Toys ‘R’ Us Near You May Be Closing
After closing various stores, Toys 'R' Us plans to close another 200 stores and many employees suffer from unemployment creating financial issues for employees and their families who are laid off
Image ( https://wellroundedny.com/local-toys-r-us-may-closing/)
By Jose Mendez
Published Feb. 23, 2018 12:50 p.m.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
This summer famous retailer Toys 'R' Us filed for bankruptcy, resulting in an enormous number of store closings, over 200 and still counting, the toy company is trying to turn their luck around.
This number of store closings is affecting approximately 4,500 workers and leaving them unemployed. When the company first filed for bankruptcy back in January of this year, they promised those employees who would be affected with financial assistance but now the company has walked away from this promise and managers were instructed to tell their hourly wage workers that " there are no severance benefits being provided for the store-closing process."
The company has struggled with poor holiday sales in the past few years, during peak seasons when toy retailer's profit the most such as the Christmas holidays. The company currently refuses to disclose the amount of money that was made during the 2017 holidays.
Before I get into detail on how this all fits into our marketing class, I would like to show the history of retail stores and introduce why Toys 'R' Us has had a huge decline in sales.
As you can see in the video, retail first started with the creation of the first mall, now a days we don't think about where and how these stores got started, we just want to spend our paycheck and find the most trendiest things. After the mall came different individual stores that affected the businesses at the mall but did not damage them, until stores like Wal-Mart and Target came around. Customers realized you can find everything under one roof and it was very convenient for them creating a big competition with smaller businesses that later pushes them out of business.
In the world today people can find anything online and have it delivered within a couple of days thanks to online stores like Amazon.com and online shopping. This shows that the customers needs are changing. Not many customers want to leave their house to go shopping, they would prefer not to deal with the long lines, grumpy store associates, traffic and just shop from the convenience of their home.
Amazon is currently leading the market and will continue to do so as time goes by, who knows maybe Amazon will create a new target market for customers and expand its business.
_____________________________________________________________________________
This summer famous retailer Toys 'R' Us filed for bankruptcy, resulting in an enormous number of store closings, over 200 and still counting, the toy company is trying to turn their luck around.
This number of store closings is affecting approximately 4,500 workers and leaving them unemployed. When the company first filed for bankruptcy back in January of this year, they promised those employees who would be affected with financial assistance but now the company has walked away from this promise and managers were instructed to tell their hourly wage workers that " there are no severance benefits being provided for the store-closing process."
The company has struggled with poor holiday sales in the past few years, during peak seasons when toy retailer's profit the most such as the Christmas holidays. The company currently refuses to disclose the amount of money that was made during the 2017 holidays.
As you can see in the video, retail first started with the creation of the first mall, now a days we don't think about where and how these stores got started, we just want to spend our paycheck and find the most trendiest things. After the mall came different individual stores that affected the businesses at the mall but did not damage them, until stores like Wal-Mart and Target came around. Customers realized you can find everything under one roof and it was very convenient for them creating a big competition with smaller businesses that later pushes them out of business.
In the world today people can find anything online and have it delivered within a couple of days thanks to online stores like Amazon.com and online shopping. This shows that the customers needs are changing. Not many customers want to leave their house to go shopping, they would prefer not to deal with the long lines, grumpy store associates, traffic and just shop from the convenience of their home.
Amazon is currently leading the market and will continue to do so as time goes by, who knows maybe Amazon will create a new target market for customers and expand its business.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Link to WSJ Article (https://www.wsj.com/articles/toys-r-us-plans-to-close-another-200-stores-1519254948)
I believe that the technology that we have today is affecting how children "play". They are now more into tablets or phones. I know some children that would prefer to watch a video or play games on their tablets instead of play with a toy. Even if the children still enjoyed playing with toys, going to Toys 'R' Us could be a little inconvenient. For example, stores like Walmart and Target have toys, but they also have items that the parents might need. Going out just to by toys just seems like a waste of time and a large opportunity cost.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shawn, children today see "fun" as playing games on a tablet. The new technology has caused children to lose sight on the real definition of play. It is sad really. The advancements in technology are taking away Toys 'R' Us's purpose. Maybe somehow they can figure out a way to integrate selling technology like tablets or something similar into their stores but from my prospective, Toys 'R' Us is unfortunately just going to keep going downhill from here.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad time to see another huge chain of stores like Toys 'R' Us closing 200 stores and filing for bankruptcy. Adults and children have changed drastically in the last 20 years in different areas of their lives including the way they play. Before the increase of technological games, children would play with manual toys, including puzzles and board games, but with the influx of iPhones into children's hands that is no longer the case. Children are drenched with high stimulating visual games that are available sometimes for free on iPhones and tablets that the need for regular toys just won't do. Unfortunately, I believe this attitude has made the purchase of once popular games sold at stores including Toys 'R' Us unnecessary leading to huge revenue losses for brick and mortar stores. I honestly don't know if a solution given children's technological interest would change the condition of Toys 'R' Us if they included more technological games, then again it would be a huge task with a potential risk of turning into a mega Game Stop.
ReplyDelete