Toys R Us

[cute little kokiri girl]

Sad news everyone Charles Lazarus the man who founded Toys R Us is dead.

The World War II veteran died at age 94 a week after the chain he founded announced it would close.

[Angela Bauer]

The Babies-R-Us division of TRU is very important to me. My diaper service has announced that eventually they will no longer provide adult diapers. Before I started using the diaper service I bought my Gerber prefold from BRU.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Well, it could get bought out by the Economic Monster of the Internet. And then we would be in a whole noew dimension with  Amazons 'R' Us

[Rockies Fan in Diapers]

 

The Babies-R-Us division of TRU is very important to me. My diaper service has announced that eventually they will no longer provide adult diapers. Before I started using the diaper service I bought my Gerber prefold from BRU.

Angela, I don't know if you know this, but since Babies-R-Us is owned by TRU, they too are going out of business.

[rusty pins]

I know Toys R Us is going out of business but I also have heard they want someone to take over the Babies R Us part and I hope someone does.  They are the only place I know where I can get my diaper inserts.  When you think of it,  focus has shifted among kids.  They are more into electronics and iphones than they are toys anymore.  That goes for a lot of other things too.  People buy off the internet these days and have so many choices on where to get the lowest prices.  It's not like it was 30 years ago where your only options were going to the local stores or ordering from the Sears catalog.  That's the reason so many stores are closing up these days.  Look at toys.  Kids interests have shifted from the types of toys places like KB and Toys R Us sell so it's natural they can't keep selling and making a profit.  On the other hand, people still like to have sex and therefore there will always be a need for baby items!

[ELLIE52]

Well, drat.  I thought it was just closing about one-third of its stores, not completely closing.  Sad day.

[Glennie]

 

I know Toys R Us is going out of business but I also have heard they want someone to take over the Babies R Us part and I hope someone does.  They are the only place I know where I can get my diaper inserts.  When you think of it,  focus has shifted among kids.  They are more into electronics and iphones than they are toys anymore.  That goes for a lot of other things too.  People buy off the internet these days and have so many choices on where to get the lowest prices.  It's not like it was 30 years ago where your only options were going to the local stores or ordering from the Sears catalog.  That's the reason so many stores are closing up these days.  Look at toys.  Kids interests have shifted from the types of toys places like KB and Toys R Us sell so it's natural they can't keep selling and making a profit.  On the other hand, people still like to have sex and therefore there will always be a need for baby items!

i am sure you can buy your inserts online.. i use the abena abrilet maxi doubler and i order them at xp medical. i am saying that just to prove my point.. the internet is the place to buy anything and everything you could ever want.. and more

[Guest]

Most very successful companies become inert over time and stop innovating. The people running them understand what worked in the beginning and become scared to break that. They’d rather see it stop working than break it, largely so they can’t be blamed for breaking it. It’s hard to get fired by doing what your predecessor has always done.

It wasn’t hard to see online shopping as the future 15 years ago, but TRU didn’t pursue that soon enough or well enough and had too many locations with their high cost. They ran costs too high, couldn’t compete on price, and took on way too much debt trying to stay afloat without a viable plan for competing with Walmart, Target and Amazon.

Only a select few large companies avoid this. But even inert companies can sometimes stay in business. I know because a bunch of them are my clients, specifically the ones who never takes even low level risks.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

 

Most very successful companies become inert over time and stop innovating. The people running them understand what worked in the beginning and become scared to break that. They’d rather see it stop working than break it, largely so they can’t be blamed for breaking it. It’s hard to get fired by doing what your predecessor has always done.

It wasn’t hard to see online shopping as the future 15 years ago, but TRU didn’t pursue that soon enough or well enough and had too many locations with their high cost. They ran costs too high, couldn’t compete on price, and took on way too much debt trying to stay afloat without a viable plan for competing with Walmart, Target and Amazon.

Only a select few large companies avoid this. But even inert companies can sometimes stay in business. I know because a bunch of them are my clients, specifically the ones who never takes even low level risks.

It is amazing, given how long modern business and organizations have existed, over 140 years; 7 generations, that the lessons have not beened. then too, there is the opposite, where companies become so flighty that they become unstable and go broke trying to "innovate" Beyond that, inherotors are different from creators. I am told there is a British saying about the lifespan of fortunes and the like "Sandals to sandals in Three [generations]". The creator builds and the inherotors squander. There are or were families that kept up the quality. the Bernoulli in science and the Huxley in cultural intellectual prowess from the mid 19th to at least 1960 when Aldous wrote BRAVE NEW WORLD REVISITED in which he examined changes in science and culture that would predictably lead to the state of affiars in his 1930's novel BRAVE NEW WORLD, which for the longest time had been a companion piece to 1984 by George Orwell, who, to my knowledge was a one-off. But these great families seem to be the exception

At any rate, you think after 7 generations of modern organizational existence, the lessons would be common knowledge, especially with the existence of the MBA

[Dubious]

Only in the USA, for now, but it says that people in the UK should use up their gift cards, just in case

 

[Guest]

 

especially with the existence of the MBA

I’ve always had a dim view of the MBA. You learn the most up to date buzzwords, but all the case studies don’t change the fact you need to learn by doing, and even then knowing and doing are two different things.

I know a lot,of,people who who can diagnose a problem well. What they struggle with, and it’s not their fault, is getting others to agree on the diagnosis, the treatment plan, and to stick to the plan. You might say you don’t manage a company so much as the people who work there, and people are more complicated.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

 

I’ve always had a dim view of the MBA. You learn the most up to date buzzwords, but all the case studies don’t change the fact you need to learn by doing, and even then knowing and doing are two different things.

I know a lot,of,people who who can diagnose a problem well. What they struggle with, and it’s not their fault, is getting others to agree on the diagnosis, the treatment plan, and to stick to the plan. You might say you don’t manage a company so much as the people who work there, and people are more complicated.

I have said for years "Give me someone with a heart and sole for the product, and the'lly be worth five persons with MBA's

[rusty pins]

 

i am sure you can buy your inserts online.. i use the abena abrilet maxi doubler and i order them at xp medical. i am saying that just to prove my point.. the internet is the place to buy anything and everything you could ever want.. and more

Yes, if I wanted to buy inserts I could find some on line, but the diaper inserts sold at Babies R Us come 30 to a package for $5.99.  They work perfect for my needs and I'm not going to pay 3 times as much or more for less amount of product.

[Guest]

 

I have said for years "Give me someone with a heart and sole for the product, and the'lly be worth five persons with MBA's

I always liked this.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/06/the-management-myth/304883/

Of course this is a whole different problem, but I do think I inherited money erode character, and that especially matters for privately held companies. Just reported today.

https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/03/23/billy-busch-anheuser-busch-heir-charged-with-assaulting-6th-grader-at-basketball-practice

Same family.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/busch-girlfriend-had-lethal-doses-of-cocaine-and-oxycodone-no/article_bd7de4ec-3554-11e0-aeea-00127992bc8b.html

Of course AB, AbInbev, and MillerCoors are perfect examples of hugely successful companies that stagnated for want of innovation to keep up with changing consumer wants. Now their plan is based on buying craft brewers, not telling anyone they’re buying them so they don’t dilute the brand, and continuing to sell lite beer to older people and Hispanics, the latter of whom associate lite beer with being American, so the market research shows, which won’t last.

[tyrantblade3500]

I've been meaning to make it to Toys R Us the last couple weekends since I heard they are all going to be closing down (at least in the US); I just haven't made it as I don't drive and only have a ride up until Friday and I've worked the last 2 Fridays (I've never had the problem of having "too much money" so I work all the OT I can)

[poobrat]

 

The Babies-R-Us division of TRU is very important to me. My diaper service has announced that eventually they will no longer provide adult diapers. Before I started using the diaper service I bought my Gerber prefold from BRU.

hi angela,while I have never used a diaper service,i have read that these services do sell their diapers to people,maybe you can purchase a cloth supply from them before its to late to get their adult diaper service,best wishes for you.

[Bettypooh]

 

I’ve always had a dim view of the MBA. You learn the most up to date buzzwords, but all the case studies don’t change the fact you need to learn by doing, and even then knowing and doing are two different things.

Those who do best in any industry are those who worked their way up the ladder. This is because they know the business in depth, not just having knowledge of management techniques. In fact, this same principle applies to most College degrees. The difference today is that OJT and hands-on experience is belittled because it cannot be quantified, while a degree supposedly can be. What really killed the USA is this shifting of corporate mindset where management has more layers than a fancy wedding cake and things which can't be defined on a ledger get pooh-poohed as being worthless Instead of each layer of management adding wisdom and value, without the thorough understanding of the industry which comes only with experience, you get a loss at each level instead because they don't really know what they are doing and they are afraid to visibly fail by not taking the usual proscribed course  It is what you can do that makes you relevant, not just what you know The best managers- actually the best at any job- are those who have a high aptitude for it. That cannot be taught in any school; it is as much a personal trait as anything else. Those with aptitude will outperform those who lack it, and true aptitude is only discovered through experience- not through schooling. 

Another problem is today's too-tight focus on the short-term. Investors demand continuous high profits when the reality is that every company in every industry has ups and downs. When the downs happen the investors quickly run away for the next 'big thing' and that first company goes under When we let the investors run the companies the companies will always get financially raped. The only say investors should have in the running of a company is what they will do with their investment- they have no experience in how those companies run and thus they are obviously not fit to be managing them  But all this is the norm today and the results we get can be expected as long as this all holds.

I often tell the tale of RCA and the color TV. In the early 50's when the US was deciding on what system to use, RCA crunched the numbers and discovered that they would not break even in developing their system for 20 years. After that they expected huge profits from it, far higher than anyone could do with alternative investments over the same time period. They told the stockholders the truth, and most of them stayed with RCA knowing that in the long term it would be a big win. And it was a big win after 20 years though other changes- including the rise of short-term thinking- soon negated those wins and eventually left RCA dead. The screen you're now looking at would have half it's resolution had RCA dropped out and allowed DuMont to get their system chosen as the standard instead That's what long-term thinking can do; short-term thinking kills good things.

Charles Lazarus died from a broken heart, as would anyone who had saw their wildest dreams come true then collapse around them in time. As others have noted this collapse was mainly caused by not keeping up with the competition and the times. "Click and order" is putting most of the "brick and mortar" stores out of business unless they too adapt to the brave new world of retailing we have now. Some things must be local- you can't order and ship a truck full of concrete from a distant place before it hardens- but with most other things where a little waiting is insignificant compared to savings, online shopping is the way to go. Toys R Us missed that boat as have so many others. Most terrible about this to me is knowing that Mr. Lazarus must have been a kid at heart to see the concept of giving everyone the word's most wonderful toy store. In that way he was one of us- and now we've lost him and the wonderful stores too

According to the local news, they will be liquidating the merchandise with discounted sales. It's said to be happening in some places already, but not at every store yet. If there's something they sell which your heart yearns for now is the time to be checking the local store out before they close the doors for the last time. I wish I could have been a kid getting to experience a Toys R Us wonderland but alas, my luck and timing never work out right

Bettypooh

[willnotwill]

Toys R Us has been moribund for a long time.     Back in the day when they were competing against perhaps a small brick and mortar toy store and the Sears Christmas catalog it was one thing.   It's not just the internet that hit them hard.    There actual biggest competition has been the big box department stores like Target and Walmart (Walmart sold more toys for the past years than TRU).     

What killed them was failure to adapt.    They were already pretty much dead in 2005 when KKR and Vornado took them over.     Even the "reinvented" company didn't change much.

It's right up there with my opinion of some of the big catalog houses.    Sears/JCPenny/Wards catalog died in the early nineties just about the time the Internet was starting to hit.   They could have easily adopted the Catalog operation into the same business that Amazon erupted with, but failed to make the leap.

And don't get me started on "business" men.   There are good MBA's/Execs and bad ones.   Our company was bought out first by a "good" one who understood how to leverage synergy between a bunch of somewhat-related company.   He had done such before.    After a few years he sold the company again.   The new company is a big conglomerate but lacks any sane vision.   Rather than focusing on interdivision synergies and economy of scale, they just overburden the various subsidiaries with additional expensive bureaucracy.     They've been shrinking down my once vibrant company/division to nothing over the past six years.