Grave Considerations: The End of Toys R Us

Sad news recently for children of all ages, as the simmering story of Toys R Us has apparently reached its apotheosis. Long subject of stories of financial difficulty, it is now apparently final that the retailer will be closing all of its locations in the US, UK, and around the world. I cannot really speak to Toys R Us’ around the world, as the only ones I’ve seen outside of the US were one we drove past in Toronto and one that we went to at the Mall of Berlin, but for myself, and countless other children, regardless of age, Toys R Us’ demise is the end of an era.

Surely there are positive memories to talk about here, but first, let’s talk about the adult parts. The cause of the closing is, of course, financial in nature, which has a number of people blaming the toy buying community for turning to other, more reliable and affordable etail outlets instead of hunting through the aisles of Toys R Us, which is problematic for a few reasons. One of which is the notion that, in a capitalist society and most certainly a capitalist hobby, it was incumbent upon collectors to keep one business afloat while also or not supporting newer ventures like the etail marketplace. This is a usual battle cry of capitalism and “free market” types, that business is a challenge where only the strong survive until a contestant nears their demise, at which point it was the duty of the market to keep it alive, because it was an established business. In other words, online sellers were good for the market, because they provided challengers and variety, until they began to hurt Toys R Us, because then the online sellers were bad because they were being mean to the Big Business. So, we wanted it both ways. Another problem was one of selection and pricing. Toys R Us faced a lot of issues that made them less viable an option for toy buying. Generally speaking, Toys R Us was always more expensive than other brick and mortar establishments that offered a toy selection, such as Target or Walmart. A figure that would be $20 at Target would be $22 or $24 at Toys R Us. If Toys R Us could be counted on to offer a larger selection, or be restocked more frequently, this price hike may have been understandable, a fair trade off for the ability to find more or newer a selection than what the competition was doing. But that was not the case: Toys R Us’ that I know would often be even slower than Targets in terms of stocking new merchandise, and when they did, they would often flood the pegs with cases of last Wave’s figures, ensuring that a hunt for newer figures didn’t need to account for a stop at Toys R Us. Other times, stock on the shelves would run low, and stay that way for months without any refreshing. For a store dedicated to selling toys, the selection got smaller and smaller over the years as well, and generally followed the same general pattern of stores like Target. A few feet of shelf space for Transformers, a larger allotment for Star Wars, as that line often incorporates role play items like lightsabers and helmets, so it needs more space.

Something that has been universally lamented in the early hours of our soon to be post-Toys R Us world is the loss of the Toys R Us exclusive. For years, companies like Hasbro have made deals with the chain to stock exclusive pieces, and smaller companies like NECA have been able to carve out a spot in the larger market thanks to Toys R Us. Store exclusives are nothing new, and chances are that they will continue, but the one thing that did always stir feelings of excitement was the hunt for the TRU exclusive. I’m trying to remember the last thing I bought at a Toys R Us that wasn’t a store exclusive, and I honestly can’t. Or if I can, it’s something from years ago, a Generations Blitzwing or something like that. In recent years, I’ve pretty much only gone to Toys R Us when I was looking for an exclusive release, or when I had time to kill during certain work days, since there is one right down the street. The exclusives of the future will certainly be picked up by someone else, or otherwise made available, even if Hasbro does more with its own online outlet. In the last few years, etailers have offered “shared” exclusives with Toys R Us, so perhaps those outlets will simply become the primary host for them. But Toys R Us exclusives were also a crap shoot in terms of availability, with stores never releasing them in a unified time frame, or only having one case of them, or whatever. I got into the habit of basically just waiting for confirmed sightings in my area before venturing out to look for exclusives, and then usually had little difficulty. But when Masterpiece Soundwave was first released as a Toys R Us exclusive, I went to every Toys R Us in the Chicagoland area multiple times looking, and never once saw one.

Business can be cruel, but let’s not allow for any doubt of what we will really miss about Toys R Us: the memories. For some of us, those reach back further and to much greener pastures, but it’s the memories that cause our current pain about the loss of another chain store. I remember my dad taking me to Toys R Us in the 1980’s and quite simply being in awe of the selection. Child-me didn’t know “selection,” but rows and rows of toys was always something wildly astounding and overwhelming. I can remember feeling so small amidst the massive displays, and every aisle brought this feeling anew. I can remember seeing what feels like, in memory, the entire G1 line of Transformers in one place, in their red and purple boxes, reaching from floor to ceiling, agonizing over a decision before finally going with Snapdragon. (a figure that I am still occasionally looking for a part for, although I never remember if it’s the left or right white wing that I need. But I’m going to finish it one of these days. –mr)  I remember promotions on Nickelodeon in my youth that you could enter and potentially win a shopping spree of several minutes, where any and everything you could fit into however many carts it took would be yours once the clock ran out. I remember my parents let me enter it once (my mother’s response to such things was always just “no,” for whatever reason, which usually made me too sheepish to ask my far less reflexive dad. –mr) and I spent hours thinking about what my approach would be were I lucky enough to win. (this story is bringing up all kinds of memories, and maybe one day, we’ll talk about the giveaways of yore. –mr)Toys R Us was always this fabled place of wonder, and going there as a child was always something special. Lots of stores carried toys, but Toys R Us or K-B Toys or dedicated toy stores felt magical.

I have memories of buying Star Wars figures at the Toys R Us that was located in the strip mall behind my high school, having once bought Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper disguise during my lunch period and then stuffing him into my pocket for the rest of the day, slightly afraid that someone would see it and make fun of me. But they could go pound sand, because I had Trooper Luke.

I remember a single Toys R Us having this huge clearance sale in January of 2005, and on a family outing I bought a ton of stuff: several of those awesome G1 box reissues, some monster figures of forgotten vintage purchased because they looked awesome and were like four bucks, some G. I. Joe stuff from some odd permutation of the franchise. It was Martin Luther King Day weekend, so we all had that Monday off, and I was sitting in my room at the family house, opening my new treasures, when my father came in and started questioning why I’d spend my money on these things when, as a 26 year old, I should probably be saving my money for a house or some bullshit. This was not the first time I’d had to explain or justify my collecting to my dad, as I’d really only gotten serious about it a few years earlier, when I’d gotten my first real teaching job, but was still a few years away from getting into bigger and more expensive pieces. I gave my dad some speech about money not owning me but rather being a means to attain things I wanted, while turning a G1 Thundercracker reissue in my hands. A minute later, opening the clamshell plastic of some statue-style figure, he was talking about having money to start a “life,” and I suppose about trying to attract women, and I can still smell the plastic scent permeating the room; that smell of a new Spawn or NECA figure coming out of the package, a smell that I have always loved. Five days later he would die right down the hall from where this conversation took place, and my siblings and I would make several trips to Toys R Us’ in the following months as a way of coping. For a long, long time I wondered if he was trying to give me some kind of fatherly advice that day, but as a happily married man now, I don’t think I missed anything crucial if he was. Although, I do occasionally wonder when reminiscing on that conversation what he’d think of my third party collection.

I remember going to a Toys R Us with my then-girlfriend only a few months into our relationship, and acting like it was no big deal, but secretly being afraid that this was somehow going to be a relationship-breaker. She knew I collected toys, as I’ve never really been shy about admitting that in my adulthood, regardless of the responses of others. But I really liked this girl, and didn’t want a toy store to come between us. She ended up not caring about it too much, and she still said yes when I asked her to marry me, years and many trips to Toys R Us together later. But I felt that that was a pretty big thing, a positive indicator or a big step in our relationship, as trivial as it may sound to an outsider. If you’re going to be with someone, you don’t get a whole lot of secrets, and something like collecting is a hobby that really does require the participation of your partner.

In the end, the demise of Toys R Us is rooted in late stage capitalism, where we are expected to be simultaneously in awe of Big Business and also rush to its rescue when it is floundering, regardless of whether or not that aid is warranted or even wanted on the part of we the masses, simply because it is Big Business. It’s part of my gripe with Hasbro brand loyalists: Big Business charges you more for diminishing returns because, woe, it costs Big Business money to stay in business, so we MUST buy from them because if we don’t give them profits they will go out of business. A third party makes toys you want or like better? No. Hasbro needs your money. The same thing with Toys R Us. They made money, and then sold parts of their business in order to make more money. Then when competition started heating up, they raised prices or had a decrease in selection. Now that they’re in trouble, Collectors are supposed to rush in and save them, or at very least, shoulder the blame for a business turning itself into the least preferred option. It’s a toy store, and mostly the only one in its market. Why is Toys R Us not absolutely slaughtering the market? To some, the answer is that other and more preferable options came along over the last two decades, and in real business fashion they squeezed the giant to death. Others seem to think it’s because we the buyer didn’t shop from one place when other, better places existed. Of course, lots of people are going to lose their jobs as a result of this, but that is vastly more the fault of the business than it is any etailer or consumer-end thing. Obviously, it is hoped that everyone who actually is hurt by this closing will be alright, as none of this is their fault. Smaller companies like NECA will be hurt as well. Basically, while reports are trying to make us feel bad for some huge corporate entity, it is, as always, the little guys that will be hurt, but no one really talks about them.

Regardless of what happened, the only thing we’re actually going to miss out on are the memories, and the knowledge that we now inhabit a world with one less toy store in it.What will the future hold? This won't be the end of toys, not by a long shot. Maybe something good ultimately comes from this. 

We'll always have the memories. And we'll always be Toys R Us kids.