On June 29, Toys 'R' Us announced it's official resignation and closed all its stores across the nation. Therefore, basically, to all us '90s kids, our childhood has been compromised. They sent out a message to their customers and followers stating,
For 70 years, the children's toy store has sold walls and walls of dolls, trucks, or any toy you can think of. If you didn't beg your mom to take you to Toys 'R' Us when you were younger around Christmas, you were born too late. I can remember going to the store with my grandma and her saying, "Pick out anything you want," which was basically the climax of my childhood life. Now, unfortunately, that reign has ended and kids will go put things in their Amazon wishlist instead of in an actual cart.
Not only are the kids and longtime shoppers upset, but the employees are protests against this closing. According to CNN, workers were not paid their severance checks and were only given a 60 days notice prior to the closing. They're having to deal with both, seeking a new job, and trying to control the stores discounted chaos.
So why is this terror upon us?
To make you grow up really fast, a little term called bankruptcy. In 2005, the company moved to a private real estate and became about $5.3 billion dollars in debt, and could never recover. They announced their closing in early March, yet no one took it too seriously and believed they would get out of this hole. With Walmart and Target rising in their toy sales and surpassing the chain, there was little hope for these stores to remain open. After a few months of desperation and phenomenal sales, yet not enough, our beloved childhood heaven could not be saved.
"It's a tragedy....this place has everything you could want, right in one place," says longtime customer on the ToysRUs twitter account. There was a huge outburst across social media about the closing and how sad everyone was to hear that their beloved childhood toy store was coming to an end. One customer, who chose to stay anonymous, bought $1 million dollars worth of toys at a final sale within the last few days to donate to charity. So while Geoffrey the Giraffe, the management, and all the Toys 'R' Us kids say goodbye, the legacy still will live on.
So, say goodbye to an era of smiles, barbies, and G.I. Joes, because we can no longer be Toys 'R' US kids...
