Is Toys Are Us Open Again
Toys 'R' U.s.a. Tries to Come Back, Four Years After Bankruptcy
The retailer, which had airtight all its U.S. stores, has resurfaced at the American Dream mall in New Jersey, just in time for the holidays.
Geoffrey the Giraffe at the opening of the Toys "R" United states of america at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J., this week. Credit... Clark Hodgin for The New York Times
E RUTHERFORD, North.J. — Information technology was 11 a.m. six days before Christmas, and a security guard in a bulletproof vest eyed 120 masked customers continuing in line at the entrance to the newest retailer at the American Dream mall: Toys "R" Us.
When workers slid open 2 side gates, shoppers surged in. Lauryn Dankin, 10, walking with her mother, Caren, grabbed a blue cart and was greeted by a sign:
"Notice: Staircase is not accessible yet."
Neither the cafe nor the slide that starts on the second floor and falls to the first was gear up for customers. Lauryn walked past a magician practicing sleight of hand and approached Carl Zealer, who was working through a trick involving a worm on a string.
"I have a question," she said. "Is that static, or is information technology all an illusion?"
"It's illusion," Mr. Zealer said.
"Ohhhh," Lauryn said. "I only couldn't tell."
Toys "R" United states tin confound, also. Four years after filing for Affiliate 11 bankruptcy protection and iii years since endmost its 735 stores, the brand that Charles Lazarus started in 1957 has been raised from the expressionless in fourth dimension for last-minute holiday shopping. Its first new store and the mall, in East Rutherford, North.J., are betting on the strength of nostalgia'southward grip, hoping that a familiar retail proper name will attract shoppers who are increasingly accepted to doing their buying online. Toys "R" Us is planning to follow the opening of the American Dream store with hundreds of mini locations inside Macy's stores over the next year.
"We sat down and were like: 'Nosotros need a toy store! We believe in a toy store!'" said Paul Ghermezian, a programmer whose company, Triple Five, owns American Dream. "We want a brand that drives you to come for more something small."
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While the lyrics to the store'due south memorable theme song ("I'm a Toys "R" Us kid!") were painted on the steps, the music heard past American Dream shoppers had been remixed past new owners. On shelves, x,000 toys ranged from dizzy (putty) to sophisticated (The New Yorker cover jigsaw puzzles). One board game — Mall Madness — was particularly meta. The proper noun seemed to evoke both retail's struggles during the pandemic and the nightmare that American Dream faced three months ago when its sixteen-story indoor ski slope, Large Snow, caught burn down overnight.
Yet, devotees came to bear witness to the latest retail revival.
"This has got to be sky," said Tynisha Day, 44, who woke upward at 7 a.m., collection three hours from Baltimore with her two sisters and wore rollers in her pilus as she shopped. "We already finished our holiday shopping. Nosotros're just hither for the excitement!"
The store's signature main colors and images of its mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, are displayed as often as possible. The twenty,000-square-human foot store is shut to Nickelodeon Universe — an indoor theme park complete with green slime and roller coasters — and the ice rink with a water park and a "non and then mini golf" course.
Yehuda Shmidman is the chief executive officeholder of WHP Global, the brand acquisition and direction firm that acquired a controlling stake in the parent visitor of Toys "R" Usa in March. WHP, whose investors include Oaktree Capital letter Management, is one of several companies that buy struggling marquee brands and then look to capitalize on the familiarity of the brands' names by licensing them. Its other brands include Anne Klein and Joseph Abboud.
Mr. Shmidman, 40, grew up in Bergen Canton, which includes Due east Rutherford. His outset trip to Toys "R" United states of america was in nearby Paramus, a mall town with ii Macy's stores four miles apart. He marveled at shelves stocked from floor to ceiling.
"I didn't know there were this many toys in the world," he said. "It was such a mind-blowing feel — pre-internet days."
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The collapse of Toys "R" United states in 2018 was painful non simply to its loyal customers simply also to its more than 30,000 employees, who lost their jobs. The retailer became a example study in a individual disinterestedness deal gone wrong, as the visitor's investors loaded it upward with billions in debt and drove it into defalcation. While lawyers and advisers collected millions in fees during the bankruptcy process, its former workers struggled to go severance.
Reminders of the brand'south tumble into bankruptcy all the same exist nearby. Less than a mile from American Dream, a Toys "R" Us sign remains on the brandish board visible to drivers on Route three at the Harmon Meadow shopping complex. Lauryn Dankin's family chosen the closure of the local Toys "R" Usa in Watchung, N.J., "1 of the darkest days in our family." Paramus also had one of the almost recent locations; a smaller, "reimagined" store opened in that location in November 2019 only to close in Jan 2021.
Whether good memories of shopping experiences past is enough to keep this version of Toys "R" U.s. going remains to be seen.
"We didn't create the brand, and we're not changing it," Mr. Shmidman said. "All nosotros're doing is bringing it back to Americans who have been yearning for it."
Big video screens in the American Dream shop displayed images of Geoffrey the Giraffe on an countless loop. When a Christmas tree appeared, he received a series of gift boxes wrapped with bows. One by i, the mascot unveiled a dump truck, a teddy bear and a scooter.
Then a question appeared on the screen: "What volition Geoffrey open next?"
Next twelvemonth, Mr. Shmidman said, he plans to start rolling out 400 Toys "R" Us stores inside Macy's locations. The 2 stores reached an agreement in Baronial, and Nata Dvir, the chief merchandising officeholder for Macy's, said the partnership would permit Macy's to "significantly aggrandize our footprint" with children.
When shoppers visited Santaland at the Macy's flagship store in Manhattan's Herald Square this flavour, they saw signage featuring Geoffrey and an announcement: "Guess what's coming to Macy's!" Next to it was a direction to store for toys on the Macy's website, which features the Toys "R" United states of america itemize. A Macy's spokesperson declined to reveal the amount of physical infinite that Toys "R" U.s.a. would be allotted, simply said the "shop in shops" would feature merchandise and play space for children separated by historic period, involvement and category.
Paradigm
"Coming Presently" is the most common phrase seen and heard at American Dream, and locals have come to expect delays. For more than a decade, the mall was plagued by postponement, merely to open in phases from October 2019 to October 2020, when pandemic foot traffic was a trickle. Next yr, a Starbucks is expected to open up in the mall, and the ski lift, which has been closed for repairs since the fire, will reopen in 2022.
Toys "R" U.s.a. is the Russian nesting doll of retail — a work in progress inside a work in progress — and plans to have its slide and cafe ready in Jan.
On Tuesday, customers making their way to Toys "R" The states walked downward a corridor lined with eclectic offerings, from artisanal cotton candy and popcorn to the Beefiness Hasty Experience, which had a "At present Hiring" sign out front.
Curiosity seekers coursed into the toy shop, and the stairs were open, simply at three p.thousand. employees closed the gate and directed newcomers to form a line. To celebrate again, a grand opening, with a ribbon cut and a block, was staged at iii:30 p.m. More than than 100 people waited in a line that stretched to Wetzel's Pretzels.
"Oh, my God, who is excited?" Mr. Ghermezian, the developer, said. "I don't know about y'all guys, but all I have in my head is the jingle, correct?"
He led the guests in the theme song; the crowd carried the melody a cappella.
Mr. Shmidman said the remixed rendition playing on speakers in the store had some "2021 pep" and took "versions and versions and versions."
Prototype
"If yous go chills hearing it, nosotros nailed it," he said. "If not? We'll go back to the studio."
Jerry Arnold, 31, was first to enter. A father of 2, he grew up in East Rutherford and had been a Toys "R" Us regular since he was 4 years old, buying Power Rangers and PlayStations. Frustrated with the time information technology had taken the mall to be completed, he was surprised that the toy store opened Christmas week.
"Hopefully they stay alive this fourth dimension," he said.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/business/toys-r-us-american-dream-mall.html
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