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The reporter stands smiling outside of a Toys R Us store in Maryland.
Toys R Us is opening new stores for the holiday shopping season.

Alex Bitter/BI

  • Toys R Us went bankrupt and closed its stores in 2018.
  • But under new management, the toy chain is opening new stores and trying to make a comeback.
  • I visited a seasonal Toys R Us location in Maryland to see how the strategy is working.

Toys R Us is back — well, sort of.

Children of the '90s and early 2000s are likely familiar with the chain's backward R and giraffe mascot. Like many retailers, however, Toys R Us struggled to navigate the world of e-commerce, and eventually closed all of its US locations in 2018 after filing for bankruptcy protection.

But, while the Toys R Us stores of the past may be gone, the brand has gotten a revival under new management. Some in the retail world refer to such stores as "zombie brands."

That's because WHP, a brand management company, holds a controlling stake in Toys R Us' parent, and it has been using the chain's name and other intellectual property, such as Geoffrey the Giraffe, in its new stores. Those include a flagship location in the American Dream mall in New Jersey as well as stores-within-stores in some Macy's department stores. WHP and Go! Retail Group, the company that operates the store, did not respond to a request for comment.

The latest additions include eight new flagship stores and 20 seasonal locations that are opening for the holiday shopping season, the company said last month.

I wanted to see what it's like to shop at one of these new Toys R Us stores. Here's what I found.

I visited this Toys R Us seasonal store in Columbia, Maryland.
The entrance to a Toys R Us store in Maryland.

Alex Bitter/BI

I visited this Toys R Us store on a Wednesday afternoon. It's located about a 50-minute drive from central Washington, DC.

The store is only around for the holiday shopping season.
A Toys R Us store in Maryland.

Alex Bitter/BI

This store isn't a year-round fixture. It opened a few weeks before I visited with the goal of serving customers "during the busiest shopping months of the year," Go! Retail Group, the company that operates the store, says on its website.

The Toys R Us branding was immediately evident.
Geoffrey the Giraffe, the Toys R Us mascot, appears in cardboard cut-out form in a display that reads

Alex Bitter/BI

This display was the first thing I saw as I walked into the Toys R Us store. With the chain's trademark giraffe and slogans like "I don't wanna grow up," it was clear that the operators were trying to make the most of the Toy R Us brand.

One thing I didn't expect: Toys R Us had lots of calendars.
An endcap of desk calendars, including ones with Green Bay Packers and National Park motifs, sits at Toys R Us

Alex Bitter/BI

There was a wide selection of calendars at the Toys R Us location I visited.

It's not what I expected to see at Toys R Us, but it makes sense: Besides operating these seasonal stores, Go! Retail also has multiple calendar brands in its portfolio.

The calendars took up a whole wall at Toys R Us.
A Taylor Swift calendar sits on a shelf at Toys R Us

Alex Bitter/BI

In fairness, if you were looking for a 2026 calendar, this was a good selection. Toys R Us had calendars with themes from the Green Bay Packers to Taylor Swift.

There were also, predictably, plenty of toys.
Toys hang on a shelf at Toys R Us under a banner that reads

Alex Bitter/BI

After browsing through dozens of calendars, I headed to the rest of the store, where I found a wide range of toys.

Many of the toys referenced current TV shows and trends …
A Bluey plush toy that talks sits in a package on the shelf at Toys R Us.

Alex Bitter/BI

I could imagine Toys R Us selling lots of these Bluey dolls, given how popular that show is with young kids.

… while others seemed to be aimed at older customers looking for nostalgia.
A Hulk Hogan action figure sits in a box with a banner that reads

Alex Bitter/BI

Hulk Hogan, who died in July at the age of 71, probably isn't a well-known figure among the Gen Alpha kids whom I imagine Toys R Us is targeting.

But I could see this figurine bringing back memories for people who grew up in the '80s and '90s, when Hogan was at the peak of his wrestling career.

There was also a selection of manga toys, such as these figurines from "One Piece."
Figurines from the anime One Piece sit on a shelf at Toys R Us

Alex Bitter/BI

This particular Toys R Us seemed to be a fraction of the space of the stores that I remember from 20 years ago. That said, the selection is impressive.

I also saw simpler toys that reminded me of my childhood.
A plastic food play set, including pizza and a bottle of Coca-Cola, sits in a box on a shelf at Toys R Us

Alex Bitter/BI

Besides all the branded action figures, there were also dominoes, board games, and pretend food sets, such as this pizza.

Some of the prices at Toys R Us seemed high.
A National Geographic Metal Detector Starter Kit sits on the shelf at Toys R Us

Alex Bitter/BI

This toy metal detector was selling for $84.99 — almost as much as some entry-level professional models from other brands cost. It was one example of a theme I observed while walking around the store: almost everything seemed as costly or slightly more expensive than comparable items at other stores, such as Target and Walmart.

And, if you count more discount-oriented chains, such as Five Below, Toys R Us seemed especially pricey. Given that many shoppers are trying to save money this holiday season, I wondered what exactly Toys R Us' strategy is.

Toys R Us probably needs more than nostalgia in the long run.
Stuffed animals of Geoffrey the Giraffe sit on shelves at Toys R Us

Alex Bitter/BI

For 20- and 30-somethings, the Toys R Us name means something. It's that store that you used to beg your parents to take you to — and that used to command roughly a quarter of the toy market.

But after its bankruptcy, Toys R Us is clearly a much smaller company. And symbols of the brand, such as these Geoffrey the Giraffe toys, don't mean as much to Gen Z or Gen Alpha as they do to millennials.

Overall, I was left wondering how this Toys R Us store fits into the modern retail world.
The reporter stands with a puzzled expression on his face outside a Toys R Us store

Alex Bitter/BI

Toys R Us lost market share as it tried to compete with big-box stores and online-only retailers. As I left this revival store, I didn't see anything that gave me a reason to return — or anything that might give Toys R Us a shot at clawing back some of the toy market share.

If I need a fun calendar for next year, though, I know where to go.

Do you work in retail and have a story idea to share? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Business, Travel
Retail, Stores, holiday-shopping, bankruptcy-watch, Bankruptcy
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I went to Toys R Us. It was strange — and shows what can happen to 'zombie' ret…