by Anthony B Sanders
Toys R Us, along with several other retail stores like Macy’s, Sears, JC Penney (not to mention Limited Stores), are literally “Out of Time.” In other words, that are from a pre-internet shopping/Amazon era.
Jan. 24 (Washington Post) — Toys R Us announced plans to close 182 stores nationwide, creating new opportunities for big-box stores, online retailers and mom-and-pop shops to pick up a larger share of the toy business.
The retail chain, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, has been fighting an uphill battle to stay relevant amid growing competition from the likes of Target, Walmart and Amazon.com. It’s woes only seemed to magnify in recent months: The retail industry enjoyed its best holiday season in years, but Toys R Us struggled to find its footing.
Shopping center icons Macy’s, Sears and JC Penney have seen plunging stock prices since mid-2015. Each of these former stalwarts are struggling to rethink their retail model. Needless to say, none of them kept pace with the S&P500 index since mid-2015.
On the other hand, retailer store chains Target (green line) and Walmart (yellow line) along with Amazon (white line) have done extraordinarly well since Q2 2017. partly thanks to predatory behavior towards Toys R US.
6,403 store closings were announced in 2017.
Now add Toys R Us to this list of “Out of Time” retailers.
That is a lot of repurposing that has to be done to shopping space!
