Small Scale Military Headquarters

Here we go again...according to today's paper, KB TOYS will close 148 to 238 more stores. A list of closings on the company's web site. Looks like the brick and mortar stores for anything 1/18 is coming to an end. But ya know, despite the shipping costs, it sure is nice to be able to shop online, save gas and time running around looking from store to store, and have it delivered to your door in a few days! Oh, I'm a first time caller here!

i was watching the business report yesterday and it was again mentioned that TRU is seriously thinking of selling off its toy division, probably to a bulk distributor type firm. TRU shares were up on the news, which is a bad sign if you don't want this to happen.

Interestingly, TRU in Canada will be completely uneffected by any moves made in the US. TRU Canada is a completely seperate entity from the US stores, with different suppliers etc. While the stores and policies have been patterned off of the US ones, that's as far as the connection goes...

it sucks to see another toy store bite the dust, but i can't say that i will be that disappointed, i hardly go into actual stores anymore, the stock is so spotty , it impossible to find anything for certain, its more of a drive all over and maybe you'll luck outand find something, i dont know whether its the stores to blame for the lack of product or the toy companies, but either way i have almost all but given up on doing anything except online retail, and this new batch of closures doesnt bolster any new interest from my end.

That'll suck! Anybody know of a list of store closings online??

-Ski

That newer TRU floor plan ALONE keeps me away from most "browsing" trips there.

I long for those older aisles; Nice and looong, and they reached (almost) up to the ceiling!

Seemed like they had more stuff then, too.

Grunt must be as old as I am.

When I was little (in the '60s) TRU (or Bargaintown, as it was called) was a TOY WAREHOUSE FULL OF BARGAIN-PRICED TOYS. I hope KB and TRU go out of business and are replaced with a Toy version of Walmart, which is what TRU really useed to be.

I can remember it having that feel as late as the mid-1980s.

http://www.jedidefender.com/

We posted this at JediDefender for the Star Wars crowd, but it translates well enough and we've got links to the definite closings and a list of the potential. It's on the front page Ski.

3 in my area... 1 definite, 2 possible.

Hope that helps...

Myself, I don't see any closing as a good thing, but they did this to themselves. Toys R Us is competitively priced with Wal-Mart on most any item the two share, so I don't see them going away as any good sign. People overreact to the TRU news though, as their stores are all actually performing at profits now (after cutting the fat that was dragging the company down) and even if sold off it's likely the toy entity will just live on with a micro-management basis. It'd be in their better interest really, so a lot of what's tossed around publicly is smoke to enhance the base corporation itself to the public, and as a means of publicly shopping the Toy division around to potential buyers.

This isn't a "End of the world!" scenario, it's just business, and only KB seems to be in any real danger of legitimately closing shop. TRU has time. They've said the '04 Holiday season would be a turning point in their decisions. So we'll just see. I wholely expect the toy division to be sold off, and run by someone else.

Thanks and no thanks for the list. My local KB is on it. I sometimes find neat stuff there. How about those $8 matchbox Collectible airplanes they had for a while. Kinda sad as KB was neat memory as a kid. The most memorable was when I got the whole set of Atlantic Wargames (Stalingrad, Cassino, Ardennes, etc) there for $3 each back in 1982. That was a miracle and I knew it then. That was amazing.

Appreciate the info............

-Ski

Another victim of the Wal-Mart wars perhaps....

Mike