Toys R Us is expanding again, with plans to open 120 stores across the country this holiday season. That will bring the chain’s total number of standalone U.S. locations to 160.
The retailer, once a fixture of American childhood with its giraffe mascot and jingle promising customers they’d “never want to grow up,” filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and shut down all of its stores the following year. Its return began modestly, first through shop-in-shop partnerships inside Macy’s locations, before expanding into standalone stores in malls and airports.
Behind the comeback lies a notable shift in who is actually buying the toys. Data cited in reporting on the expansion shows toy sales surging among adult shoppers, not just parents buying for children but adults purchasing collectibles, figures and games for themselves.
Many of these buyers are millennials, the generation that grew up with Toys R Us in its original heyday during the 1980s and 1990s. As that generation aged out of the traditional toy-buying years, the chain’s original business model faltered, contributing to its 2017 collapse. Its current revival appears to be driven in part by former customers returning as adults with disposable income and nostalgia for the brand.
The company has not detailed a breakdown of adult versus child customer spending beyond the general trend, but the expansion to 160 standalone U.S. stores signals confidence that demand, whatever its source, is now strong enough to justify a large-scale physical retail comeback.
Add comment