#Roommates, a few years ago many were heartbroken after beloved toy store chain Toys ‘R’ Us officially closed its doors permanently after succumbing to bankruptcy—but that could all change. According to the new owner of the Toys ‘R’ Us brand, there are plans to officially reopen all stores in the U.S. before the 2021 holiday season!
@CNBC reports, Toys ‘R’ Us fans have a big reason to be happy, as the current plans to reopen are just months away—according to the brand new owner, that is. Brand management company WHP Global announced earlier this week that it acquired controlling interest in Tru Kids, which is the parent company of Toys ‘R’ Us, Babies ‘R’ Us and the iconic ‘Geoffrey’ the Giraffe brand. Chairman and CEO of WHP Global, Yehuda Shmidman, has high hopes that the deeply missed toy store can make a successful return. “We’re in the brand business, and Toys ‘R’ Us is the single most credible, trusted and beloved toy brand in the world. We’re coming off a year where toys are just on fire. … And for Toys ‘R’ Us, the U.S. is really a blank canvas.”
Shmidman definitely has a big hurdle in front of him, as he plans to not only reopen all U.S. stores, but he aims to do it fairly quickly. The goal is to reopen before the lucrative holiday season sales rush—however, the stores won’t necessarily be in the locations they were before. WHP Global is abandoning Toys ‘R’ Us stores of the past that were considerably large, and is instead eyeing small locations, such as downsized flagship stores, pop-ups, airports and mini stores inside other retailers.
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Explaining that changing shopping habits are what led to the new focus, Shmidman said:
“There are so many malls that will no longer be in the future, so we don’t need to be there. But we could be in malls that do have traffic. … So we really have an opportunity not just to capture that experience for toys that people are yearning for, but also capture where [people] want to shop. That will be very interesting post-Covid.”
As of now, WHP Global has yet to announce a specific date for when store reopenings will occur or the number of stores that will be open before the end of the year.
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