The Sad Rise and Fall of Toys R Us: The End of When Toys Ruled the World
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- Опубликовано: 14 мар 2018
- On this episode Dan digs through the history of beloved and nearly departed toy store Toys R Us.
From its humble beginnings as Bargainworld to it's website and strategy problems to its acquisition of FAO Shwarz and KB Toys to its bankruptcy filing in 2017.
Toys R Us may be soon gone but not soon forgotten.
He also explains what a leveraged buyout is. Don't worry. It's cool.
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Развлечения
“I didn’t wanna grow up, but since I did, I’m glad I was a toys r us kid.” That hit me real hard in my heart socket.
Sorry man. Its like they took a childhood part from us when they closed toys r us gor good.
@@fidelsolis6070 greedy fucking bastards
Toysrus still exists in Canada :)
This guy no bullshit has one of the best RUclips channels I’ve ever seen, he’s hilarious, informative, but he doesn’t overshadow the material. I could listen to him and watch him make videos about anything.
Well said!
Except Canada kept TRU. Google TRU in Edmonton Alberta Canada and there are 3 stores in that city alone.
@@pudlmaker Lots of MOTU at Ottawa ToysRUs.
I mean, I enjoy the episodes but his voice is so grating.
@@jinx4163 Oofa looks like I'm off to an early start today with "The worse opinion I've read on RUclips today"
My favorite memory of Toys R Us was the day my mom bought me the Dinobots. All five of them. My parents had drained my savings account and told me they would pay me back. It really pissed me off at the time. My little selfish mind could not comprehend that my money could be better used to help the family in a time of need than to purchase a sweet 69 GTO when i was old enough to drive. Dad was on strike at his union construction job and Mom's job could not cover the house payment and food. The strike ended, the money was paid back, and as a reward for my crappy behavior( parents always see the best in us), I was taken to Toys R Us for a toy. There, in all their silver, gold, and red glory, were all five Dinobots. My parents, knowing how much I coveted these toys, exchanged a glance, and without a word, took all five to the register stand. On the way home, my Dad explained what had been going on, and I came to the realization that I had been King Turd of Bandini Mountain. I spent the next month contemplating how much your parents go through to make ends meet, and avoiding getting shanked in the hallways of school for being that a-hole kid that got all five Dinobots in one day. I learned three lessons. 1)Trust your parents. They have your best interest at heart. 2)Do not be a selfish ass. 3)Toys R Us has Dinobots. ALL FIVE OF THEM.
I certainly hope MGA toys can salvage some of this shitshow...
I respect that a lot of people went through that and didn't realize until we got older
Thank you for your story! I was raised by a single mom in a 1-bedroom apartment. She worked for tips at a health-food restaurant, before that was something wealthy yuppies were interested in. A good tip for her might be a dollar. She still managed to give me $3 a week allowance, which was enough for a G.I. Joe action figure. When He-Man came out, I begged for a raise to $5 because that's what those cost... I had no idea the daily sacrifices she was already making. She still gave me the raise, and we'd go to Toys R Us all the time so I could fritter away my allowance on plastic action figures (all of which I eventually lost or destroyed). I didn't understand the cost then, but it was a paradise on Earth for me, and it made me forget all the hardships that we faced. Looking back decades later, I can only appreciate our parents for caring so much about giving us that escape from reality and all those happy memories. Now I seem to be buying a new game console for my kids once a year, but it can't be the same... they will never know a place like Toys R Us.
Best Toys "R" Us memory for me was in 1984, when I picked up Starscream as my very first Transformers toy.
"I don't want to grow up I'm a Toys r us".........(sob).
There's a million toys at Toys R Us that I can play with from tracks and planes to video games it's the biggest toy store there is I don't want to grow up maybe if I did could be a Toys R Us kid
It's 2020 and I felt that... :..(
As someone who grew up with toys r us and is currently an employee of toys r us, I'm completely heartbroken. But you handled this video with a lot of respect so thank you. Toys r us has always been a second home to me and I'm soon going to be without that escape. Thank you collectors who have shopped with. And never forget
Sorry to hear that. I have a good friend who has been working at TRU for the last decade. He's always been my man on the inside letting me know when stuff was going to hit so I didn't have to be some creepy weirdo adult hanging out there all the time. He specifically said that he won't necessarily miss the job or company, but he'll miss the work family he's made.
That's exactly how it is for me. I work with the greatest people I've ever met. They are my family
Toys R Us is still alive and strong here in Canada. I had the pleasure of working there myself and have a lifetime of amazing memories within those walls. The most vivid of which was trying the brand new Sega Genesis system they had set up for display in the early 90s. It was the beginning of something special.
Anyone remember grabbing a yellow paper ticket to get your video games at Toys R Us? And the disappointment when there were No more tickets for the game you wanted. Sega Genesis...X-men the video game...One of the Most Memorable moments for me @Toys R Us. That and getting the OG Power Rangers Megazord...Ill Never Forget those Moments of Pure Kid Ecstasy.
I remember that system. I thought it was genius at the time. I found out, towards the end, the reason the tickets were always out was because the workers just stopped caring about refilling them.
Ha! I remember that! Whenever I was lucky enough to get a new Nintendo game I would proudly walk to the checkout line w/paper in hand. I miss those times....
I hated those tickets
Zzzz-Yeah we had them at office max, sucked people thought they represented inventory and we were a low cost leader so constant price changes by a nickle, ment printing dividing and hanginga tondaily
Nobunaga's Revenge! I can still feel the excitement as I approached the cage with my little yellow ticket.
My daughters first gift the day she was born was a Teddy bear that I bought from Toys R Us before they closed that location in 2016. A place that was awesome for the first decades of my life.
I miss the place.
"…Everything is in stock all the time at prices that literally can not be beat… ." Had they just stuck with that simple business model they'd still be around. Sad to see them go.
Going to TRU was a privilege i didnt get all that often. i loved the place. it seemed so huge as a kid with every toy imaginable. i got my first modem there, which started me on my internet
life thru bulletin boards. i got the gi joe sky striker there too. most of the rest of my gi joes i got from sears and kmart, since they were closer.
Your closing was beautiful. It genuinely made me sad.
Thank you.
@@SecretGalaxyTV It's 2020 and I'm STILL feeling that ending.
It’s 2021, and I’m still feeling your beautiful closing.
The Lego wall, oh man. I got the Black Monarch's Castle there. And I just remember them having everything as you said, all the GI Joes, all the TMNTs. It was an awesome experience for a kid.
Thanks for giving a nuanced and actually accurate description of Toys R Us' downfall; I know that leveraged buyouts aren't easy to understand or easy to explain, but everyone's just been going back to the bullshit well of "Amazon stole all their toy sales / no one shops at Toys R Us anymore anyway" despite all evidence to the contrary. Somehow you made a humorous history video more informative than people trying to break down the bankruptcy.
People like simple, one note explanations. A specific thing that can be blamed. It's never that simple.
Omg to those who don't shop at toys r us where is your soul???
Personally, I ended up buying most of my toys at Target and Wal-Mart, since Toys R Us didn't rotate their action figure stock fast enough.
Chris O'Donovan but now if you go into Walmart you are lucky if you find anything. Prime example is transformers. I have 4 in my area and none of them have leader, voyager, or deluxe class figures. And don’t get me started with Star Wars toys.
@@UC1180_ so true. I can never find figures I want in either Wal-Mart or Target
I was kind of emotionally moved at that ending. glad I was a toys r us kid, too.
One of my fondest memories was going to the Grand Opening of a TRU store in my (then) home town of Grand Junction, CO. I think that was the first time I got to lay my hands on Nintendo 64, and see a hell of a lot of toys that I never thought I could get. I still remember the layout of that store, at that time, to this day.
I’m gonna miss this store.
Rip Charles Lazarus who died yesterday at 94
Wow! Nice long life. RIP
Thanks for the touching farewell Dan. Growing up in the 90's my nearest Toys R' Us was about an hour away, which meant it was a birthday/Christmas/special occasion event. Walking through those doors was a magical experience, and usually meant finding the harder to find figures that KB Toys (Rip) did not have. I vividly remember when Marvel Legends first debuted in 2001 I got Captian America at TRU. May we always remember the good times of childhood, we'll always be Toys R'Us kids.
Bro :'( those old pictures man :( USS Flagg's till the top....
My favorite memory from there was getting to go to the one in Times Square and getting to ride the Ferris wheel. After that I got a spongebob house lego set and it was one of the best memories from my childhood. Sad to see the Times Square store go and the other nearby stores go.
R.I.P Charles Lazarus, only hope this wasn't another case of death from a broken heart. Excellent vid btw.
Thank you so much for this. RIP Toys R Us. We’ll always have our memories of this place which was so much more than just a store that sold toys. Ryan the manager and his crew at Yakima, WA Toys R Us we the valued customer will always be in debt to your amazing customer service and we will miss you. We all want to be Toys R Us kids and just because the stores are gone doesn’t mean we can’t. Thanks again Toy Galaxy this was just what we all needed.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
Yes, it did seem like a lot of shows in the 80s may have been “extended commercials designed to sell toys” but as a child of the 80s, it seems that description leaves out an important thing - most of the shows were actually ENTERTAINING for kids, and the toys were FUN!!
RIP good toys (and toy stores) from my childhood!! 😰😰😰😰
It is profoundly sad that Toys R Us is closing. I am glad that you explained to us basically that Toys R Us Board of Directors got too big with stores as well as online Amazon and made foolish investments. It is nasty that someone would buy something like Toys and have no interest in Toys. I was a child in the 70s and 80s. Hence, I grew up with Toys R Us, Kiddie City, and Kay Bee Toy and Hobby Shop. I remember as a Child feeling like being in a Toy Store was magical!! I can remember getting Dolls, Ms. Pacman, and many other wonderful Toys at all 3 Toy Stores:). I wonder if it is possible for someone else to open up a large Toy Store in America today for Children, be affordable, have CEOs that actually LIKE TOYS, care about Children, and stay in business? When Charles Lazarus opened up a Children's furniture and then Toy Store it was during the post WWII era. America was a different country then.
Rest in Peace Charles Lazarus. 1923-2018
Im 51 now. i remember my parents taking my siblings and I at an early age. I LOVED it. Just went today and still have the same feeling as I did when I was a kid! Heck I worked at the TRU for 3yrs just out of HS!
My mom used to take me and my sister to Toys R Us when we were kids. We didn’t have a ton of money so we rarely bought anything. We just wandered through the store for hours, checking out all the glorious aisles filled with toys. Some of my best childhood memories.
“Now, where do we pick up our internet money?” Hilarious.
Man, your ending really moved me. I’m glad I was a Toys R Us kid, too.
Imagination is dead, innocence ,toys, going outside, collecting comics,cards, local toys stores, k.b toys and now toysrus.
Man you put real tears in my eyes😂😭😢
Some people are of the opinion that physical toys actually detracted from the imagination part of play. Just putting that out there.
Yep, b/c we live in the new society of iPhone-Zombies. That's all there is now.
@@MechalemmiwinksV2 Physical toys are 100% BETTER for imagination than kids staring at iPads all day like little zombies. Nothing crushes imagination faster than zoning out to a screen.
I remember I went there as a child! I wanted a chair there and I fell off the slide on one of those playhouses! After I fell off, my dad comes running to me and takes me straight to the ER! Eventually I went back there after I was done recovering from my wounds and they had the same chair in stock! They saved it for me because they knew I was a Tous R Us kid! #Riptoysrus you will be forever missed!
Goodbye toy's R us gonna miss all those memories of buying stuff with my dad and getting a burger after.
"Discount" hasn't been associated with Toys R Us for a looong time.
I always thought growing up Toys R Us was expensive
I KNOW THAT'S RIGHT ! .IF THEY HAD SALES EVERY WEEK IT'S A POSSIBILITY IT . COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED .
It's just UNTHINKABLE ! WHY ?
Toys R Us was always the most expensive place to go to when I was a kid. Example: TMNT figures at Walmart were 3.39 each, But at Toys R Us they were 3.99. That's probably why my family didn't shop there very often.
No doubt. I loved
shopping there but they were always priced higher than competing stores.
Awesome vid, cant get enough of the History Of series. That closing line said it all, "I'm glad I was a Toys R Us kid."
Damn good video, My favorite memories were during the Beast Wars era of Transformers. Every time I went to pick up a fuzor there was a new one to get. It was a continuous cycle of "I got a new toy!" and "Look at the new ones that are coming out." And then when they were getting the Gundam Wing action figures in, MSIA, the cycle started all over again.
R.I.P Toys R US, you will be remembered.
My dad took me and got me the ninja turtles case with like 8 figures. Wasnt even xmas or anything. Just one great friday.
This was beautiful, man. Awesome job. Your closing statement was PERFECT. I felt like we were both holding back the same tears at the end there.
Geoffrey will be missed.
MOST DEFINITELY..be missed FOREVER.
I once kit bashed a Lego Jeffery head onto the roof of the Lego Toy's R Us retail store. 😅 Still has it on display. Fun time.
This ending has one of the most elegant callbacks in video form I've ever seen. Bravo!
Thanks Dan and crew, end of an era. :(
Every time I went was another memory made.
My favorite memory is trying to find a Rey Misterio figure even called jakks Pacific, my parents took me to toys r us and found him still have him
Wow, way to finally put "Leveraged Buyout" in perspective and turn it into something that pisses me right off in one swell foop.
I was born in 78. When I was kid in the 80's, Tor R Us seemed HUGE! Like a toy Disney world. Then, once I got a job there around 1998, It didn't seem as big as I remembered it. But then again, neither did the mall, lol.
Yup. You pretty much nailed it. Toys ‘R’ Us was the pinnacle when you were a kid back in the 80’s.
Best Toys R Us memory, picked up Snake Eyes G.I. Joe for the first time (the one that came with the wolf) Played with so much the tumbs and waist band broke!!
Yes, those crazy rubber band hip joints!
Lol no thumbs or crotches on mine
My favorite memory was seeing a whole aisle of gijoe to choose from. Sometimes I wish i can go back in time and buy all the figures
Best day as a kid was when my father figured out that an o-ring washer would make a perfect replacement for the band inside a broken Joe. All of a sudden lots of KIA toys were back in business.
Sweeeeet!! That snake eyes was a great figure!
Once again Dan, you nailed it.
I shall miss TRU.
And now let me wipe that tear from my eye...darn allergies
Darth Vestius 😢🤧
I worked at Toys r Us during christmas in 1995, and it was every bit as amazing as you can imagine..... Good memories.... 😥😥😥
Man, toys r us was the spot. I did happen to walk into one when I was in my late 20s. I was hoping for a nostalgic experience but it was like walking into a big game stop with a small toy department.
First things first RIP Toys R Us.
*cries inside remembering the TrU glory days of the late 80's early 90's*
That was a great video. I remember walking in to Toys r us for the first time and having my mind blown. Left with He-man and Skeletor
Best Toys R Us memory for me. I touched The Hoff. Shook his hand at a promo event back in the days of Knight Rider. At the time, I really didn't care. Wasn't a huge fan. Hasselhoff was power shaking down the line of people in full Knight Rider getup for the grand opening of the store. I was busy playing with my Robotech Alpha Fighter. Saw him get close out of the corner of my eye, reached out and shook his hand. My poor cousin who was a huge Knight Rider fan was skipped over. He was standing next to me. Life is a fucked up thing. But I still look back on that moment fondly but with a bit of pain.
I remember digging in the flower garden of our first home as a kid years later and finding the head to the alpha fighter and going, wtf is this doing here? And the memory kicked in. Went by the closed store a couple weeks ago. It hurt. Pretty bad. I had bought a few things before it closed.
There really needs to be something to fill the void. There are some great toys out there that kids just aren't getting. My nephew is a bit of a Transformers fan. He kinda dragged me into collecting them again. I pass a lot of stuff onto him and his folks ask me every time where I find this stuff. Web retailers. But that stuff isn't the same. Fine for an adult collector but most parents will not have the time or urge to put in the effort of a hobbyist.
RIP TRU.
Growing up in the 70s and 80s, it was all about Children’s Palace here in Kansas City. I believe it was bought by TRU in the early 90s perhaps. I’ve been.a Toys R Us kid since then. Gonna miss this one a lot.
Probably when I was in like, first grade, and one of the kids in my class had a birthday party there. They gave us a bunch of pirate stuff to wear, and I remember how hilarious I thought my friend putting two hooks on his hands and picking up and eating pizza with them was. It was also funny because they wouldn't let the guy open his gifts while he was there, because they were gonna walk out of the store without paying for a bunch of toys, and they didn't wanna look like they were stealing them.
Toys R Us is where I discovered Diaclone in the early 80's and fueled my loved for the Transformers when that came out. Fast forward to being an adult, I used to visit Toys R Us to buy my younger brother Playstation games in the late 90's. Lots of great memories attached to Toys R Us
Really love your channel. It's so well produced and the comic timing in the edits is perfect. :D
Very good commentary.. informative but sad Toys r us is where my momma got my toys, I got my kids toys, and I just bought my grandson a toy from there. A lot of memories as a kid and even more with my kids. Toys r us was an experience during its prime..I guess that's not enough to protect the company from poor business practices...I'll miss you Geoffrey
Yes it stopped because of ipads
Still open in Canada and doing well!
As a child ToysRus was like playground where I had so many fond memories. It wasn't until I took my 2yr old nephew to ToysRus and saw that gleam in his eyes that I realized just how magical that place was.
Great perspective! 💯 agree!!
My best Toys R Us memory was when I worked there, was really fun. Me and a coworker would carry lightsabres and whenever we'd cross paths we'd break into a battle, customers and kids always laughed. Got a lot of good toy collecting done while I worked there, enjoyed it quite a lot.
Then eventually we got a new manager named Vince that just made working their a living hell, drill sergeant type that accused people of stealing when nobody was, forced people to check bags when shifts ended, ran the entire place like a factory, single-handedly sucked all of the fun out of working there. Eventually he started cutting people's hours, then one day I called the front desk to get my work schedule for one week only to find I had no hours. I was never fired, I just stopped getting hours and eventually I just stopped calling.
I remember my first toys r us visit. It was a grand opening in 1988 I believe. The store was packed. Geoffrey the Giraffe had been advertised as being there on tv for the week leading up to it. I was super excited to go. I remember wandering the aisles after standing in line to meet Geoffrey. Away from my parents. I remember looking up and seeing toys a turtles. On pegs. As high as the ceiling went. I mean, it wasn’t, but I was 6 and pretty short so it felt like it. My dad found me with one in my hand I picked up because it had my name on it. A toy. My most favoritest thing in the whole world. And it had my name.
I’m sure I would have eventually gotten into ninja turtles at some point in my childhood. I was the perfect age for it. But that Toys r Us trip is where it started. And it’s where it never ended. At least for me.
RIP TRU. I’ll never grow up.
Great story.
Great story.
Mike Kaess
So witch turtle are you?
@@SecretGalaxyTV TOYS "R" US IS BACK!!! www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toysrus-emerges-with-new-vision-team--global-strategy-300792831.html
RIP
For me, it was a combination of Toy Story and Toys R Us that basically molded me into the toy collector I am today.
Half of the enjoyment of Toys R Us was the atmosphere. Even if I wasn’t buying anything, walking along the aisles was enough for me.
Great video, that’s for making it. I forgot about the leverage buyout that happened in 2005. Such a shame.
11:07 That was Jaleel White aka Steve Urkel as a kid.
No, it was Lil Wayne.
It was Emmanuel Lewis - pretty sure....
Dan whoever controls the camera could you get them to adjust the focus ring as its just off at the moment. So the picture isn’t sharp like it should be.
One of my happiest childhood memories was when my aunty took me and all of my cousins (of whom there are many) to the local Toys R Us just before Christmas and told us we could each pick out any toy we wanted as a present. When you're a kid, that's literally the best thing ever. I got an unnecessarily large Beast Machines Cheetor, which in hindsight was probably a mistake, but it was still awesome. Not long after that, I lost that aunty to cancer. Now whenever I think of Toys R Us, I think of her and that awesome time one December afternoon almost two decades ago. Thanks Toys R Us. You will be missed.
Living in Canada, I still go to Toys R Us regularly. There are 3 in my city, and it's always fun to go see what's new.
3 in your city? Wow, are you in Toronto or something? ;) I just went to the one in Barrie, ON a couple of weeks ago.
Someone should get a Geoffrey plush and write “will do anything for toys/money” on a piece of cardboard and have the cardboard in Geoffrey’s hands and put it by the entrance
😂🤣😂
Sad day for kids and future kids and us collectors. R.i.P ToyRUs and Geoffrey. Best commercial song for kids that made u feel like a kid forever. Thanks for the memory #IWantBeToyRUsKid
Why? Cheaper online.
AverageCountryGirl Nikki because
It's not about the price it's about the memories. It's the place that a parent would take their kid of they got good marks on a report card. It's the place where some kid got a set of Lincoln Logs in the 80's and became an architect in the 21 century. It's the place where I got my first Speak and Spell and because of that I'm a computer engineer. It's where some of the most famous BMXers got their first bike (it's where I got MY first bike). It was a place where if something real traumatizing happened say a death in the family a parent would take their kid to soften the blow. It didn't matter if you ended up walking out of there with a 5 dollar piece of plastic it was the time you spend in the toy store that was fun. You could play video games, play with toys in there. Toys R Us was a place you planned on going. Anybody can order online. Can you take those memories with you 20 years later if you order online? No kid remembers going down the two aisles at Walmart to get a toy 3 hours after the fact. Usually when you get your kid a toy at Walmart it's to shut them up, not to reward them. In Bob we Trust did a great video about this same topic. It was real touching.
I grew up poor in a very rural part of north central Arkansas. The nearest Toys R Us was 2+ hours away in Little Rock. I was a teenager before I ever got to go to one for the first time and it was like Valhalla. I had dreamed of the store on so many Saturday mornings and the realization didn’t disappoint. Even in adulthood, I’ve never lived less than an hour and a half from one, but my visits there were always special. I’m sad that I never really got to take my kiddo to one. Thank you for this informative video, sir. Always top notch.
Those old still pictures of the shelves packed with vintage star wars vehicles brings joy to.my heart. Thank you!
Well when Toys R Us went belly up, the Canadian division was sold off and is still in operation now... so who knows... if they ever manage to grow their business again they might expand to the U.S. ... :)
They need to get a serious online presence though and retake their business from Amazon.
R.I.P Jeffrey
*"Ackchyually"* It's Geoffrey the Giraffe
I guess you didn't hear the news. He committed suicide.
Geoffrey the Giraffe must've suffered a heart attack when he heard Toys "R" Us will be going out of business.
It’s like a part of my childhood is gone
First time I ever visited TRU I was in 3rd grade. We didn't have one where I lived in Bangor, Maine, at the time but there was one in South Portland so my parents said we could drive down during April school vacation. Saved my money for weeks and weeks and walked out of there with like 50 whole dollars of stuff (this was 9 years old in 1985 money, mind you, so that was a lot at the time)... it was glorious. Became an annual tradition for a few years there, too.
Same here. Closest one growing up was 45 minutes away. The kind of place you only went like once a month at MOST.
I've watched a few of your videos already and gave a thumbs up to every one but this one made me subscriber. He-Man, Voltron, Thundercats holy crap, you have one about Micronauts!! Your videos are like watching reruns of my childhood! Keep doing what you do, keep the great content coming and thanks for the virtual trips down memory lane.
R.I.P. Dr. G. Raffe , Geoffrey, Gee Gee and Baby Gee.
Geoffrey the Giraffe will ALWAYS be my Spirit Animal. :(
I always liked seeing Geoffrey on those adverts, the last I saw of him was around xmas where he was flying santa's sleigh last year as reindeer were too busy have fun with toys. I never gotta Ho in there but I'm glad for a time it made many children and toy/game collectors happy. No matter wht no toy stores we get we'll never have another as magical as toysrus
Greatest comment in the history of comnents
I took losing Toys R Us so incredibly hard. .....this video made me cry. This store was my childhood. Every bit of money was saved so I could go to this beautiful kingdom..... I am too old to be a father. I was hoping I could take my nephew here ... he will never know the joy of a store built for his smile and laughter....... hate growing up.
Wow- Dan & Greg... just... wow. Really amazing work on this. When I was a kid the absolute treat of all treats was going to Toys R Us... always hoped I’d be able to treat my kids to the same thrill. I’m in the UK now, and while there are Toys R Us stores here they somehow lack the magic of the stores in the US. Alternatively it’s possible that Toys R Us is just bereft of the magic of the 80s and my childhood memories. Here’s to the fallen, and to my realisation that I will someday lament to my children that we used to go to stores bigger than the supermarket that had nothing but toys. If they even play with toys that is. Don’t seem to put their iPads down much.
On a side-note- the irony of the founder’s surname “Lazarus” is not entirely unnoticeable.
This almost made me sad for a company that completely forgot its mission and became more notable for short-stocking items and marking things up 60 percent, followed by a 50 percent off "sale"...
Let's all try to remember TRU for what it originally was, not what it had become.
Growing up since the late 70s and early 80s , I've been going to Toys R Us since I was a kid because my parents would buy the toys and video games there and this was before GameStop and EB Games , I am definitely going to miss this store , R.I.P. Toys R Us .
I remember when i wanted to get a game, you would need to go get the game card on the shelves and bring it to the front of the store where you would slide it to the employee behind what looked like a bulletproof glass window. I felt important!!! lol
😭😭😭😭😭😭
#RIPToysrUs
My best TRU memory is finding g1 Jazz when I was a wee lad. I also worked there part time at Christmas time and I loved unloading truck I got first dibs it was great Keep up the good work Dan
Will do!
I have worked at Toys R Us for a decade and I just want to say thank you to Dan and all the people who have made it an experience I will never forget. You're the best.
Your description of Toys R Us as nirvana hits the nail on the head. The '80s version of the store with amazing playthings stacked sky-high seems like a dream-world of innocence and fun. The spectacle and experience were just as enjoyable as whatever you ended up purchasing. For me, part of the excitement as a kid was being given a choice. Your parent offered to take you there and the ride was one of anticipation. You were given a price limit, but then you could wander those bountiful aisles, absorb the alluring packaging art, and finally choose which new friend you would be adding to your playtime. You were surrounded by imagination and adventure.
Even though today's Toys R Us doesn't contain that same magic, and the days of childhood are long gone, I still feel a little spark when I walk through those doors. I visited one of my local stores today, and strolling those aisles for perhaps the last time delivered waves of nostalgia and sadness. I'm so glad I grew up when I did, and I'll always be a Toys R Us kid.
Given the choice, I would take a government bail out for Toys R Us over GM any day of the week. Does anyone on the internet even remember Pontiac?
"We Build Excitement - Pontiac".
Oh, yeah. Who could forget those commercials for the Pontiac Fiero in the '80s. Cool looking car when i was kid.
Or Oldsmobile? Geo? Anyone? GM absolutely did not deserve a bailout, but there's so much Old Motor City money in DC that they'd never ever let the Big Three go under.
On a positive note, Ford Motor Company tried to refuse the money, but the gov't wouldn't budge, so they put it in a bank account, accrued interest, and paid it back to the gov't shortly after.
Erm... Not quite, El Gringo Bandito. www.factcheck.org/2011/09/ford-motor-co-does-u-turn-on-bailouts/
One Christmas I got a remote control Fiero from Toys R Us ...
I hate Ford!
Dan that was the most informative eulogy and third most heart felt I've ever heard. The moment I heard you say "i never wanted to grow up but then I did" I felt the last of my 80's childhood finally go like my final baby tooth slightly painful but completely necessary in order for more growth. Hell I even shed a tear when you used the old tag line about being a toys are us kid. What a whirlwind of memories that flooded in seeing that old commercial I will miss toys r us more than science geeks will miss Steven hawking.
Hello from South Africa. I can definitely see the change in everything since I grew up as I was a 90's baby. Like you said, fully stocked, it always made me gasp in awe. Now it's so heartbreaking when you enter the stores.
40 years old and i still get the toys r us kid jingle stuck in my head at lest weekly
for bikes to trains to airowplains the biggest toy store there is i dont wanna grow up cus if i did i wouldn't be a toys r us kid . and now we know we should have grown up because no ,toys r us
Damn, that ending got me good.
I can vividly remember Toys R Us store on Midlothian Turnpike, Richmond, Va opening in 1972. I had been shopping my gifts for my nieces and nephews ever since. It's really sad that today's children won't experience the joy of a trip to Toys R Us.
The closing line was beautiful; pure poetry and perfectly summarized my own experience as an 80s TRU customer.
I really appreciated the 1980 and 1983 in-store photos that verified my memories of current-line inventories stacked floor-to-ceiling. I remember many GIJoe, Star Wars, and Transformers purchases in those aisles with options galore and a sea of choices.
When it became a IPO that was then end....too many people mishandling and leaving company in a rotating door...computer games are great but also parenting has gone down hill with most young families...here stop crying play with your iPad...work,work but now both mom and dad have careers.Kids lose interests in toys
it really sucks but i think it hurt me more when KB toys when out of business
Oh god KB Toys was good for a hot second but their stores were always too small and disorderly AF.
I remember in the mid-'90s, I would go to KB Toys and buy Marvel/X-Men action figures for "3 for $10".
walter kovaks and transformers "machine wars" went with it.
KB Toys was where I bought most of my Transformers from, when i was a kid.
Venger Van Vanderbone
YESSSSS !!!
Appreciate the video, I think one of this channel’s best.
I was holding up so well then you played the theme song and someone put these tears in my eyes
Bain Capital also was responsible for Kay-Bee Toys going out of business. So blame Mittens for destroying your childhood and not George Lucas and Michael Bay.
George Lucas created the childhoods of children for the last 50 years. When The Force Awakens came out, you still grade school kids asking if Anakin and Ahsoka will be in the movie. Same with Michael Bay, he left the Transformers franchise but 10 years he rescued it from obscurity and many elements from his movies (from sports car Bumblebee to bad guy Autobots) is now common place even in Transformers stories not part of those movies).
Hey Dan thank you for this.....I've been going to toys r us scince Hasbro took over marvel legends and this mad e me feel happy to see
You make me cry of joy Because of the memories i cherish thanks of this store every time I go there was magical i alway be a toys r us kid even now at 37 thanks for the memories and thanks you for make me remember the simple times in every video 😊
As a former TRU employee and former child of the 90s, it breaks my heart, and the memories fill me with joy. What I would give for one more day in that heaven