Please use our links: LEGO.com • Amazon
Recent discussions • Categories • Privacy Policy • Brickset.com
Brickset.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, the Amazon.com.ca, Inc. Associates Program and the Amazon EU Associates Programme, which are affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Comments
Despite the "LEGO EXCLUDED" signs, most were scanning at 10% off.
There were a few that did not...
Picked up a few Bat Pods they had.
Yeah, for displays there are often some brand licensing agreements in place that mean they must be destroyed and/or returned (or stored by the to the originating company after their use is over. This is also very common for displays at movie theaters, which my sister likes to collect as she can, and is the only reason I know about these rules. :)
Or there were signs up saying they were excluded?
My TRU had the "exclusion" signs up but they were still be recognized in the system as 10% for a lot of sets.
Kind of a dick thing to do IMO, considering those would make them money, which is what I though a liquidation company wants to do (and yes I get that there are rules for not allowing displays to be sold).
Signs were up all over the place and I scanned quite a few items as well. No discounts. I asked an employee when the store was closing and she said that she thought it was in April. Still no idea when the Lego would be discounted.
The location that I've been visiting is only four miles from my work, so it's not really out of the way for me to get there.
As for wrong use of a word, well, I have bad brain farts and spell check only tells me when I spell a word wrong, not when I've used the wrong word entirely. But hey, at least I spelled it right!
No wonder TRU is having problems.
I did scan #41231, which didn't have a yellow dot, to make sure it was actually 10% off like it was supposed to. It was already 50% off, so total 55%, but not as dramatic as that discount usually is since it was priced high for the piececount
Huh. That always happens...
Toys “R” Us, the beleaguered chain under pressure from Amazon and bigger toy sellers, may close dozens of more stores as it struggles to find a path out of bankruptcy and return to financial viability.
The toy retailer has not recovered from a dismal holiday selling season, making the company’s difficult situation even worse. Now, it is under pressure to demonstrate to its lenders that it has a realistic strategy for flourishing in the ultracompetitive toy industry.
One plan under discussion includes shutting down close to 200 stores, and possibly more, according to people briefed on the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
While the planning is fluid and far from completion, the possible store closings, which were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, reflect the serious challenges that Toys “R” Us faces.
“If you look at the numbers, it doesn’t look good,” said Richard Gottlieb, an analyst and the publisher of Global Toy News. “And it appears that some dramatic action is going to have to take place.’’
Toys “R” Us has already been taking steps to stabilize its business. Last month, the company said it was shutting down 182 stores, affecting 4,500 workers.
It is not clear whether any additional closings would occur in the United States, or overseas. The company operates about 800 stores in the United States.
Even as other retailers experienced strong holiday sales, Toys “R” Us cited undisclosed “operational missteps” in explaining its poor performance.
Analysts say the company’s biggest problem stems from its filing last year for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, after its private equity owners left it saddled with $5 billion in debt.
The bankruptcy filing, only months before Christmas, left many shoppers with the impression that the company was shutting down, even though it planned to keep all its stores operating through the holidays, said Jim Silver, the editor of TTPM, a toy review website.
“There was too much consumer perception that they were not going to be around, and it hurt their traffic incredibly,” Mr. Silver said. “When you are buying toys, you want to know you can return them and your gift cards will work.”
Another big challenge came from competitors like Walmart and Amazon, which pushed toys heavily during the holiday season, just as Toys “R” Us was struggling to win back customers and calm jittery vendors.
Toys “R” Us is entering a crucial time, as it prepares to buy toys to sell for the next holiday season. It needs to persuade its lenders, which have extended money to the company in bankruptcy, to keep that spigot flowing. But lenders need to know that the company is viable over the long term.
Analysts say that a primarily bricks-and-mortar toy retailer can succeed, but that its stores have to be smaller, unlike the hulking Toys “R” Us facilities that dot suburban strip malls.
“A toy store needs to be fun and engaging and interactive,” said Mr. Silver. “Toys “R” Us has been talking about better customer service and experiences, but they never really transpired.”
They just have way too much debt. A couple billion would maybe be workable, but 5 billion is a black hole. TRU has a lot of problems and I think it will need to continue to downsize.
Nobody can compete with Amazon anymore. If it's not broken up within a few years it will start killing the rest of the retailers. Personally, I've been stepping away from Amazon and I've been shopping at Target a lot more.
I remember in the 90's and early 00's how everyone was hating on Walmart for building so many stores. They were "driving Mom and Pop stores out of business." Now Amazon is demolishing local business, but the same people (literally, for me, the same people) that were hating on Walmart will tell me "I can get it cheaper on Amazon" when we are out shopping or discussing buying things. I personally won't give my money to Amazon.
It was a ghost town. No one around. I only saw employees when I made my way back up to the front of the store to cash out.
They had all of the new Speed Champions sets out, so I picked up the Mustang.
TRU now most lego is 20%. Cashier stated reward points may stop being accepted at closing stores
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43219651
im pouring one out for TRU tonight!
I went to a local TRU that's closing and their MOST of their Star Wars were non-sale.
But some of the older sets (Rogue One) were discounted.
The current storewide percentage is 40%, but the Lego that was discounted was coming up at 30% off.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-08/toys-r-us-said-to-be-prepping-liquidation-of-u-s-operations
Signed
ToysRUs Employees and Children across the World"
And I totally agree with @pharmjod - TRU has been poorly run for decades. Hopefully this will embolden a regional toy retailer to fill the void! (If such a thing exists.)
A forward-thinking company gets ahead of possible disruptive circumstances. (Thus why they are working on their own delivery service.)
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/09/investing/toys-r-us-closing-hasbro-mattel/index.html?sr=twCNN030918toys-r-us-closing-hasbro-mattel1248PMStory
Bankrupt retailer Toys "R" Us may shut all its US stores as soon as next week, according to several reports.
That's terrible news for the two biggest publicly traded toy companies. Investors are clearly preparing for the worst. Shares of Hasbro (HAS) fell 3.5% Friday morning while Mattel (MAT)plunged 7%.
Smaller toy company Jakks Pacific (JAKK) fell nearly 5% too. Canada's Spin Master, which owns the popular line of Hatchimals toys, was down about 3% as well on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
And everything isn't awesome for privately held European toy giant Lego either. The plastic bricks maker reported its first sales drop in thirteen years earlier this week. So these are clearly tough times for the toy makers.
A spokesperson for Toys "R" Us declined to comment on the liquidation chatter.
Toys "R" Us recently went into administration in the UK, paving the path for stores there to shut their doors. And the potential closing of Toys "R" Us in America would be a particularly huge blow to Hasbro and Mattel.
According to recent regulatory filings from both companies, Toys "R" Us accounted for nearly 10% of the companies' overall sales.
Toys "R" Us is the last megastore dedicated to toys. Without it, toymakers will struggle to promote anything but their most popular items.
The death of a top customer is the last thing that Mattel and Hasbro need right now.
Related: 5,300 UK jobs at risk as Toys "R" Us and another big British retailer collapse
Mattel's overall sales during the fourth quarter (i.e, Christmas) fell 12% from a year ago, led by big drops for the Fisher-Price, American Girl and Lego competitor Mega Bloks brands.
Hasbro reported a decline in sales during the fourth quarter, despite the fact that the Nerf and My Little Pony owner now holds nearly all of the lucrative licenses tied to movies from Disney and its many other studios -- Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm.
Hasbro said that Star Wars product sales actually fell in the fourth quarter, as did sales of Disney Frozen toys.
The softness in the toy industry is partly due to the rise of video games and other high-tech toys that kids are increasingly playing with instead of action figures, dolls and board games.
But the shifting tide in retail isn't helping either. The dominance of Amazon (AMZN) has put pressure on many consumer products companies as Amazon has made a relentless push to lower prices.
Recent struggles at Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT) are also hurting Hasbro and Mattel.
Walmart is the largest customer for Mattel and Hasbro, accounting for about 20% of total sales for each toy maker. Both toy companies get nearly 10% of their revenue from Target too.
Related: The Hasbro-Mattel merger just don't die
So what's next for Mattel and Hasbro? Investors are still hoping that Mattel's new CEO Margo Georgiadis, formerly an executive at Google (GOOGL), will be able to turn around the company with a greater focus on interactive toys.
Time may be running out for both companies though, which is why there have been frequent rumors that Hasbro may buy Mattel.
Investors have dreamed about a possible merger between the two companies since November, following a story in the Wall Street Journal that said Hasbro was going to make a bid. Reuters later reported that Mattel turned Hasbro's offer down.
Takeover chatter resurfaced in late January. A spokesperson for Mattel told CNNMoney at the time that the company had no comment on the new speculation. Hasbro did not get back to CNNMoney.
But as long as both companies continue to struggle, expect merger rumors to keep swirling.
Makes me wonder if we will see less polys if TRU goes away. Also would explain how the Hot dog cart is reportedly at TRU, Target, and Walmart.
It will be a sad day when TRU shuts it doors as I have many fond memories of TRU going back into my childhood.