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Old 03-28-2014, 01:17 AM   #1
Robimus
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Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

Apparently Toys"R"us is having some difficulty. See the full article:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/toys...ezed-1.2587170
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Old 03-28-2014, 08:39 AM   #2
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

They closed over 100 stores in the US and just cleaned house at store and headoffice level for Canada. Nearly 40 salaried managers across Canada and a couple of dozen H.O. People lost there jobs last week.
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Old 03-28-2014, 09:05 AM   #3
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

I'm kind of not that surprised honestly.

They overcharge on exclusive items more often than not, sit on products at full price far too long (Meaning a loss of considerable sales when you look at half the crap they leave up from year to year.) and they tend to have really crappy customer service when it comes to the staffing of cashiers. I have consistently seen only one cashier available during peak business hours, leaving long lines and frustrated shoppers.

In the states I understand they really overcharge on all their LEGO Products. Not so much here more often than not, but down in the US they seem to be ten to fifteen dollars above MSRP for US Prices. (Making them almost closer to CND MSRP Prices some of the time.)

Their online presence is a bit of a hit or miss situation as well. I've only used their service once honestly, and the deals for online shipping are practically non-existent compared to Amazon where Free is Free and you only have to spend 25$ to get Free Shipping Options.

We in Canada get a lot more % off sales over the year, so that tends to bring in more customers. Still, that being said, in the States they rarely have any markdowns on popular items. And even in Canada I have not once seen them put the very popular top selling LEGO Friends line on sale like their other Themes.

They constantly seem to change up their store shelving, cram way too much stuff into certain areas that are cramped and confined. The action figure section is farther back in the store while they have the boardgames and other non-essential items closer to the front. I don't know how often people actually go to Toy's-R-Us for bikes, or big ticket items like that, but I see more people buying LEGO and other children's toys compared to Bikes.

And the Baby's-R-Us side of the store is a joke, I rarely see anybody going in there.

Honestly I think Toy's-R-Us needs to rejuvenate their core brand marketing, when they started off with that crappy Baby's-R-Us ploy it might have sounded like a good idea and all that, but honestly to me Toy's-R-Us has always been about big box wholesale selling of Toys. Something that stores like Wal-Mart and Target can't really compete in too broadly because they don't focus on just selling one product and so don't have the space to keep large stock of products.

All I know is, if they go the way of Sears and The Bay or Zellers it's going to be a bear and a half getting any kind of Masterpiece or other Store Exclusives in Canada. Wal-Mart is not interested, Target doesn't seem to want to play, and there are no other retail outlets for such things.

I hope this isn't a warning sign of the downfall of the biggest remaining toy seller for a retail presence, but I'm honestly not surprised at a drop in sales. (Look at all the mark-up they apply to some of their exclusive Star Wars stuff for pity's sake.)
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Old 03-28-2014, 11:54 AM   #4
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

I imagine that as online retailers gain more of a footing physical locations will suffer. Just look at how many specialty stores we have left selling DVD's & music - We are basically a few HMV's away from having none.

Cities like Grand Forks and Fargo, right across the border from me, have had no DVD & CD stores for years now. Toys could be going a similar route.

I don't really have any issues with Toys"R"us's service or pricing - yes the exclusives do get a high price, but they do offer sales on a regular basis. Without them we just wouldn't see those exclusives at all, except on ebay.

Sad that many people lost their jobs, pretty crazy. With all the expansion they have been doing in the past couple years I would have thought they were doing better than the article mentions.
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Old 03-28-2014, 01:25 PM   #5
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

Read this:

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/behindt...-be-realistic/

Interesting read and interview with the new CEO. Sounds like this is the guy that might be able to staunch the bleeding.

Also nice to see a CEO not just look at exterior factors, but also admit the company "culture" is not helping as well.
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Old 03-28-2014, 01:43 PM   #6
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

I've noticed over the last couple of years that they have started to fall back on bad inventory habits. They had some major issues about 10 years ago where they would sit on inventory for months (and years) and would not clearance it. I remember a display of SW Phantom Menace merchandise that sat for almost 6 years untouched.

They seemed to have smartened up at some point but now they're back to doing the exact same thing. At my local TRU they have had a dedicated wall (3 racks) to Ironman 3 for the last 9 months. Very little to any of it is selling and it needs to make room for new inventory. If they don't they'll wind up like Zellers, Woolco, Eatons and every retailer that has drowned in old inventory.
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Old 03-28-2014, 02:06 PM   #7
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

Quote:
Originally Posted by tekkamanraiden View Post
I've noticed over the last couple of years that they have started to fall back on bad inventory habits. They had some major issues about 10 years ago where they would sit on inventory for months (and years) and would not clearance it. I remember a display of SW Phantom Menace merchandise that sat for almost 6 years untouched.
My local TRU has had about a dozen Yarna figures from the Star Wars Legacy Collection from 2008. That's 6 years, and it took them about 4 years to drop them to "clearance" at $6.98. Big surprise, they still didn't move. A couple months ago they finally dropped them to about $3 each. Either someone came and bought them all because they were sick of looking at them for so long, or the store just dropped them altogether. Think of all the newer action figures that could have filled those 3 pegs over and over again in that time. About 6 or 7 different line looks have come and gone in the time that those sat there.


Having boat loads of the utter garbage that toy manufacturers are putting out these days has not helped TRU either. Hasbro is a major perpetrator here. Aisles full of Angry Birds, cheap 5 POA Star Wars and Marvel figures, either over-simplified or overly-complicated Transformers, and over-shipped toys of "popular" characters have proven difficult for even the most aggressive retailers to sell off. Meanwhile it has often been tough for us collectors to find the higher-quality, higher-priced items we crave so much (TF Masterpieces, Marvel Legends, 6" Black Series, etc, etc).

Last edited by wedge1021; 03-28-2014 at 02:14 PM.
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Old 03-28-2014, 04:00 PM   #8
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

The Baby's R Us is likely gone, I don't have little ones and I also see in my local TRU that it's always empty. My suggestion would be to take all the toddler stuff and put it there, use the room to spread shelving out so that it cuts down on theft (I dig for hidden figs all the time and rarely miss, but the amount of empty packaging I find is disgraceful).

Big stores lose big money every year due to theft, and those who aren't stealing it are paying for it. That being said, I hope that all the problems are addressed and that TRU becomes a competitor to the retail outlets, if not, as was mentioned a few posts ago, they will fade away, which will leave us with one less place to get collectible's.

I've contemplated applying for a job there out of frustration of the service and other things that have been mentioned here already, but just on the weekends, because let's face it those employees probably don't make a lot, so I'd need to keep my real job.

Ever done a TRU survey? Do those questions asked actually help, or it that a company patting itself on the back? I seriously hope that it gets worked out in all of our favours, so that we can have a store that isn't in need of a spanking as we walk to our vehicles with a small bag, instead of a good review online and two medium size bags as we walk to our vehicles.

Rant complete.
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Old 03-28-2014, 05:45 PM   #9
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

Quote:
Originally Posted by canprime View Post
Read this:

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/behindt...-be-realistic/

Interesting read and interview with the new CEO. Sounds like this is the guy that might be able to staunch the bleeding.

Also nice to see a CEO not just look at exterior factors, but also admit the company "culture" is not helping as well.
In the past maybe three years though they have opened a ton of new Canadian stores, from the Mall ones to full stores. Makes me wonder if they aren't watering down their sales.

In Winnipeg we just got a brand new full size Toys"R"Us store in the south end of the city, but I wonder if we actually needed it.

For myself I would still have to drive half an hour in any direction to reach a Toys"R"us and I'm kinda fine with that. While I frequent the two "closest" to me I'm pretty unlikely to make the trek to that new one very often. I dunno.

Maybe they should take a lesson from Ikea and not worry about having a store in every neighborhood to compete with Walmart & Target. I mean really if in spite of all these new stores their sales are going down maybe the new stores are a pointless endeavor for them.

And yeah, one of our Toys"R"Us store was just blowing out the Yarna's for $1 each, like 4 years late
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Old 03-29-2014, 12:06 AM   #10
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Re: Toys"R"Us Has Record Losses in 2013

It's getting tough. Toys are getting more expensive to make and the price is getting higher. It doesn't help that Toys R Us usually has the most expensive price and less convenient locations.
Target and WalMart or even London Drugs seems more available.

The other sad thing is that when you go to a TRU in Canada and then you visit the States, you find that there are a lot of toys that you haven't seen in Canada. For one, TRU Canada doesn't carry a lot of minimates. They skip waves and some themes that it's frustrating for collectors like me because I'd never know if they will actually get them.
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