Kinda their own fault since their initial online strategy was to sell through Amazon rather than their own set. Rendered their online shop useless and no one who wanted to buy toys online ever thought to check out their site before going to Amazon.

The idea in a LBO takeover is that the current management is missing some hidden value in a company. Outsiders come in using leveraged debt to completely buy the business and "unlock" this hidden value. The hope is turning the business around fast enough for a quick sale to another buyer.

It's largely the corporate finance equivalent of individuals specializing as house flippers in real estate.

I'm curious what they actually did, besides try to flip it and finding it was a terrible time to do so.

I would argue any storefront offers a lot that can’t be found online. We’ve just forgotten the value of those things.

These have been slowly coming back for years. The problem, at least with the ones I’ve been in, is that they seem to be a discount toy store rather than carrying a decent selection of “hot” product.

From what I have read ... nothing beyond screwing a relatively successful business that had been through some down years.

Are you sure KB has been coming back for years? TRU bought the name out when they went under, and I think only recently sold it off. Toys R Us did do some seasonal pop up stores that were discount toy stores, but that was under their name. Besides, KB was always a "overprice things then bring the price down with sales" place, almost everything was on "sale."

If all the TRU close down, though, the seasonal pop up store would absolutely have some value, under any name.

So they're going to be an operation like Spirit Halloween, then?

Since toy stores are famously only profitable around Christmas, that could work. But they'll need to have good inventory that they can actually sell.

One of the big problems with the toy industry is that flood the market with unsellable junk, and then short on the stuff people actually want. Try walking into a store and finding a NES Classic, SNES Classic, or a short-packed action figure.

If the pop-up KB stores don't play it right, then their stores will be filled with peg-warming action figures and Air Hogs.

There have been many sad moments for Toys"R"Us in recent weeks, and none more heartbreaking than today's news about the passing of our beloved founder, Charles Lazarus. Our thoughts and prayers are with Charles' family and loved ones.

— ToysRUs (@ToysRUs) March 22, 2018

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there may be a ray of hope... Billionaire CEO on a mission to save Toys 'R' Us

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/22/news...-us/index.html

I was going to post that, but then I figured it seemed like a scam. Not a scam as in the guy isn't legit, but basically:

The CEO of the company who makes Bratz, Nom Noms, etc. formed an investor group and raised 200 million to buy a piece of TRU (maybe some stores, who knows). They want to raise 800 million more through Go Fund Me. Yeah, 800 million. You won't get a part of the company, but you can get some exclusive Nom Noms.

The GoFundMe page does say that if the money doesn't go to purchase a part of TRU, then you get it back, but that wording is fishy to me, it seems like they would go through and purchase something if they could.

It makes sense that a toy manufacturer would have a vested interest in saving the company, and maybe the motives are altruistic, it just seems like you're giving money to a millionaire to purchase assets.

It makes sense, the news has many toy manufacturers in a real panic. Right now if you are a toy company frozen out of Walmart or Target, losing Toys R Us greatly limits your potential market.

The problem is that toys aren't really anything but loss leaders for Target and Walmart - they profit much more off those children's parents buying non-toy items. And Amazon is getting increasingly difficult to negotiate with as they become the Internet's version of Walmart/Costco.

This could really hurt companies like NECA and McFarlane that put out toys for adult collectors based on R-rated and mature properties. They will still have outlets like online retailers and comic book shops, but TRU was probably their only major national b&m presence.

Ditto Lego; TRU had a huge Lego section. Target and Walmart only have a shelf or two.

Yes, the KB pop up stores have been around this area for a few years now. I think.

Holy shit ... does this sound familiar?

I just got home from walking around the closest Toys R' us, and its no surprise to me they are going out of business. The sales were only 10-30% off the already marked price. I think maybe the baby stuff might have been 20% off, but everything else was 10% off, Lego's were marked down by only 5%. People were thinking they were getting good deals, but not really when you think about high they marked up prices on everything.

And just look at this list of the other companies these assholes at Bain Capital have invested in:

Sports Authority - closed in 2016
Gymboree - Filed for bankruptcy in 2017
IHeartMedia - Filed for bankruptcy 2018
Staples - struggling to keep stores open
Brookstone - Bankrupt in 2014, then sold to a Chinese company
Weather Channel - Struggling network sold last week to Byron Allen
Dunkin Donuts - Closing stores all around the world

These people wreck all these businesses, leave thousands unemployed but makes tons of profit in the process. Somehow this bullshit is legal.

This is what happens at every going out of business sale. They mark everything back up to full MSRP and then give you 10-20% off, which often is at or above what it was priced the week prior. And people buy it because they are stupid. By the time the deals actually get good, anything worth buying is gone.

Yeah, I remember a long time ago when a big store, I think it was a Gibson's, closed down and liquidated. I think it was the first liquidation I saw.

Anyway, I was looking at some boom boxes ('member those?), that were marked at 20% off. The thing was, I have a good memory for numbers, they priced at $89.99, so they would cost $72 with the discount, but I distinctly remembered that they were priced at $59.99 before the liquidation. So they were being liquidated at $12 over the original price. There was even a new price sticker stuck over the old one.

And I watched someone pick one up and put it in their cart.

There used to be two furniture chains in the Maryland D.C. area that would have "going out of business" sales once if not twice a year. The TV ads would alway say get in there before a certain date because once the doors were closed they were closed for good. Then six months later virtuually the same ad would be on TV with the same message just with different dates. This went on for at least ten years. I don't know if they still do this or not as I've moved out of the area in 2006.

If anyone was wondering, so far the Blu-rays and DVDs are not discounted at all. The sale does not apply to media.

There are new Dunkin Donuts opening all over the place here in the last 6-12 months. They are in combo stores with Baskin Robbins.

My favorite Gibson was the one in Mapunapuna that had the SkySlide next to it. Also who can not forget Gems or Wigwam.

This is from 2015 and they have not recovered
http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/01/inve...ngs/index.html

Even worse, Dunkin Donuts has reduced their menu because of this.

Reduced what? All they need to sell is fucking donuts. The real problem is all this branching out places like that try to do.

Dunkin Donuts just started opening shop here in Orange County recently. It's nice having them here.