Toys "R" Us/Babies "R" Us/Kids "R" Us

[d_fife]

this says toys r us in catonsville on http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/baltimorecounty/news/ph-ca-toysrus-closing-0201-20120126,0,3512293.story is closing!!!

[StoreLiker2006]

this says toys r us in catonsville on http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/baltimorecounty/news/ph-ca-toysrus-closing-0201-20120126,0,3512293.story is closing!!!

After all, the location has aged, since according to the source you mentioned it opened sometime in the fall of 1969. The photo they used shows this store still has its classic rainbow-colored TRU letters from '69 (read: red-yellow-light blue-pink-green-orange-deep blue) but the original brown roof was painted white around 1992. A glass-encased area nearly drenches the front.

Also, Dan, I (and perhaps Nick aka XISMZERO) would like to know how old the next nearest locations to Catonsville are. If you'd like to know them, as per the article, they are in Columbia, Glen Burnie and Owings Mills. The locations:

TOYS "R" US/BABIES "R" US - COLUMBIA (8363)
6100 Dobbin Rd., Columbia, MD 21045

TOYS "R" US/BABIES "R" US - GLEN BURNIE (8350)
6711 Ritchie Hwy., Glen Burnie, MD 21061

TOYS "R" US/BABIES "R" US - OWINGS MILLS (8332)
10200 Reisterstown Rd., Owings Mills, MD 21117

~Ben

[StoreLiker2006]

Photograph of TRU #8005 in Clackamas, OR, on 82nd Ave. at Harmony Road, south of the Clackamas Town Center mall. Note how the revised frontage is still built within the confines of this location's original 1980-vintage Type B "L-shape" structure. The glass casing at the rear exit door is removed. But, can anyone decipher whether or not there is both an entry and exit up front in regards to the current frontage?

~Ben

[StoreLiker2006]

TRU #8006 in Tigard, OR, across Rt. 217 west of the Washington Square mall. As both the entry and exit doors are up front, I could think this was once a Type A rippled-roof store, also as the storefront lies at dead center rather than to the right or the left. The current frontage dates from ca. 1997.

~Ben

[StoreLiker2006]

this toys r us is in Tacoma washington

Dan,

I know this observation is old, but, here is a 1983 vintage TRU ad showcasing this location's grand opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRSP-ro-950

Location: 4214 South Ferry Street (renamed Tacoma Mall Boulevard), Tacoma, WA 98409
This appears to have been a Type B store; this location was rebuilt from the ground-up ca. 1993.

~Ben

[StoreLiker2006]

Bing Maps view of Toys R Us #8004 in Jantzen Beach, Portland, OR. Note how this is a slightly older view than the Google Maps view.

However, in the Bing Maps view, which has a rather odd remodeling job, I can still see the glass facade for the exit, so that would mean this was a Type B store with the L-shape architecture. Note how the then-current facade retains the '80s-style pastel letters for TOYS "R" US as well as the Geoffrey head seen just before the exit.

EDIT, 7/29/2012: In 2008, this store was again totally revamped (complete teardown/rebuild), into the dull TRU/BRU combo you guys so dislike. Just input this location's address into Google Maps.

~Ben

[d_fife]

grr to Toys r us' new look in cedar rapids!

[retailisking]

http://bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1061166936

[standa]

I read that Toys R Us will be opening an express store in Hamden, CT.  From the address I think it will be at the same  location as the store it closed a few years ago when moving to North Haven.  I know they still lease that space.  Does anyone know a Toys R Us Express store which opened in a former regular Toys R Us store?

[MikeRa]

Up by the Philadelphia/Bensalem border where PA Route 63 is located, Toys R Us Comapny has a Toys R Us location on the grounds of Franklin Mills Mall (Built from the ground up in 1987-88), and in Bensalem, at The Home Depot Plaza, they have a Babies R Us location (First opened as a Gaudio's location by Penn Fruit Company in 1973).

[d_fife]

toys r us in tallahasee I took in 2008.

[jason83080]

By way of Google Maps, here's the Toys "R" Us location on Milan Rd (US 250) in Sandusky, Ohio:

http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/7849/toysrus.jpg

When you walk in, you enter a corridor to the second entrance, and are greeted by a classic "Welcome Friends" Geoffrey sign that hangs above the cart area! It's a VERY old-school-designed store, but did drop the overhead blue aisle signs for the traditional smaller aisle-hanging signs that all of the stores use. They still have the bi-sected aisles going from the front to the back of the store! It doesn't have any traces of FAO Schwarz or Babies "R" Us, which led me to dub this location the "Toys R Us That Time Forgot." The only thing missing is the traditional brown roofpiece, but I think this was built after that was phased out, but before the dozens of different 'looks' for the buildings.

[Hudsons81]

Below are two photos of my nearest Toys "R" Us in Southgate, MI, the first one was taken by Google Street View in August 2007 and the second was taken by me last Friday.

I don't know when it exactly opened, but one source says it opened in 1980, so it may have been a Type B store, because the storefront is off-center to the right (west), but, of course, it has since been remodeled and the brown roof taken off (sometime during the 1990's) and the Geoffrey sign on the storefront was removed around the time the blue star was added in the early 2000's, but to this date, if you look carefully, you can still see the labelscar from the Geoffrey sign. Because of the remodelings, the only remnant from the Type B store is the bottom brown stripe on the sides of the building, though it stops where the facade changes over to the remodeled area.

[Hudsons81]

Sorry if I was double-posting, but I didn't want to mess up the above post by having it be about two different locations, but anyways, the photos below are of the first (and only, so far) Toys "R" Us store in the city of Detroit! Below is a photo of that store taken in it's final days, courtesy of this site (made smaller than the original image so as to fit on this page):



This TRU was located on 8 Mile Road/M-102 in the Bel-Air Centre on Detroit's northeast side. It was a Type C store (notice the center entrance) and opened around the 1986 Christmas season, according to the linked source. Since it opened in 1986, it may have been one of the first (if not the first) TRUs to have the current TRU logo coloration standard. If you notice, it managed to keep the brown roof and rainbow stripes all the way to the end! However, probably the only change was a smaller sign with the blue star, which appears above and you can also notice the labelscar of the original sign. The same source mentions that the store closed in April 2003. If you look to the very right, you can see some of the attached Kids "R" Us store, which probably closed at the same time, because the same store closing sale banners can be seen as well on the KRU's windows.

Today, the TRU is now a Forman Mills, unfortunately, the roof and stripes were repainted yellow to match their colors, at least the brown stripes on either side of the storefront are still brown! The KRU is still vacant to this day, if you look carefully on the 2009 Google Street View photo below, you can see the labelscar from KRU's logo. This is probably the only classic-look TRU building left in southeastern Michigan, all of the other TRUs from that era in southeastern Michigan have since been given new storefronts.

[EddieJ1984]

I got bonanza brothers for the sega genesis a few months ago at a thrift store, just noticed this in the game case today.

[Pikapower]

I got bonanza brothers for the sega genesis a few months ago at a thrift store, just noticed this in the game case today.

??? I wonder if "Geoffrey" was the name of the cashier at the time the game was bought new or maybe a "running gag" with a certain giraffe?

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

I got bonanza brothers for the sega genesis a few months ago at a thrift store, just noticed this in the game case today.

??? I wonder if "Geoffrey" was the name of the cashier at the time the game was bought new or maybe a "running gag" with a certain giraffe?

Since Geoffrey is the Toys "R" Us giraffe mascot, I assume it's the latter.

[ynkeesfn82]

All right. Here's something I can't figure out. GGP owns The Brass Mill Center in Waterbury, Connecticut. It is made up by The Brass Mill Mall and an adjacent Shopping Plaza The Brass Mill Commons. Toys R Us is one of the anchor stores in The Commons. Now today on Facebook I see Toys R Us Express has opened inside The Brass Mill Mall. Isn't it a little strange for an "Express Store" to be located right near the full-size store?

[BillyGr]

Aren't the Express stores the ones they set up temporarily, usually around holiday time?

If so, seems it makes sense to catch those already in the mall, and might lead to people stopping by the regular store (if the Express doesn't have something, a customer could be "referred" to the larger store).

Also - since both are owned by the same company (mall & commons), perhaps the owner gave them a deal to fill what would otherwise be an empty spot?

[d_fife]

will Toy s r us close more stores and if so how many?

[zonemad96]

Aren't the Express stores the ones they set up temporarily, usually around holiday time?

If so, seems it makes sense to catch those already in the mall, and might lead to people stopping by the regular store (if the Express doesn't have something, a customer could be "referred" to the larger store).

Also - since both are owned by the same company (mall & commons), perhaps the owner gave them a deal to fill what would otherwise be an empty spot?

I know the one in our mall was open all year round but it only lasted about a year before they left the mall.

[d_fife]

this toys r us / babies r us combo store told me that the store 10 miles from them that is just a Toys r us (no babies r us in it) doesnt even do half the volume that they do, does that mean it will close when they close stores?

[Stork of The Weak]

Dan WHY are you asking US? It's not like we all have a crystal ball that you don't...

[Pikapower]

^^Only time will tell when Toys "R" Us decides to close some stores again. It seems that the Toys "R" Us stores with Kids "R" Us in them and also "solo" Toys "R" Us stores are becoming a rarity especially the ones with Kids "R" Us in them. It seems that in the near future that all Toys "R" Us stores will be paired with Babies "R" Us even if there's a stand alone Babies "R" Us store within a five or ten mile radius of that location!

[zonemad96]

this toys r us / babies r us combo store told me that the store 10 miles from them that is just a Toys r us (no babies r us in it) doesnt even do half the volume that they do, does that mean it will close when they close stores?

Around 10 years ago the Kmart 15 mins from my house closed up and the one about 35 mins from my house stayed open even though it had around 1/6 the amount of traffic the one closer to my house did. My point is stores can close for just about any reason.

[d_fife]

this toys r us / babies r us combo store told me that the store 10 miles from them that is just a Toys r us (no babies r us in it) doesnt even do half the volume that they do, does that mean it will close when they close stores?

Around 10 years ago the Kmart 15 mins from my house closed up and the one about 35 mins from my house stayed open even though it had around 1/6 the amount of traffic the one closer to my house did. My point is stores can close for just about any reason.

I ask as for example they have a Toy sr us in both Moline and Davenport. Also, if they close stores will they close ones that are the only one around as Toys r us is the ONLY toy chain left!

[TheFugitive]

My point is stores can close for just about any reason.

#1 on the list being "Executive Stupidity".

[d_fife]

what kind of stores will close?

[d_fife]

when I went to the Toys r us in Billings Montana, they told me that they dont make enough revenue to have a Babies r us in it, does that mean that will be on the chopping block?

[d_fife]

of my post above what will happen to the Toys r us?