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Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

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Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#201

Post by Pxtl »

linsomniac wrote: post #194
tyingq wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot here I agree with, but... >You go to Home Depot for expertise as much as for parts Has not been my experience. Ace hardware is a little better, but not much. I suppose sometimes they get lucky and a knowledgeable retiree is willing to work for those wages.

Expertise at a Home Depot can be problematic. Sometimes you get someone who really knows what they are talking about. Sometimes you get someone who doesn't, but is speaking with authority anyway. A friend recently told me about a time he sent his wife in to Home Depot with a list of things to get, and she came home with a different set of things that an employee recommended. My friend went back there to raise a stink…

Either way, the fact that you can even have that conversation with a person at the store is a huge difference from the kid who'll read you the card on the display if you ask him about a product at Best Buy.

And yeah, I used sharkbite to book my dishwasher up, but it's definitely on the list of "get that replaced next time a plumber is in the house".

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#202

Post by wolverine876 »

jimmaswell wrote: post #186
wolverine876 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dave Brandon had an exceptional track record and the business community thought so, maybe still does for all I know. He was just disliked by a popular (in the University of Michigan community) sports blogger. See my post below.

What possible explanation is there for this post if he had an "exceptional track record"? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15280485

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15281139

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#203

Post by rosege »

coredog64 wrote: post #127
gist wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> who took it private in 2005 via leverage buyout and ladened Toys r Us balance sheet with untenable debt from thereon You are not taking into account the changing habits of kids as a result of both the iphone and ipads or equivalent. Kids don't view toys the same way that they did prior to 2007 onward and neither do parents. I grew up in a day and age where getting a chance to have a toy was a big deal (and only hap…

With three kids, my wife and I used to buy Lego at every opportunity. It was also an easy gift idea to give to grandparents. My kids haven't played with Lego for years. They enjoy doing it Minecraft or one of a zillion other Steam games that offers the same build-it-yourself functionality as Lego.

And Lego's not doing so well either https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/business/lego-sales-toys....

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#204

Post by dingo_bat »

Jach wrote: post #105
booleandilemma wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you buy your Star Wars action figures? Your Lego sets? Or did you not play with toys as a kid?

As a kid I never bought my toys... My parents sometimes bought them while we were shopping in the toy department of a store like Fred Meyer or Walmart, occasionally other random places like gas stations or movie rental stores, but the general department store is where we'd go when I needed a toy-gift for a friend/relative (unless it was something more specific like some packs of pokemon cards where then I'd go to the…

This is true for me too. My parents never took me to a toy shop. They bought what they thought was good and gave it to me. I had a lot of toys.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#205

Post by criddell »

ksenzee wrote: post #136
criddell wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Star Wars action figure? No way. Lets get some paper towel tubes, markers, and glitter and make our own!

The original post was about a 9-month-old. No baby that age cares in the slightest about Star Wars, but they love boxes.

Well, he also was talking about the future.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#206

Post by sekasi »

doz33 wrote: post #177
chrisco255 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leadership is a thing. It really matters. An effective leader can be a force multiplier for everyone in the organization that reports to them, directly or indirectly. An ineffective leader can literally bankrupt an organization.

It matters. But not like it used too. All leaders are very quickly out of their depth these days given the scale, speed and complexity of today's markets and rates at which things change. What they can actually do, to be effective has reduced. Lot of them end up being lightning rods when things go bad. They know this and rightly get compensated highly for it.

I don't know that this is true at all. Yes, complexity has shifted, yes today's market is different.

This does not really change the fact that a focused, driven leader can impart a strong sense of company focus and vision that becomes a really powerful driving force. I've seen it, it's definitely still a thing and I don't see a great leader being less important anytime soon.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#207

Post by bobwaycott »

product50 wrote: post #39

Though this may have something to do with Amazon (and retail generally trending online), it does appear that the big culprit here were Bain Capital (and its partners) who took it private in 2005 via leverage buyout and ladened Toys r Us balance sheet with untenable debt from thereon. Apparently, they were paying $500M in interests alone per year vs. reinvesting capital in growth of their offline stores or online reta…

This is definitely Bain’s standard playbook.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#209

Post by midnightclubbed »

hn_user2 wrote: post #57
zabuni wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least for Gamestop, you're probably not wrong. Amazon Prime gets you new video games at 20% off MSRP. That's cheaper than what the distributor sells them for.

I think GameStop makes most of its money buying trade-ins. Perhaps they are more in the pawn shop business than the video game business?

Go into your local Gamestop for a copy of Destiny 2 and see how hard they try to push you into buying a pre-owned (used) copy for $55 over the new copy for $60.

Their trade-in value for Destiny 2 is $24 (in store credit) and their pre-owned purchase price is $55. No wonder the sales staff force the pre-owned games over new.

Gamestop gave the middle finger to game producers when they realized how selling used games was way more profitable than new. When they file for chapter 11 in the near future they will claim downloadable games and competition from Amazon killed their business rather than their greed causing their suppliers to find alternative sales channels.

Re: Toys ‘R’ Us Plans Bankruptcy Filing Amid Debt Struggle

#210

Post by BeetleB »

linsomniac wrote: post #194
tyingq wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot here I agree with, but... >You go to Home Depot for expertise as much as for parts Has not been my experience. Ace hardware is a little better, but not much. I suppose sometimes they get lucky and a knowledgeable retiree is willing to work for those wages.

Expertise at a Home Depot can be problematic. Sometimes you get someone who really knows what they are talking about. Sometimes you get someone who doesn't, but is speaking with authority anyway. A friend recently told me about a time he sent his wife in to Home Depot with a list of things to get, and she came home with a different set of things that an employee recommended. My friend went back there to raise a stink…

FWIW, my friend is a plumber and he thinks Sharkbite is one of the best things that happened to plumbing. Of course he didn't use it for every job because the cost isn't always justified.

I suck at plumbing. For people like me who do the occasional repair around the house, Sharkbite is a godsend.

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