It has been a tough road for Toys “R” Us over the last decade or so. Dwindling sales and a failure to keep up with online retailing resulted in the storied chain of toy stores going bankrupt in 2019. All the stores across the United States shut their doors and put the name up for sale. This was pretty crushing to adults who grew up with the store being a part of their childhoods. Fortunately for toy lovers everywhere, things have been picking up over the last couple years for Toys “R” Us, and you may just see them coming to an airport or uh, cruise ship near you.
In 2021, WHP Global scooped up the Toys “R” Us branding, and set to work finding ways to utilize the name and capitalize on that kind of brand recognition. The result was partnering with Macy’s to provide toys that could be purchased on the Macy’s website, or at physical locations through a store within the store. It would appear that this plan worked, because Toys “R” Us is planning an “air, land and sea” expansion.”
To be more specific, it means expanding to placing stores in airports, cruise ships, and brick-and-mortar locations.
The giraffe in the room is the question as to why they would expand into airports and cruise ships. Reportedly for cruise ships at least, the intent is to sell merchandise that is “cruise-themed.” Which we guess could mean anything from Geoffrey the Giraffe dressed up as Gavin MacLeod on “The Love Boat” to copies of Battleship with all the warships replaced by ocean liners. No specific cruise line partnerships have been named yet.
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport will be the first to receive a Toys “R” Us store this November, in a partnership with Duty Free Americas.
There’s a Toys “R” Us store located in the New Jersey American Dream Mall which has been there since 2022. The plan is to continue launching flagship stores in the 2024 holiday season. This would result in 24 brick and mortar locations in addition to the current 452 Macy’s locations that Toys “R” Us has partnered with.
We wish Toys “R” Us luck in their continued growth, after all, more stores means more job opportunities for people as well. Not really sure how the whole airport and cruise ship thing is going to go though. Is there really a pressing need to buy toys at an airport? Well, maybe if you’re seeing family and forgot to buy a gift for the kids or something. And maybe there is pressing demand for a Toys “R” Us on ocean cruises, you know, for the octogenarians who are still a Toys “R” Us kid.
