Toys "R" Us
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Toys "R" Us is a toy store chain based in the United States. The company operates nearly 700 stores in the United States and nearly 600 stores are operating in 29 other countries, some of them under franchises or licenses. The flagship store in New York City's Times Square is the largest toy store in the world, featuring a colorful ferris wheel.
History
Beginnings
Charles Lazarus initially started Toys "R" Us (LTD) in Washington, DC during the post-war baby boom era in 1948 as a baby furniture retailer known as "Children's Supermart". Its first location was at 2461 18th St, NW, where the nightclub Madam's Organ is currently located. Lazarus began receiving requests from customers for baby toys. After adding baby toys, he got requests for more grown up toys. Eventually the focus of the store changed and Toys "R" Us as we know it was born. The company has since relocated to Wayne, New Jersey.
1995 strike in Sweden
In 1994, Toys "R" Us was establishing itself in Sweden, starting with three shops in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. Contrary to industry custom in Sweden, a country with strong trade unions relying on agreements rather than legislation, Toys "R" Us initially refused to enter a collective bargaining agreement. During the 1995 bargaining this resulted in a strike initiated by Handels (short for Handelsanställdas förbund, "Union of Trading Employees"), the main union organizing the employees.The strike soon received media attention and sales dropped as customers started to support the strikers. Toys "R" Us offered price cuts to counter the loss of customers, but was not successful. During the strike there was news reports of harsh treatments of employees, further fueling public support. Different groups used the strike to promote both pro- and anti-union views and politics.
The turning point was the initiation of "sympathy measures" (sympatiåtgärder) by a number of other Swedish trade unions, in which members of these unions were instructed to not engage in any work for Toys "R" Us. One example was the garbage not being picked up by members of the public workers union, Kommunal. When the bankers union stopped handling the companys financial transactions Toys "R" Us choose to sign the collective bargaining agreement, reportedly the first in the history of the company. [link]
The strike and the precurring events are sometimes attributed to differences between American and Swedish company culture. Handels still claims that in some respects, the pre-strike working conditions at the Swedish Toys "R" Us shops was in violation of Swedish law. [link]
Buyout
After several major missteps in the marketplace, mainly precipitated by the removal of Robert Nakasone by the Board of Directors, Toys ‘R’ Us had been limping into what appeared to be oblivion. Nakasone’s replacement did little to help as he showed as little understanding of the Internet as the Board did. In an effort to shore up their failing enterprise, the Board of Directors installed John Eyler, formally of FAO Schwarz. Eyler launched an unsuccessful (and very expensive) plan to remodel and re-launch the chain. Blaming market pressures (primarily competition from Wal-Mart and Target Stores), Toys "R" Us considered splitting its toys and babies businesses. On July 21, 2005, a consortium of Bain Capital Partners LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), and Vornado Realty Trust completed the $6.6 billion acquisition of the toy giant. Public stock closed for the last time at $26.74, just pennies from the 52-week high, but far short of its all time high of almost $45 in fourth-quarter 1993, and its five-year high of $31 in 2Q 2001. Toys "R" Us is now a privately owned entity.
Today
On January 9, 2006, Toys "R" Us announced that 75 stores in the United States would close that year, most closing within the spring. 12 more stores are to be converted to the "Babies 'R' Us" format. Approximately 3000 jobs will be eliminated as a result of the closures. [link]Other \"'R' Us\" chains
Toys "R" Us, Inc. also owns other chains:- Kids "R" Us - A store that is out of business, dealt with children's clothing. Most Kids "R" Us stores were cobranded with Toys "R" Us. Kids "R" Us is also the brand name label of kids' clothing found at the Geoffrey Stores.
- Babies "R" Us - Baby superstores.
- Geoffrey's Toys "R" Us/Geoffrey's - Stores for Toys "R" Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe, offering toys, juvenile merchandise, and children's apparel all in one location. Other features include a "Studio G" activity center. Mostly found in the midwest.
- Toys "R" Us Toy Box was introduced in 2003. This version of Toys "R" Us is found in Albertsons, Osco Drug, Jewel-Osco, and Sav-On supermarkets and drug stores.
- Toys "R" Us KidsWorld - A toy superstore format introduced in 1996.
- Toys "R" Us/Kids "R" Us co-branded stores.
The Logo
The yellow reverse "R" in quotation marks, which is similar to the character "ya" (Я) in the Cyrillic alphabet, imitates a small child's backward writing of "R", which is short for "are". The "R" is the most distinctive part of the retailer's colorful kid-friendly logo. The current, modernized Toys "R" Us logo was introduced in the 1980s, a blue star was added to the logo in 1999. The "R Us" name has been imitated by many other businesses, such as Tiles "R" Us and Tires "R" Us.
The Mascot
In the 1960s, Geoffrey the Giraffe, an anthropomorphic cartoon giraffe character, was introduced as its mascot. His name has been followed in the 1970s, after a "Name the Mascot"-type contest and later on he had been given an extended family, his wife, Gigi, his daughter, Baby Gee, and his son, Geoffrey Junior. Recently, he was re-introduced not as a cartoon character, but as a real-life giraffe who talks. An animatronic version of Geoffrey the Giraffe (created by Stan Winston Studios), was voiced by Jim Hanks in commercials for radio and television, since 2001.
Walk-Around Character
This person does the costume character version of Geoffrey the Giraffe and was generally seen walking around many aisles in Toys "R" Us/Kids "R" Us stores every 35 minutes. Geoffrey is not allowed to speak, and can only imply his intentions with hand gestures. The approximate weight is about 2 pounds, not including head. The plastic head (complete with inner helmet for protection) weighs approximately 4 pounds and rests on the shoulders of the person inside the suit. In stores that hire or promote a full-time walk-around character, this employee has several extra duties that include getting the "Geoffrey the Giraffe" costume professional dry-cleaned and washed (depending on the parts of the costume in question), cleaning the Geoffrey room before the end of every shift, and fixing broken parts of the costume (for instance, gluing the teeth back in after being ripped out by a guest). With the company's recent move to abandon the use of curtains with the animatronic shows, it is common to see the walk-around character perform in full view of the animatronic character. This tends to lessen the ability to "suspend disbelief" with the characters.In Geoffrey's Toys "R" Us" stores, an associate will don the Geoffrey costume and visit the children in the birthday party.
Slogans
- "The World's JOY Store!"
- "Big Fun! Low Prices!"
- "Lower Prices. Bigger Selection. Guaranteed."
- "The World's Biggest Toy Store."
- "The World's Greatest Toy Store."
- "Play More, Spend Less."
- "You'll never outgrow us."
- "There's millions says Geoffrey all under one roof, it's called Toys "R" Us, Toys "R" Us, Toys "R" Us!"
- "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys "R" Us kid!"
Countries / regions with Toys \"R\" Us stores
Australia, established 1991Austria Bahrain Canada, established 1984 China Denmark France Germany, established 1987 Hong Kong Indonesia Israel Japan, established 1989 Malaysia Netherlands Norway Portugal Saudi Arabia Singapore, established 1984 South Africa Spain Sweden, established 1994 Switzerland Taiwan
Trivia
- Nintendo games accounted for most of Toys "R" Us' sales in the mid-1980s.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
- Most "Geoffrey" and "Geoffrey's Toys "R" Us" stores are located in the midwest. The stores are basically a regular Toys "R" Us store given a complete overhaul to feature a more colorful motif, "Studio G" activity center, "Candy Spot", "Imaginarium", "Gee Baby", "The "R" ZONE", a Party Spot to host birthday parties and an adjacent playground with the existing collection of toys and clothes. In addition to that, Geoffrey comes out to host the birthday parties (as he gets to dance with his birthday guests, and sings the song "Happy Birthday for Geoffrey!" via the tape, since Geoffrey isn't allowed to speak).
- The car chase scene in the movie Blues Brothers included a shopping mall chase scene which featured a Toys "R" Us at Dixie Square Mall where Jake and Elwood are being chased by the police into the main concourse of the mall.
- There are several spoofs on Toys "R" Us including a resort in the small country of Belize called Belize "R" Us [link].
- In the 1985 movie Back to the Future, a Toys "R" Us sign can be seen in the background behind the Burger King that Marty McFly skateboards past on his way from Dr. Emmett L. Brown's garage to downtown Hill Valley. The Toys "R" Us in that clip actually belongs to a strip mall in Burbank, California on Victory Boulevard.
- Toys "R" Us usually gets certain types of LEGO building sets earlier in the year that are supposed to be found everywhere else later in the year. One example is the LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants building sets that were available in May instead of the August deadline.
- On the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode The Amazing Colossal Man, the title character says "I don't want to grow anymore." Joel screams in response "I'm a Toys "R" Us kid".
References in popular culture
See: List of pop culture parodies of real stores and restaurantsExternal links
- [Toys "R" Us] (retail)
- [Toys "R" Us] (corporate)
- [Toys "R" Us UK]
- [Toys "R" Us Australia]
- [Toys "R" Us Japan]
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