[US] Toys Я Us Deals

eggshen

eggshen said:

Darn, my local store is closing. Guess I'll have to switch to Target for all of my purchases.

Sorry for the false alarm, I apparently didn't know the address of my local store. If the list is accurate mine is staying open, which is awesome. The employees there are generally top notch.

BuriedinBricks

@eggshen - My understanding is it's the Babies R Us on the east side that's marked for closing. They have some toys, but I'm pretty sure they are all preschool aged. Duplo deals?

560Heliport

Right now at toysrus.com... CMF series 16, regularly $3.99, clearance price $3.98! But they're out of stock. Bummer.

ReesesPieces

You snooze, you lose!

Hanzo

Sweet, all three Toys R Us stores nearest to me are staying!  No shortage of RRP+ LEGO for me, sorry for all those affected by these closings. 

leetshoe

The ONE store close to me is closing. But the crappy one on the east side is staying? That's dirty as heck. The greenwood one is pretty clean. Bogus man. 

BrickByBrick

3/4 of the stores around me are closing. Not that I go there for anything besides exclusive poly bags and cmfs...

Astrobricks

Well, that almost halves the number in the twin cities. All we will have left is Burnsville, Maple Grove and Maplewood.

fizicyst

We only have ONE in our entire state...and it is slated to close!!! It is packed solid every weekend, too.

Tkatt

They claim there will be deep discounts as the stores close. I wonder if the LEGO will actually be discounted or just moved to the locations that are staying open. 

starfire2

Tkatt said:

They claim there will be deep discounts as the stores close. I wonder if the LEGO will actually be discounted or just moved to the locations that are staying open. 

Probably moved to other stores that will remain open. A few years back one of our local TRU’s closed. On the first day of their closing sales, I asked where all the LEGO was and one of the employees told me, that they sent them to other locations. I was a bit bummed, thought I was going to get some good deals.

77ncaachamps

I'm going to have to drive :30+ minutes (no traffic; with traffic, :45) to get to the nearest TRU now when it used to be 10 min.

No thanks.

Target, WM and Amazon get most of my business now.
Goodbye TRU.

monstblitz

My local store is staying which makes me happy.  Their prices suck to be sure, but their price match policy is great.  

Sethro3

I think one of the local BRU is closing. One of the TRU closed a few years ago and they moved their lego to the other store in town so no clearance prices. I don't go there often, so I haven't noticed it being closed.

But I did stop in yesterday for fun and they had the series 2 Batman figures for 2 for $5, so I got the whole set plus extras for less than MSRP, (I saved close to $40). I was excited. It said limit 8, but they didn't hold me to it when I went up front. Otherwise I would have just left and came back in and purchased the rest. It would have been annoying, but doable.

madforLEGO

Yesterday I had 5 dollars in rewards points to burn, and had to drop off a bunch of items to the local Goodwill near a TRU so I stopped at TRU to find something to buy and maybe a few extras of the Batman Series 2 if they had a box. Fortunately they put out a new box and the 2 for 5 deal was still on, so that was a nice surprise. Got my extras and only paid half I was expecting.

KingAlanI

The store closest to me is closing - but it's still relatively far so I haven't gotten a chance to check for LEGO sales. Well, the article with the list says sales will be February through mid-April. I haven't seen Batman CMF Series 2 at all, so I'll need to look up identification info and decide what figures I want.
Moving inventory to another store makes more sense than selling it dirt cheap, as much as we may dislike it.
@legogal annoyed there weren't sales 3 days after Christmas - in general, that may have been jumping the gun, as I see more clearance after January 1st elsewhere.

scotty12

TRU may be doing this differently now (maybe a franchise philosophy they could have done years ago) but I had my only TRU close in Jan-Mar of 2016 and everything started at 20% off and went from there...even LEGO.  Most of it sat there until it hit 30% off and then most almost all of it was gone after a few weeks.  The only things that hit 50% off were Galaxy Squad stuff and a few Hobbit sets.  But everything was sold...including the shelving.  
On a side note....when you purchased anything at TRU during the store closing the policy was 'no returns' and they'd marker out the barcode on every item.

Astrobricks

Some stores may not be close enough to one that’s staying open to make it worth moving merchandise. 

legogal

I am not counting on any good deals in the TRU's that are closing in our area, in Durham, etc. Just not worth driving to TRU any more. Will close my TRU credit card soon, too, because the points cannot be used on LEGO and their prices for everything are too darn high. Sayonara!

eggshen

@legogal are you talking about TRU reward points? TRU eliminated the LEGO restriction on the points, if you read the fine print it no longer excludes LEGO merchandise.

Also, they do generally have higher prices, but they are glad to price match with a lot of competitors, including Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc. You can do it at any register if you pull up the price on your phone, or at customer service if you don't want to do that. I buy pretty much all of my LEGO sets at TRU, I use price matching to get a good price and I collect rewards for use later on. I know it's an extra step, but I really like supporting my local store because the staff there is pretty awesome. I'd hate to see it go away. If every store had people like the ones at my local store then TRU would be doing MUCH better right now. Hopefully they get that customer service part taken care of in the next few years.

Also, although LEGO sets generally don't get marked down, TRU runs clearance blast events where they offer 5%-25% off of clearance prices. I was able to pick up some sweet deals on Chima and Ultra Agents that way.  

teal93mr2

^Wholeheartedly agree with this post. For some who do not have a Lego store in the area, TRU can be an excellent B&M resource when properly utilized. Think of the Bricktober and polybag promotions, CMF 2 for $5 sales, and other random clearance finds that will would just disappear. I understand the inconsistencies and mishandling of the above promotions happen frequently and it's been enough for certain folks to write off TRU. We've also seen some of the same problems are Target and TRU, which would the last two standing B&M options for most folks. I just can't imagine employees at either of those stores being very knowledgeable about finding that random Star Wars polybag. Also the reward points are not much, but it something. I think I've got about $75 saved up for a rainy day. But anyways, more competition is always a good thing. Long live TRU!

datsunrobbie

Despite the posted restrictions on LEGO, I have successfully used my Toys R US card on Thursday purchases at the local store to get an extra 10% off the 2/$5 minifigure promo. 

Astrobricks

teal93mr2 said:

^Wholeheartedly agree with this post. For some who do not have a Lego store in the area, TRU can be an excellent B&M resource when properly utilized. Think of the Bricktober and polybag promotions, CMF 2 for $5 sales, and other random clearance finds that will would just disappear. I understand the inconsistencies and mishandling of the above promotions happen frequently and it's been enough for certain folks to write off TRU. We've also seen some of the same problems are Target and TRU, which would the last two standing B&M options for most folks. I just can't imagine employees at either of those stores being very knowledgeable about finding that random Star Wars polybag. Also the reward points are not much, but it something. I think I've got about $75 saved up for a rainy day. But anyways, more competition is always a good thing. Long live TRU!

I’m guessing you meant Target and Walmart, not Target and TRU?

Also, TRU puts a bad taste in the mouth by pricing some sets above RRP, but most of us avoid buying anything that isn’t on sale anyway, so what matters is if they have decent discounts with some regularity. Like a lot of places, they do, but you have to keep checking to catch them.

77ncaachamps

Stopped by one of my local TRUs that’s slated to be closed.

weird promo.

my guess is it’s an In-Store not corporation one:

Astrobricks

Sign looks corporate.

elspankdog

same promo at my store which is not closing

77ncaachamps

Ok. Just a weird promo IMO.

Thanos75

My local TRU had a " free straw cup " with purchase. Ended up being a child's sippy cup.

Fizyx

My guess is they are trying to unload stock they can't move by putting it on promo with stock they have noticed moves better when a promo is involved.  They haven't considered too deeply WHAT promo's cause the second set of stock to move better, and why that might be, however...

77ncaachamps

Reserve your spot... https://reserve.toysrus.com/

Astrobricks

Got an email that the store closing sales start today.

tcc

Someone posted signs stating LEGO was excluded unfortunately.

jmeninno

^^I plan on going and taking my kids.  I really hope that the new Bat Shuttle is a part of that...I mean, Super Heroes themed and all...and it being a fairly new set...

stet

^^^ I signed my 6 year old up for that.  This will be our first time going to such an event.  How limited are the coupons, typically?  Should I assume that it will only be good on sites that have the standard TRU markup?

Astrobricks

^ and ^^ Are your kids big fans of store closing sales?

norm103

^ I think this event is at stores that are not closing and will be just like all the other non build and take events TRU has. 

Ma1234

Not a deal per se, but I was in Anchorage over the weekend and stopped by the local TRU before going to the airport, and they literally have every recent promo polybag one would want...the SW figures, all three of the pod sets, etc. So, in case somebody is around! 

ricecake

^^ I think @Astrobricks was referring to the fact that @jmeninno used 2 and @stet used 3 carets in their posts, which would point to Astrobrick's comment about the store closing sales, instead of them using 3 and 4 carets to point to @77ncaachamps 's post about the build and play event.

77ncaachamps

Thanks, @ricecake. Didn't even think the carets (^) were referring to how far up the post (that is being referenced) is.

Why not reply to it? oh well...

eddiew

^He has a point.

pharmjod

I dislike the use of carats / carets in general in forums. Too confusing keeping up with, especially if someone posts before you get done. Just quote or address the person in the post.

jmeninno

^Agreed.  Apparently too easy to mess up.

jmeninno

And to confirm, yes, I did goof.  Someone must have snuck in as I was writing my post.  I was referring to the event this Saturday, not any of the closings.  Sorry for the confusion.  #caret

Astrobricks

ricecake said:

^^ I think @Astrobricks was referring to the fact that @jmeninno used 2 and @stet used 3 carets in their posts, which would point to Astrobrick's comment about the store closing sales, instead of them using 3 and 4 carets to point to @77ncaachamps 's post about the build and play event.

Yay, somebody gets me :)

 I’d say if you’re thinking of using 3 ^, you’re definitely pushing it too far. But, yeah, I’m sure somebody snuck in the middle.

Oubird

Lego currently excluded from closing sales, except dimensions 20% off regular price 

floridabrick

@77ncaachamps these reported as in store only:

#40236 is down to $6.99
CMF S17, TLBM, and TLNM CMFs are 2 for $5

Astrobricks

floridabrick said:

#40236 is down to $6.99

What’s with the ominously red-painted LP tank looming over them? WARNING! EXPLOSION IMMINENT!

malachirobertson

Is the minifig sale only today?

77ncaachamps

malachirobertson said:

Is the minifig sale only today?

I believe it goes for a couple more days or another week and a half.

CaptainRogers

^^my TRU in store sign said the $2 for 5 minifig deal was only through today.