DISCUSSION
Toys ‘R’ Us mulls small, urban stores as part of turnaround
Written by RetailWire Staff
Photo: Getty Images
Visiting Toys “R” Us these days doesn’t encourage anyone, young or old, to be a Toys “R” Us kid. This is something that the company has long recognized. They’ve tried to do something about it before, albeit not with much success. In 2015, the company announced a turnaround plan, intended to transform the store into a playground for kids, that didn’t quite get off the ground. The CEO at that time, Antonio Urcelay, left the company in June of that year. Now, a CEO touted as a turnaround expert has some ideas that seem a little more plugged into current trends.
CEO Dave Brandon has been in his role for 14 months and brings to it a reputation for turning around Domino’s last decade, according to Bloomberg. In the article by the news service, he discussed a few changes he hopes to introduce to turn the store into an experiential destination. He mentioned in-store toy and drone demos, Pokemon trading events and more – with a vision of having enough going on to create an overall atmosphere of excitement that will keep kids running from place to place.
Perhaps most interesting of his prospective plans is a smaller urban store concept a quarter of the size of a standard Toys “R” Us outlet, which Mr. Brandon mentioned in context of the chain having nothing currently available for Millennials living in urban centers.
With a huge collectors’ market for action figures and other intellectual property that appeals to adult fans (many who grew up with Toys “R” Us and many living in urban areas) this would seem to be a natural audience to try to court.
We may already be seeing the new face of Toys “R” Us in the retailer’s partnership with American Girl. In October, American Girl is opening mini-stores inside 97 Toys “R” Us locations, with more to come the following year. Though the partnership could do damage to American Girl’s well-established exclusivity by bringing a portion of the product down-market, it could on the other hand boost Toys “R” Us’s status as a destination, and set the stage for store-within-a-store collaborations with other brands.