As a parent of young kids, I've been in to Toys R Us twice in the past few years. The first time it was really depressing: prime-time hours for retail and the store was practically empty. The second time was last weekend, and it was bustling with people hoping for fire sale prices. Probably the best weekend that store has had in years.
Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
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Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Youre right. There's something unclean and bad about the aesthetics...its like stuck in the 1980s. They need someone that can redesign and modernize it. Whoever did that work for Target would probably know what precisely to do.
That Target guy is Ron Johnson, the same one who built Apple retail and tried to help JC Penney
I hadn't been in a Target in awhile, but popped in an intown location the other day.
Wow.
I was definitely impressed. For a chain that used to be "the other Walmart", the design and general feel of the store was miles different today.
So hats off to Mr. Johnson, and Target for hiring him.
Side note: Having a Starbucks in-store at Targets is brilliant. I imagine the deal works out financially for both parties, and Target gets to affluence-signal "we're the type of store that Starbucks people shop at."
Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#63I think Amazon should do it. I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store a…
> I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. Toys R Us has been struggling to pay off $6 billion in debt from the Bain Capital takeover in 2005. They didn't have the capital or the margins to invest in maintaining their stores, let alone competing with Amazon. Buying a company with debt and then forcing that company to pay off that debt is fairly common, but for some reason it…
Well the natural extension of what you ask, is a world like Japan where banks ask small and medium business owners for personal guarantees over business loans, bankrupting many SMB owners and entrepreneurs.
Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#64I think Amazon should do it. I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store a…
Their current business model is (was?) to price everything in the store 5-20% higher than elsewhere, but then offer coupons, sales, etc. to offset that. When our daughter was born we price compared them for a lot of big ticket items, but ultimately just bought online or at Target / Walmart. A few times a year they have a good deal on something (again with coupons) so we purchase, but walking into the store blind shop…
They will price match with other stores. I was in there last weekend to spend a gift card and knocked about 20% off the prices by price matching Amazon.
Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does running a play space with lots of staff fit into Amazon's business model?
How may physical stores complain that shoppers go in, examine the objects on the shelf, and then compare to Amazon via their phone to just finish the purchase there? If Amazon ran the store, they could just buy it right there @ Amazon prices, and within the Amazon ecosystem That would kill the other stores.
If Amazon ran the store, they would have the same retail overhead costs as all the places they're undercutting...
Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Taking a corporation private, loading it with billions in debt, starving it of funding and sucking it dry before collapse should be a criminal offense IMO
Unfortunately that's the nature of business. Sometimes it's impossible to predict market situations 10, 15 years out. I doubt anybody at Bain could have predicted in 2005 that Amazon would completely dominate the retail market in 10 years. Also, some responsibility falls on the debtors themselves for taking on potentially risky investments, but there are so many loopholes and gotchas here that I really can't comment…
How could Bain not predict that Amazon would dominate toy sells?
Toys R Us made a 10 year deal with Amazon to be the exclusuve toy seller in 1999, that had already fallen apart by 2005. Amazon was already the top online toy reteller by then. As far as debtors being "screwed", hopefully they are both diversified enough and demanded enough of a risk premium for them to at least break even on their entire portfolio of loans.
https://qz.com/1080389/a-dot-com-era-deal-with-amazon-marked...
Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... It would fit right in with Amazons style of business then.
But that's the whole point, if both are the same on that aspect, and amazon has a larger catalog size, and I already have evening/next day delivery from amazon anyway, why would I bother going the to the toy store ? The whole point he was making is, once amazon existed, they failed to compete with it. You're a physical store, you have the possibility to interact with people, offer them things they can't have over the…
As I posted previously, toys r us didn't just "fail to compete with them", they actually helped Amazon to build their own department by turning over responsibility of toysrus.com to Amazon.
Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#68I think Amazon should do it. I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store a…
> There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days)
Funny enough, a new cafe opened up a few blocks from where I live with this in mind. About half of the customer space is a play area for smallish children, and the other half is "normal" with tables and chairs... My point being that it doesn't need to be limited to toy stores or kiddie museums, even if this particular cafe boards up shop.
Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Excusing this as "the nature of business" is extremely defeatist. We could easily make it so that Bain is back on the hook for these debts, so that they actually care about the outcome of the company. Keep in mind, Toys R Us had some 20% of the online toy market. And without the debt hanging around their neck, they'd actually have funds to invest in competing.
I don't think you fully understand how this works. Bain doesn't get off the hook here with zero losses. In these bankruptcy situations, equity holds (Bain) usually get their equity stake wiped completely. If they had hundreds of millions/billions of dollars in equity, all of that is now gone. They will recover some of the money from the liquidation of assets however they will immediately use that to pay of their own…
"Bain doesn't get off the hook here with zero losses."
They make the company pay them dividends while saddling the company with their debt.
"The debtors however get screwed even further... most if not all of them get absolutely nothing."
And yet, they keep lending to these vultures. I have no sympathy.
Re: Amazon Has Considered Buying Some Toys ‘R’ Us Stores
#70I think Amazon should do it. I personally believe Toys R Us just missed an opportunity to run a proper business. They have a ton of retail space, but every time I've been there, it's run like Walmart. Shit everywhere, no one to help you find anything, etc... There's nothing suburban parents like me want more than an indoor play space for my kid (for extremely hot or cold days). If they properly utilized their store a…
Youre right. There's something unclean and bad about the aesthetics...its like stuck in the 1980s. They need someone that can redesign and modernize it. Whoever did that work for Target would probably know what precisely to do.
I think it’s the grid layout, the modular, beige metal racks, and linoleum, and the fluorescent lights. Plus their color scheme where there is color seems to be from the Ronald McDonald school of design. Finally, tired and miserable people at supermarket-like checkout lanes doesn’t help.