End Of An Era

April 8th, 2018 by

Toy’s R Us announced in the news the company was bankrupt and closing stores. In Wisconsin, all stores will be closing. To some extent I am saddened. As a child, it was a big thrill to go to the Toy’s R Us in Milwaukee maybe once a year on my birthday. When I was an adult, I worked for Toy’s R Us as a stocker/maintenance person for several months when the store in Racine opened.

For many children a trip to Toy’s R Us was a rare thing, and a sort of right of passage. Growing up, commercials for Toy’s R Us ran during Christmas, there was no store near by, just the store in Milwaukee. As a child I did not understand why a trip to Milwaukee was such a problem. If I had a car of my own, I would go every weekend. I was a child.

When I grew up, I owned a car, and drove nearly a half hour every day to work. Besides comic books, I also was collecting action figures. Toy’s R Us was on my way to work, and on my way home, so driving to the store after work was easy. I found a few action figures I needed once and a while, most of the time, it was a wasted trip.

Eventually I sold off most of my comic books and action figures, and it has been years since I even went to Toy’s R Us. The internet has destroyed business for many brick and mortar stores. Large chains have not adapted well, Toy’s R Us is one of the latest on a list of many beloved chains whose business model failed due to the internet. You can only blame online sales for so much. Just bad business ultimately will lead to the end of a company. It is very sad that many people will lose their jobs.

With Toy’s R Us closing, it will be an end of an era. Children will no longer hear the catchy jingles on television around Christmas, and never experience the thrill of walking into a Toy’s R Us store, running down the aisles to find the desired toy. As a child, an Atari 2600 was the biggest most desired toy. My parents bought the game council for my brother and I at Toy’s R Us. It was considered very expensive at the time. Today, an Xbox One or Playstation 4 is actually dollar for dollar less expensive than an Atari 2600. The Toy’s R Us in Milwaukee was sold out of both counsels and will not be getting more in, because they are closing.

Thanks for stopping by.