ToysRUs UK & US bankruptcy & closure

[drifand]

Partial fault lies between bringing in toys for older kids such as adults is lacking. The range of toys are limited, and to me a toy store that sells toys needs to be bigger than average BigW etc....

I was in US 5 years ago and their Toyrus didn't feel big nor wowed me.

Very sad, we got a company going under, but we have crap business retailer not going under

[G1Optimal]

Toys r us files for voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy
http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/09/19/t...ons-u-s-349225

[griffin]

(disclaimer - I'm not an accountant, or have any training/qualifications on this)... but this shouldn't directly affect ToysRUs in other countries like here... and bankruptcy (protection) in America is something businesses over there appear to be able to do as a way to keep operating, because they believe they have profit potential beyond some short-term debts that are due soon. (even the billionaire Trump has had his businesses go through bankruptcy at least three times in the past, to deal with some debts, without losing everything).
I think we'd only need to worry if the US business goes into administration or have their creditors/investors find out that they have long term forecasts of zero profit potential, and petition to have the business sold off or shut down (if the debts outweigh its assets).
And even if that worst case scenario happens, I just couldn't imagine them shutting down their businesses in all those other countries they are in, who are obviously still profitable, or else the US business would have shut them down by now.

From the press release...

The Company’s operations outside of the U.S. and Canada, including its approximately 255 licensed stores and joint venture partnership in Asia, which are separate entities, are not part of the Chapter 11 filing and CCAA proceedings.
The Company’s approximately 1,600 Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us stores around the world – the vast majority of which are profitable – are continuing to operate as usual,

The downside though, is it will probably mean no more TRU exclusives from Hasbro during this time, as TRU are likely to trim down their inventory... and are prioritising their investor debts over their supplier debts (leading to some suppliers cutting back on sending new product until they pay for what they have already received - suppliers can often allow up to 90 days for payment, particularly for their bigger customers).

I think a wait-and-see approach is best for this situation... and my fingers are firmly crossed that this doesn't lead to a full collapse of the global franchise, because aside from their high prices, TRU here are the best at price-matching of all our toy retailers (and personally - the Ocean Terminal TRU in Hong Kong, is in my opinion, the best toy store in the world for current Transformers toys, and if it shut down, it would be a big loss on my future trips over there)

[DELTAprime]

^ I never realised TRU licensed their name out for foreign companies to use. I wonder who owns the Australian stores?

[griffin]

^ I never realised TRU licensed their name out for foreign companies to use. I wonder who owns the Australian stores?

It is hard to tell, but the bottom of the ToyRUs page has a link to ToysRUsInc (the American corporation that owns TRU and BRU), and its T&Cs mention that TRU Australia Pty Ltd uses the various trademarks "under license"... so I think that without any other business name being mentioned anywhere, it would probably be the US company who registered and set up the business here, like Hasbro Australia and other multinationals originally from America.
In other words, it is its own business entity here with Australian managers and employees, but most of the policies and procedures would come from America... and the profits flow back to there.

From what I can tell from here, TRU Singapore and Japan are licensed to 3rd party companies... and only about 20% of their international stores are licensed, so they must have direct control over most of them.
(it also notes that the US business is no longer a publicly listed company - a consortium spent US$6.6 Billion in 2005 to buy out the business from shareholders... and it is probably the repayment of this debt that has them in trouble, with them still owing half of it back to the banks)

[GoktimusPrime]

Brick and mortar retailers cannot ever compete with online stores for price for obvious reasons. But there are still some things that real stores can offer that online stores can't. These include:

* Good personal customer service. When you shop online you're dealing with a machine, but when you shop IRL you're dealing with a human being. Simple things like giving a crap about your job and treating your customers well go a long way in making the shopping experience enjoyable. These are things that online stores can never match. Anyone who's ever been to Japan will know what a pleasure it is to shop there because the customer service is so top class. It makes you want to go back to that shop again. Simple things like talking with the customer - starting a quick conversation or having a sense of humour etc.
e.g. when I bought #1 of the Definitive G1 Collection from a newsagent, the guy who served me scanned the book and said in a deadpan tone of voice, "That'll be $30 million." and as I tapped my card I said, "Now to run away before my card gets declined!" and we both had a good chuckle. Just today I bought Wonder Woman on DVD and the lady serving me said that she noticed that this was a popular item and was wondering why - so we had a brief chat about why I think it's a good film which piqued her interest. Ya know... human interaction!
Just have some passion and pride in your work... (-_-)



* Immediate sale (and ownership!). 2 day shipping may be 2 day shipping, but with real shopping I can own that toy immediately. Two days? Ain't nobody got time for that! Part of this also means ensuring that the stores have actual stock because obviously if they don't stock the toys we want then we have no other choice than to shop online. I will always choose real life shopping over online shopping when possible, but if I can't find that toy in stores or if I'm unsure if the toy will even show up locally, then I'll get it online. e.g. TR Seaspray and TLK Deluxe Sqweeks - both recent online purchases for me because I still haven't found them in stores. I want Deluxe Cogman too and I keep finding the One Step Changer.



* Ease of exchange/refund.

[DELTAprime]

^ Amazon calls it 2 day shipping but in many cases you can receive your item is as little as a couple of hours. In a city like San Francisco, LA or New York where it's already inconvenient to go to a shopping centre a couple of hours for it to show up on your doorstep for free is a much better deal.

Also they have exchanges and refunds worked out. There are many customers that will buy say 3 pairs of shoes, figure out which one pair they actually want and return the other two because Amazon has made it so easy to do refunds and exchanges.

Amazon has put dozens of entire shopping centres in America out of business, TRU is just another victim.

[Gouki]

Whatever. Don't care. Never got the nostalgia for Toys R Us other people have. They really have no one but their own arrogance to blame for this.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Considering the way I've been F'ed over by both the Aussie and US TRU online stores this news doesn't shock me - both their online sales practices and customer service is woeful to say the least. Chooks coming home to roost as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe if they actually listened to complaints and tried to rectify their practices so they didn't keep making the same idiotic mistakes, customers might not have flocked elsewhere