Shopping down Memory Lane: Toys "R" Us
Nov. 11th, 2021 07:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerI remember when I was a kid, being taken to a Toys "R" Us store felt like a magical treat. The nearest store was over 20 miles away so we didn't go often... once a year, if we were lucky. I remember the aisles overstuffed with all manner of wondrous toys. I felt I could spend hours there, even just window shopping.
As I grew older I kind of forgot about toy stores. My interests shifted to other things, and in the cities I attended college and grad school there wasn't a Toys "R" Us anyway. But when Hawk and I moved out to where we live now, there was a Toys "R" Us just 2 miles away, right next to our preferred supermarket.
"I'd love to go there now," I told Hawk, "Especially now that I make good money and can actually afford pretty much any toy I'd like!"
I felt a bit of shame as I said that. There I was a mid-20-something wanting to go to a toy store, a toy store for kids. But, "Okay, let's go," Hawk said. She felt the same!
I entered the store expecting to rekindle the magical feelings I had from years earlier... except even better since I could do more than just wish for nice things. Alas, the store was way less than I remembered. The toys looked dull. Things like the colorful stuffed animals and Lego sets I grew up with were replaced rows with lookalike plastic packages of games for umpteen different game consoles. The shelves seemed little more than half full, and the whole store looked shabby.
My disappointment that day wasn't just the crash of nostalgia against reality. The Toys "R" Us chain actually was going downhill at that point. In the face of competition from category-killers like Walmart, and later Amazon, the brand cheapened its stores and reduced inventory to try to increase margins. That works in retail if you can keep your sales up.... but if you cheap out so much that your customers feel less satisfied shopping your sales will plummet.
The cycle of cutting costs causing reduced revenue can become a downward spiral. So it was with Toys "R" Us. The local store grew shabbier and shabbier. It gave up half its floor space to another brand. Several years ago the store shut down, replaced by a seasonal pop-up for Halloween. The whole chain went into bankruptcy in 2017 and closed its remaining stores in 2018.
As I grew older I kind of forgot about toy stores. My interests shifted to other things, and in the cities I attended college and grad school there wasn't a Toys "R" Us anyway. But when Hawk and I moved out to where we live now, there was a Toys "R" Us just 2 miles away, right next to our preferred supermarket.
"I'd love to go there now," I told Hawk, "Especially now that I make good money and can actually afford pretty much any toy I'd like!"
I felt a bit of shame as I said that. There I was a mid-20-something wanting to go to a toy store, a toy store for kids. But, "Okay, let's go," Hawk said. She felt the same!
I entered the store expecting to rekindle the magical feelings I had from years earlier... except even better since I could do more than just wish for nice things. Alas, the store was way less than I remembered. The toys looked dull. Things like the colorful stuffed animals and Lego sets I grew up with were replaced rows with lookalike plastic packages of games for umpteen different game consoles. The shelves seemed little more than half full, and the whole store looked shabby.My disappointment that day wasn't just the crash of nostalgia against reality. The Toys "R" Us chain actually was going downhill at that point. In the face of competition from category-killers like Walmart, and later Amazon, the brand cheapened its stores and reduced inventory to try to increase margins. That works in retail if you can keep your sales up.... but if you cheap out so much that your customers feel less satisfied shopping your sales will plummet.
The cycle of cutting costs causing reduced revenue can become a downward spiral. So it was with Toys "R" Us. The local store grew shabbier and shabbier. It gave up half its floor space to another brand. Several years ago the store shut down, replaced by a seasonal pop-up for Halloween. The whole chain went into bankruptcy in 2017 and closed its remaining stores in 2018.
