It’s the end of an era: Toys R Us has recently announced that they are closing all of their U.S. locations. This doesn’t come as a large surprise, being that Toys R Us had been dealing with debt for a while, and the last few months have been extra hard for Toys R Us.
Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in September of 2017. On March 14 2018 it was announced that 70 year old company would be closing all of its U.S locations. Within the next week, founder Charles Lazrus passed away at the age of 94. Toys R Us then shut down their website on April 3 2018 and all U.S stores are currently going through liquidation sales.
Growing up, going to Toys R Us was always a fun experience. Just looking around a toy store that seemed larger than life was fantastic. It wasn’t about going in to get a toy-no it was about looking around at all the toys that you could get, and dreaming that maybe someday you’ll have them all. It was almost like stepping into a wonderland, a seemingly perfect world made of toys and imagination. Going to a toy store is a staple of growing up in the United States, and it saddens me to see that this might not be so for future generations.
One of my favorite memories involves Saint Vincent as well. It was 2003 and I was seven years old. My aunt and uncle were married at Saint Vincent, and that for me meant a seemingly endless day celebrating the wedding. My grandfather decided to take myself, my brother and my two cousins to the Toys R Us in Greensburg to get us a toy to thank us for being so well behaved. I went through the whole store and decided to buy some baseball cards and I couldn’t have been happier. There was nothing special about the cards, but just going to the store and getting a small present was an exciting experience.
This memory is very simple and not that exciting, but I’m sure that we all have such memories with Toys R Us. I know that even though the stores will all be closed, that I will cherish the simple memories of going to Toys R Us as a child. I will forever be a Toys R Us kid.
Photo: WVUA23.com