What the slag is up with Toys 'R' Us?

[Tonestar]

I contacted TRU.CA last week and I got the usual shpeel that "my comments will be given to the proper channels and we thank you for your time and concern" so I doubt anything will change anytime soon. At least Target will be opening next month so we have another retail source to go to and some stiffer competition should be good for TRU. I also told them that.

[Knockout]

TRU in St. Kitts doesn't even have a TF section anymore. There's a sign at the top but marvel runs all the pegs.

[Woundave]

New stock coming in march, according to the sales reps I talked to today

[Shockwave 75]

Then probably nothing else till next X-Mas!

[ryceball89]

Was over in Buffalo over the weekend, the TRUs there sucked just as much as ours. Half empty pegs, their deluxes cost 15.97. I thought it would be close towards 11 or 12...

[Scrapper6]

The way I see it TRU took a big hit with the over-abudance of not only DotM, but First Edition Prime figures, they had entire walls of the stuff literally for months on end, and when they finally ditched the DotM over-stock (either to Winners, Giant Tiger or back to Hasbro I don't know) what happens? They bring out even more DotM Deluxes during the biggest selling time of the season, Christmas Time at TRU was a joke, Wal-Mart got in a few cases of Wave Two PRID with Arcee and Autobot Ratchet finally hitting store shelves in very limited numbers.

TRU's stock looked like a repeat of last year's holiday season (IE 2011) so they had a big hurdle to push that crud off on the unsuspecting Grandmas of the world who didn't know what to get and so swooped up all this re-re-stock of DotM.

Their Star Wars section has likewise been a huge wasted potential for a very long time, Wal-Mart rotated stock better than them, even if they only ever brought out a few cases of later 2012 Vintage Series stuff at a time. Meanwhile TRU kept sitting on those god-damned TPM Cases without bothering to try and slash prices down.

Remember when Rise of Cobra figures hung around the pegs too long? TRU Finally up and dropped them down to 2.98$ a pop, and those things moved like hell. (I'm still kicking myself for missing out on a few of the Joes and stuff.) But no, TRU can't be bothered to try and ditch the unsellable crap, even at 2.98$ a pop people might not buy up their entire stock of TPM figures, but you're damn sure that a lot of people would leap at the chance for what they percieve as a bargain.

Whatever has been happening at TRU so far seems to be a really bad bit of business, at least as far as Hasbro figures are concerned. They can't seem to reach the distribution they had just a short while ago, when Animated was high on the hog and you couldn't find a damn Ironhide or Arcee Exclusive to save your life. Even RotF wasn't this bad, at least not during the span that DotM seems to have hung around tenaciously choking the life out of TRU shelf space, which is already limited as all heck ever since they started stocking those stupid Baby's-R-Us brands on top of all the other garbage going on.

TRU's biggest selling point has always been the fact that it is a Warehouse for nothing but toys, children and collectors alike enjoy the chance and opportunity to hunt down a load of figures that Wal-Mart and others, for whatever reason, tend to only stock for a limited number of months before rotating it out. Because they don't have the shelf space otherwise.

TRU however does have the space, they have the drive and determination, the only problem is they just don't seem to realize that their biggest drawing point isn't worth a hill of beans if they can't keep rotational stock. Their business plan, whatever it was in the glory days, is right now choking them slowly into the red. As it stands if we're very lucky they'll last for another generation, but if they don't clean up their act they are going to die.

Everyone in the states is complaining that TRU is jacking up prices, jacking them up why? Because they figure the can milk the few people dumb enough to pay inflated prices? Sure that might keep them afloat for a few years, maybe, but people smarten up. People learn to shop smart, and quite frankly TRU is just not ageing well anymore.

I remember the glory days, I remember walking into a TRU where they had one entire shelf, the length of a good size I'd wager, loaded up entirely with Beast Wars, and they had such a great look. The shelves were always full, it never looked dingy or ugly. Nowadays their shelves have shrunk, the sections in their store aren't as big as they used to be or as aweinspiring. They stock crappy movie product (Such as How to Train your Dragon Merchandise) for far too many years after the film has long since died on the momentum front for toys. They muck about shrinking shelving space, alloting a greater number of sheer space for all that crap in the back of the stores like outdoor play structures and bicycles that I've never really bothered to look at, I'm sure they sell, but their stores are such huge places why is it that the boy's action figure department has to be relegated to such cramped quarters that you can't find slag-all? Not just because the stock isn't there, but also because there's barely any room to stand in an aisle and take the time to look like there was before.

People push and shove and bump others out of the way, rather rudely I might add, and you can't take the time to really get a good feel. And another thing, where are all the displays? They used to have closed in glass display cases showing off product, they don't bother with that anymore.

TRU is facing the same problems as Zellers if you ask me, they over-charge for certain items just because they can, or their exclusive to their store. (Look at those fuckin' Ewok packs for christ's sake.) And then they turn their shelves and aisles into a huge cramped mess better reserved for display cases full of DVDs or Video Games, it isn't fun anymore when you go to TRU, you used to feel like they had it all. Now you start to see them for what they really are, the sham, the con artist, the shyster. Their buildings are ageing and they aren't trying to modernize them to keep up with competition, they probably couldn't even if they wanted to.

I really hope Target helps to wake them up as a brand name that should be proud of what it is. What it once was, and not just helps alongside Wal-Mart to drive them further over the edge into bankruptcy. Because if TRU falls, so then does the only half-way decent place to actually find what you want at major retailers. Which hasn't been very good this past year, but perhaps it will clear up, I mean with Wal-Mart shrinking their toy departments all the time we're all going to start shopping online for our toys, and then we won't be able to select our good pain apps, or our decent looking packages. (Unless you go through the premimum options that places like BBTS have to offer, because Wal-Mart online doesn't care if you get a Transformers Prime Vehicon with a huge smear of dark black pain on the front windshield, or a big key-scratch mark of some kind on the door. They just ship whatever they've got in the warehouse out.

Man, sorry for ranting so much, it just sickens me the state of affairs that TRU has become. Even as a teenager during the Beast Era stuff and the Unicron Trilogy days TRU looked worlds better, at some point around the beginning of Cybertron or the start of the Movie line they changed their entire shelving structure into the stuff we see today and it just looks god awful. I hate shopping in an aisle where you get jostled and bumped by everyone trying to get past.

[Mega-Prime 316]

Originally Posted by Woundave

New stock coming in march, according to the sales reps I talked to today

But will that "new" stock actually be something new or something that is actually 3 months old and Walmart has already sold?

[joshimus]

If anything, probably wave 1 of Beast Hunters. Don't think TRU is gonna suddenly get the really new stuff in March. That would be great though. I hate Wal-mart and would rather support TRU but since they don't seem to want to sell toys, I haven't been able to.

[Shockwave 75]

Originally Posted by Scrapper6

TRU however does have the space, they have the drive and determination, the only problem is they just don't seem to realize that their biggest drawing point isn't worth a hill of beans if they can't keep rotational stock. Their business plan, whatever it was in the glory days, is right now choking them slowly into the red. As it stands if we're very lucky they'll last for another generation, but if they don't clean up their act they are going to die.

I think a big part of the problem is that the powers-that-be at TRU haven't compenstated for the rise of the internet. It wouldn't surprise me if the PTB's are a bunch of musty old fucks that think the interwebs are just a fad, and only geeks and nerds use it.

They need create some kind of incentive for people to go to a brick-and-mortar store as opposed to buying online.
For me, that incentive is that I'm impatient and I want what I want now! If I can go to a store, and maybe get what I want right now, even at a slightly higher price, I prefer that over having to wait, possibly for weeks, for stuff to arrive in the mail. especially when said stuff should be readily available at the afore mentioned brick-and-mortar stores.

Out of all 17 Prime figure I own 6 had to be bought online. Not counting Breakdown and Jet Vehicon who were never available here anyways. That's retarded.

[Team Jetfire]

I think we are over estimating TRU's commitment to the "Boy Action Figure" demograpic and I would not be surprised if Toys r Us ceses to exist and Babys R Us continues. I'm no expert, but I would guess that the profit margin on a $500 stroller is much better than a $15 action figure, and the Stroller can stay in inventory for a longer period of time, while new action figures stock needs to be rotated all the time in order to stay current.