Does anyone know more about the Toys R Us closings?..such as when they will be happening and what locations will be closing. Many large box sites will be sitting vacant in the near future, that’s all I know.
Toys “R” Us retreats from Bay Area Stores to close in S.F. and Colma By Matthew Artz Staff Writer Published: Sunday, January 15, 2006 11:06 PM PST E-mail this story | Print this pageCOLMA — Toys “R” Us will close stores in Colma and San Francisco as early as this March, according to store and city officials.
While the retailing giant might convert the Colma store at 775 Serramonte Blvd. into a Babies “R” Us, according to Colma City Manager Diane McGrath, there was no word on the future of the San Francisco outlet at 2675 Geary Blvd.
On Tuesday, Toys “R” Us announced it was closing 75 stores nationwide and converting 12 others to Babies “R” Us. The company, which will have 587 stores once the closures are final, has not released a complete list of store closings.
The move will leave San Francisco without a Toys “R” Us and San Mateo County with one store in Redwood City. The affected stores will hold a liquidation sale, according to employees. The stores will exchange merchandise, but not offer returns during the liquidation period.
Toys “R” Us alerted Colma officials last week that the town’s store is scheduled to close on March 8. Forty employees stand to lose their jobs. San Francisco officials said they have not received notice of the store’s closing, but a store employee and two managers at different store locations confirmed The City store would soon be shuttered.
For Colma, the loss of Toys “R” Us potentially leaves a gaping vacancy on the 700 block of Serramonte Boulevard, where last year the Cost Plus World Market left for a new space in Daly City.
“We’ll be losing some sales-tax revenue, but I don’t think it will have a big impact,” McGrath said.
Mario Panoringan, CEO of the Daly City-Colma Chamber of Commerce, said Colma’s retail market remained strong despite the loss of the two stores. “We can not control what corporate America decides to do,” he said.
Colma Councilmember Frossanna Vallerga expressed no disappointment that the toy store was closing and said she expected the location to get a new tenant quickly. Toys “R” Us executives have met with city planning staff about converting the building to Babies R Us, McGrath said, but she added that the conversion was not guaranteed.
Last year, Toys “R” Us was sold for $6.6 billion to a group of private investors that had declared their intention to close outlets. The retailer, which revolutionized the toy industry with bigger stores and cheaper prices, has lost market share to big-box retailers like Target and online competitors.
Thank you for the information. Any information regarding the fate of the Mid-Atlantic region stores would be great too.
I found that on Google News. For each story there are probably thousands of sources, usually each paper will cover how it affects it’s own region. See if you can find one that pertains to your area: http://news.google.com/news?client=opera&rls=en&q=toys%20r%20us&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&sa=N&tab=wn
Doesn’t really surprise me. I remember when TRU were going like gangbusters in the late 80s. Anyone been in a TRU recently? Dreary and dismal-looking stores (at least around here).
-Anthony
Any locations closing in your area that you know of FL Guy?
Not that I’ve seen. Not yet. I feel it’s just a matter of time, though.
-Anthony