under the leadership of Dianne Guerreiro, who as of late last year was actioning plans to open new stores.
The collapse of Toys ‘R’ Us sister brand Babies ‘R’ Us is the latest in a long line of retail collapse in the baby goods category in the last 18 months, that has now claimed the scalps of three of four of the largest players in the sector.
news.com.au
Quote:
Toys ‘R’ Us goes into administration in Australia
MAY 21, 20187:27pm
TOYS ‘R’ US Australia has gone into voluntary administration months after the US and UK retail giant’s collapse.
Directors of the company resolved to appoint voluntary administrators McGrathNicol after the withdrawal of the final bidder for the sale of the Australian business, McGrathNicol said in a statement on Monday.
All Toys ‘R’ Us Australia stores will remain open and continue to trade while the administrators explore options for the sale.
The stand-alone Australian business operates 44 retail stores across Australia and employs about 700 permanent staff.
Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy protection in the US last September and after frantic attempts to restructure the business finally waved the white flag in March when chief executive David Brandon told employees the retailer’s more than 700 remaining US locations would go along with 33,000 jobs.
“We’re putting a for sale sign on everything,” Mr Brandon told employees in a conference call. “Frankly, all anyone has to do is offer one dollar more (than liquidators).”
Shortly afterwards, the UK and Irish operations also shut up shop.
Toys ‘R’ Us in Australia has continued to trade as normal with speculation the company may bundle the business up with the Asian stores and sell the whole lot off, potentially as a stand-alone operation under the same and much-loved brand.
The development follows an unusual fire sale of the US business’s intellectual property to pay off creditors in the wake of its bankruptcy.
Alongside the Geoffrey the Giraffe logo and the Babies R Us trademark, the firm is also putting up a series of racy URLs including kinkytoysrus.com, sex-toys-r-us.com, and toysrussucks.com.
O_O I just want my mp black panther please and for those poor guys at the barely a year old werribee plaza store to keep going
That's just weird.Quote:
Alongside the Geoffrey the Giraffe logo and the Babies R Us trademark, the firm is also putting up a series of racy URLs including kinkytoysrus.com, sex-toys-r-us.com, and toysrussucks.com.
(could it be they own the domain names to prevent others from acquiring them?)
Didn’t baby bunting and baby wrehouse also close down in the last two or so years???
How can stores that have such a prime market Keep going out of business? What are they all getting so wrong?
I hate to be an alarmist but the mp shadow panther listing on the tru website is gone.
Shall we start killing pre-orders or hold fire?
Hoping they find a new owner, TRU really seems to have upped their game recently too...
Hopefully it's bought by another company, I don't want people to lose their jobs
Note if you have a gift voucher for TRU as its in administration you must spend the equivalent of the value of the card in cash to be able to claim the value of said card.
I know the Baby Bunting in Castle hill closed down but I'm pretty sure the one in Chatswood is till going strong.
BRU is a bit like TRU in that a lot of their prices are slightly higher than some easy alternatives. All baby stuff is expensive, a lot for good reason. A lot of testing and performance rating goes into a baby products to ensure they are safe. In Castle Hill there is a Baby Kingdom a few blocks from the TRU/BRU and they are always very busy, I wouldn't be surprised if they had at least 15 staff on at any one time.
that's a bit shit.
I think part of TRU's problem in Australia is nearly all of their stores are remote to shopping centres. I can only think of the Parramatta store when trying to think of one that's inside a westfield or similar. all the others (Moore Park, Bankstown, Castle HIll) are in home maker centres.
I honestly hope they find a buyer.
I wonder, if I walked into a bank and asked for a loan that would allow me to buy TRU Australia what they would say:confused::p;):(
Very sad news for those employed by TRU. I hope they find a buyer - I talked to staff at one a few months ago and they said they had been reassured there wouldn't be repercussions from the shutdown in USA/Canada/UK.
The reason they moved from major shopping centres was survival - Westfield's rents are horrifically high and they can get more floorspace at a homemaker's centre for cheaper. Not sure if that move hurt them - I often see familys at the homemaker's centre at Casula and the children almost always succeed in dragging their parents for a run through TRU there.
Best regards
Dazz
My apologies in regard to baby bunting, although I am sure that another major baby chain did shut down recently.
I think opening all the new TRU stores in ex Masters buildings has probably hurt them too, it cost alot to fit out and supply all these new stores that are a fair way from their competitors and that cost an extra 20% than the normal toy prices at big w and kmart. Their saving grace should've been a wider range, but it always seems that they have the same old stock for a long time and only a smattering of new stuff that goes quickly, leaving the old wave one stuff behind. (The Tf Movie affect!)
I know Pumpkin patch went out of business and I'm pretty sure another baby/toddler clothes store did too. they have a similar problem to TRU though, their prices are very high compared with equivalent garments at a department store like Target or big W. There might be a quality difference, but not enough to justify the price, especially when the clothes only fit for a couple months at most.
It's also odd the BRU don't stock certain items at all. I think it's contractual, it's the only thing I can think of. eg: Pigeon baby bottles are, according to popular opinion (and I'd have to agree), by far and away the best bottle you can buy. Only a few of the specialist baby stores stock them. the same for Nuk brand dummies, undoubtedly the best dummy on the market, the best place and one of only few places to buy them is chemist warehouse.
I really do hope they find a buyer, unless it's someone like jerry Harvey, that probably wouldn't go well for anyone.
Payment was in full on the credit card at time of order.
I've emailed their customer support. You can do so at auscustomerservice@toysrus.com.au(.)
Will update when I hear anything.
After requesting (through their call system) a callback, Nathan called me back.
I provided my order number and enquired about the process from here. He advised that refunds weren't possible (which we knew already) and went to discuss the matter with some team other team members while I was placed on hold.
Prior to that, I advised him that I am a member of an online forum that would have a number of other people in my position and I would update them accordingly.
Upon returning to the call, Nathan advised that they do not know what is going to happen yet.
I've requested further information when it comes to hand. My details have been taken and I was advised it might be a few weeks.
All of that is, IMHO, a reasonable response in a shit situation.
I'd advise you all to contact auscustomerservice@toysrus.com.au with your order details, requesting an update in due course.
If/when I hear of anything, I'll update here as well.
In the event that TRU are unable to fulfil, I'd assume that someone with the Premium Collectables-experience in chargebacks might have some guidance. As I understand it, all orders for Shadowpanther have it listed as a pre-order for October delivery in the order receipt.
If so, I'd suggest raising that in due course to your bank once we find out what TRU are doing on it.
Hope that helps.
I didn't mention OTCA (other than the generic "an online forum" description) and remained polite with Nathan while I had him on the line. It's got to be a shitty week for them all there and I didn't want to make his day any worse than it already is.
Apparently VIP points are now Void and can't be accrued or spent. I'm glad I spent mine when I brought some stuff a weeks ago, a shame I'm not getting the points from the Lego Ninjago City I brought using the coupon code on Friday(RIP In Peace those 400-odd points, you could've have saved me an extra 4 bucks)
Dang.
I really hope that you guys get your money back as a store voucher at the very least.
If TRU hasn't paid TakTom a deposit for the orders then in administration, that money isn't likely to be available now.
This is really unfortunate.
Start keeping a document trail as evidence for your chargebacks should it end up in that direction.
One of my jobs is working in retail and I can't tell you how many people want to you to think an issue is that staff member's individual fault.
Given this case, where they're probably fielding a number of calls from people with a variety of issues, I figure pointing out I was polite was probably a point worth making - unless I misread your emoticon!
One of the PC threads talked about chargebacks after missed delivery dates. The TRU email specifically mentions Pre-order for October delivery, so hopefully that will assist, even if no-one has a copy of the item page online.
Also, I was offered merchandise (of my choice) worth the price I paid, but given the interim of not having an update on the actual item in question, I declined. Well aware I'm rolling the dice on the $120, but figured it was worth a shot.
I'd be going straight for the chargeback route. Highly unlikely the pre-order will be honoured or refunded.
Another baby chain - Bubs Baby Shops - which operated in QLD and NSW went into liquidation in late 2017.
I also found TRU lacked regular restocks of lines such as Marvel Legends. They always have the same old figures shelf-warming. Restocking of LEGO products seemed pretty frequent, though. Recently they dropped the regular price of smaller LEGO $15.99 (RRP) sets to $12.99 which was surprising but welcome.
...the paypal site is buggy and won't even try the resolution center, contacting them (because of the limited assortment fields) gave me "oh the faq would be better" and I can't even respond to the email they sent me because that's buggy too!
*table flip*
Why do I have to ring these people all the time to fix their rubbish damnit already nearly smashed my phone last time trying to fix the last time something like this, it can barely txt let alone make calls.
EDIT:WHEW I tried it in chrome (which I detest, don't ask) and while still buggy (couldn't enter the product type) I managed to put my claim through, will update if any hassle happen, but I made it clear if the site can allow for cancellations but they send you an email instead saying nope that isn't right, that and the whole 2 month period from asia to australia, could be fishy, dunno but using that)
How would you go about a chargeback for Shadow Panther if you paid via afterpay?
Now that TRU Oz has been placed in administration & potentially heading down the same path as TRU US, are people hoping / looking forward to a fire sale like in the US? If so, what items are you eyeing off?
Administration doesn't guarantee that the business is going to be shut down... it is just a high probability, as Administrators don't have much patience when it comes to finding a buyer. Their priority is seeing that investors (banks, etc) get their money back fast... and it can be easier to break up the business and sell off all of the assets, than find a buyer and go through a lengthy red-tape process.
As it were, this situation only occurred because a buyer pulled out, so there could be other interested parties.... we just have to wait for the first announcements of intentions by the Administrators.
Likely such drastic measures wont need to be taken considering that we're dealing with a professional toy company rather then a scamming thief, but yes if it comes to that all the info one might possibly need can be found in the active PC complaints thread.Contact Afterpay, there is a page on their site that deals with undelivered goods (https://help.afterpay.com/hc/en-au/a...aged-goods-AUS) that sounds like once the order is approved they wash their hands of things and wont help out, but this situation might be different enough that they will do something.Buy all the Transformers!
As much as TRU has faults, I think loosing it would be sad-they do have a good LEGO and Thomas and Friends range (other collections I dabble in), and are at least equally as good re: stock as every retailer--however they have far more range in toys generally than any other store, and my experience is that they care far more than Kmart/Target/Big W etc. employees when asking about specific items.
Here's hoping with some sensible decisions (e.g. no random picks online, stores controlling stock instead of head office) they can pick back up...
I just received an email that all online orders will be processed as normal.
Needless to say, I have my doubts with this order and am now seeking confirmation, explicitly mentioning the timeframes involved and the product in question.
Will update accordingly.