If you are a parent you will feel it did need to die. I went in there years after being a kid and nothings changed, that old warehousey look,the same toys, nothings changed since I was a kid. Worse, is they are all overpriced compared to even other stores let alone internet stores.
Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
81–90 of 226 posts
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
What I don't get is there are a lot of empty storefronts and places moving that I see... and retailers say the rents are still sky high for those storefronts. Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty?
> Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty? Yes. It's a tax dodge. [1] [2] The owners "...hold out for higher rents to increase the worth of their properties because value is based on future income stream...They can afford to forego current rental income, waiting for higher-paying tenants because they claim big business losses. Landlords get a tax loss from negative rental income when no rent comes i…
Sounds they're being 'penny-wise pound-foolish'
Nothing guarantees the higher rent will come eventually
Also
"According to Plasky, landlords who wait for their ideal tenant are generally approached by small businesses but reject them because they want a national chain—like TD Bank, CVS or Starbucks—and a corporate guarantor... But this leads to a vicious cycle, into which the entire retail corridor is sucked.
When a retail corridor deteriorates because of its empty spaces, the first tenants to leave because of low foot traffic (and consequently fewer customers) are the mom-and-pop businesses. "
It seems this is another bubble that will burst.
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
What I don't get is there are a lot of empty storefronts and places moving that I see... and retailers say the rents are still sky high for those storefronts. Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty?
Wild guess: Dropping the rents would prompt their remaining tenants to renegotiate their contracts.
I saw a GameStop that was the top revenue store in a mall move to a nearby strip mall when the "mall" mall wouldn't negotiate down. Moves are happening to new and completely empty places.
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
What I don't get is there are a lot of empty storefronts and places moving that I see... and retailers say the rents are still sky high for those storefronts. Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty?
> Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty? Yes. It's a tax dodge. [1] [2] The owners "...hold out for higher rents to increase the worth of their properties because value is based on future income stream...They can afford to forego current rental income, waiting for higher-paying tenants because they claim big business losses. Landlords get a tax loss from negative rental income when no rent comes i…
Why do you think riots or war are necessary to change this?
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#85If you are a parent you will feel it did need to die. I went in there years after being a kid and nothings changed, that old warehousey look,the same toys, nothings changed since I was a kid. Worse, is they are all overpriced compared to even other stores let alone internet stores.
That's the key. It's not just online or competition lost to Amazon. The same toys were available at Target for a lot less money.
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#86Retailing seems to be dying in US irrespective of the company: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-17/retail-st... Couple of years ago, one of my friends bought a store at a strip mall. The store was making a loss. And the previously owners were an elderly couple. So my friends thesis was that they weren't exactly tuned into the digital presence business and it was still entirely possible to run a store i…
The US have too much retail space. Retail is not really dying there is too much of it.
https://www.statista.com/chart/9454/retail-space-per-1000-pe...
https://qz.com/1032723/theres-much-more-empty-retail-space-i...
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-...
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#87If you are a parent you will feel it did need to die. I went in there years after being a kid and nothings changed, that old warehousey look,the same toys, nothings changed since I was a kid. Worse, is they are all overpriced compared to even other stores let alone internet stores.
That's the key. It's not just online or competition lost to Amazon. The same toys were available at Target for a lot less money.
> The same toys were available at Target for a lot less money.
True for a relative handful of the most popular toys, but Target doesn't have the floorspace dedicated to toys to cover any but a small fraction of what a Toys R Us would carry. Last time I was in a Toys R Us, the section dedicated to play houses was, no kidding, the size of an entire Target toy section. Target might stock one item in that category in store (though I don't think I've ever seen one in a Target).
It's Amazon and friends, not brick and mortar stores with smaller but discounted toy sections that killed the advantage of having floor space and variety in stock to browse, since people would use the store for discovery and then order from a discount online channel that didn't have the overhead of brick and mortar showrooms.
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wild guess: Dropping the rents would prompt their remaining tenants to renegotiate their contracts.
Maybe. It's just strange as I've seen large % of commercial areas stay empty, they keep up the place, but almost nothing in the spaces, for years.
Perhaps they're hoping that the property value goes up so that they can one day sell it?
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd argue that a toy store, more than any other kind of retailer, is insulated from that, because the store has an little advocate for spending ten dollars extra to buy the product right now with most shoppers. And going to the toy store itself is kind of an activity that I don't think you can replace with online shopping.
Anecdote time: I took my cousin (12) to a toy store once. First it was difficult to get him out of his iPad and get out of home. Second he was completely indifferent to anything in the store. We ended up buying some card games and credit for mobile games. + There aren't many kids anymore.
Kids. They don't make'm like they used to.
Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Didn’t Have to Die
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
What I don't get is there are a lot of empty storefronts and places moving that I see... and retailers say the rents are still sky high for those storefronts. Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty?
> Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty? Yes. It's a tax dodge. [1] [2] The owners "...hold out for higher rents to increase the worth of their properties because value is based on future income stream...They can afford to forego current rental income, waiting for higher-paying tenants because they claim big business losses. Landlords get a tax loss from negative rental income when no rent comes i…
It's easy to avoid taxes by not making money, but as someone states in the third article you link to: "A wise colleague told me that until effective income tax rates reach 100 percent, a dollar of income is worth more than a dollar of deduction".
That's just the apparently-not-so-well-known First Law of Tax: It is always better to have more money than less money.