US toy retailer Toys R Us announced their intention to end business by liquidation of over 700 nationwide toy stores and leaving over 30,000 thousand employees without work. The decision came on Tuesday evening as Toys R Us announced on a conference call that they were not able to find a suitable buyer for the remaining operations.
Toys 'R' Us goes out of business, 30,000 jobs at stake https://t.co/tocNgRfF1z
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) March 15, 2018
The company already announced the closing of all their UK operations at the end of the month after failing to find a buyer, and was placed in administration. The closing of 100 UK outlets will leave over 3,ooo thousand employees without work. Toys R Us also stated that its Canadian operations are still pending of being sold to another group, but no plans of closure had been announced.
No matter what happens, I will always be a @ToysRUs Kid! https://t.co/evn4qSaieV #ToysRUsKid #ToysRUs #GeoffreyTheGiraffe pic.twitter.com/bYmhqPvJgS
— Jerrod Maruyama (@jmaruyama) March 14, 2018
Rumors of the company’s liquidation started surfacing on Friday, following reports that the company failed to secure a financial loan to continue the operations of the chain and also reports that Toys R Us didn’t pay several toy makers, including Hasbro and Mattel, for their merchandise being delivered to their stores during the last few months. Toys R Us has been unable to maintain a higher profit margin in comparison to retail outlets like Walmart, Target and online giant Amazon.
10%-15% of all toy sales could be lost forever if Toys R Us liquidates https://t.co/6b2qGZ70U4
— CNBC (@CNBC) March 9, 2018
Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in September 2017 and closed about 180 under performing stores and even closed some stores in Puerto Rico, following severe damage as the result of Hurricane Maria. However the retail chain underperformed this past holiday season in comparison to its competition, estimating an over 10 percent decrease in sales.
Toys R Us has been operating as one of the top toy retailers worldwide since their first store opened in 1948 in Washington DC. The company employs over 64,000 and reported estimated revenues of over $12 billion in 2014.
The decline at Toys R Us started way before Amazon entered the scene. https://t.co/RJm0Ukhh6Z
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) March 10, 2018
Toys R Us-branded stores outside the US would not be affected by the news, as the name is licensed to other owners/investors.