Toys ‘R’ Us could be coming back soon. The company shut down its US stores in June this year after the much-publicized bankruptcy liquidation. It was the end of an era for a brand that has become synonymous to American culture. However, not all is lost. Owners of the company’s remaining assets are planning to restart the business in the US. There’s also talk about having a new Babies ‘R’ Us brand. These details came to the public light through court documents that were filed at the beginning of the week.
The initial plan after the liquidation was to auction the brand name Toys ‘R’ Us as well as Babies ‘R’ Us. In fact, bidders around the world had made offers to secure the rights to these brands. However, after close consultation, the owners decided that the brand was still too valuable to sell. The auction was canceled and all bids were rejected. The court documents show that the owners are planning to reopen new stores in the US under the brand names as well as expand their presence internationally.
Despite this, there was no mention of when this will be done and how long the process will take. It’s also important to note that just because there were many bids to buy the branding rights for the names Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us doesn’t mean that there was any interest outside to bring the company back. It’s common practice for rival competitors to buy the brands of bankrupt companies in order to kill off the competition for good. We don’t know whether this is the case with the Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us brands but it could be.
Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy last year. The company wanted to use the reorganization to shed off its massive debt and still manage to remain in business. However, after a poor Christmas shopping season when sales failed to get near the projected targets, Toys ‘R’ Us announced that it will cease all its operations in the US. The company started closing down 800 of its US stores as well as other locations in North America. It was the final nail on the coffin as Toys ‘R’ Us went out of business. Over 31,000 workers were affected by the closure. By June this year, all stores had been closed. Toys ‘R’ Us had been in business for nearly 70 years until its closure.
The company had captured the hearts of many people but eventually, it couldn’t catch up with the massive disruption in the retail industry. Nonetheless, any effort to bring it back will face massive challenges. The only hope at the moment is that the company can leverage on its popular brand name to get its customers back. In an industry where online retailers like Amazon are also making headways in the toys industry, it will be a tough nut to crack for Toys ‘R’ Us and the good people who are hoping to bring back the brand. Besides, we haven’t seen any concrete plan as to how this resurgence will be achieved.
