From our other sites
The story
Toy retail giant Toys “R” Us has decided to withdraw from store operations in Japan, it has emerged. The company operates roughly 150 stores nationwide, but has posted consecutive net losses in recent years, and the operator of discount chain “Don Quijote” is expected to acquire the business. The first Japanese store opened in 1991, and the U.S. parent company went bankrupt in 2017. On 5ch, users pointed to the falling birthrate and the growth of online shopping as contributing factors, with comments ranging from “where do kids even buy toys nowadays?” to “what will the selection look like if it gets converted into a Don Quijote?” Many posts also expressed nostalgia for toy store chains that have already closed.
It emerged on the 29th that toy retail giant Toys “R” Us plans to withdraw from operating stores in Japan. The company currently has about 150 stores nationwide, and according to sources, the operator of discount chain “Don Quijote” will acquire the business. According to official gazette filings, Toys “R” Us Japan has posted consecutive net losses in recent years, thought to be the result of the falling birthrate and the growth of online shopping.
Toys “R” Us’s first store in Japan opened in 1991. The U.S. company, founded in 1948, went bankrupt in 2017. In Japan, Toys “R” Us Japan (headquartered in Kawasaki) had continued operating the business. According to its website, the company employs 6,000 people in Japan, including part-time staff.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Back when it opened they had everything, even model trains.
They even had the Atari Lynx, let alone the 3DO.
Around 2000 they had toys that even middle and high schoolers could enjoy,
but now it's like a store just for preschoolers — nothing but little-kid stuff.
That's what I've noticed since I started going with my own kid.
It's not needed anymore, that's why they're pulling out of the Japan business — and Don Quijote's operator is buying up the existing stores.
Even the American parent company went bankrupt ages ago
Well that's a shocker ("bikkuri")
You mean Biku-Don? (a pun combining "bikkuri" with Bikkuri Donkey, a Japanese hamburg-steak chain, and "Donki")
Taking over the world with candy toys!
Bet every store gets turned into a MEGA Don Quijote.
Like what happened with am/pm and Circle K?
Though stores too close to an existing Don Quijote probably can't be reborn as one…
Probably right.
Toy makers keep trying every trick to get people to buy their stuff, but with prices so high parents aren't buying toys for their kids anymore.
Game software's expensive too, software in general is expensive.
Might just be over.
They're getting older, but there are more "big kids" (grown adult toy/hobby enthusiasts) now
People just buy online these days anyway
AEON malls maybe?
They've got toy stores inside them
Electronics superstores sell a ton of them
This exactly.
You can't do the whole "go look and pick one out for your birthday or Christmas" thing like you used to.
Those big-box electronics chains are about to wipe out the neighborhood electronics shops the same way
They probably want Toys "R" Us's toy retail know-how
don't need that many toy retailers in this era of falling birthrates
Well, birthrate aside, the U.S. parent went bankrupt ages ago regardless
forever a Toys R Us kid
surrounded by all my favorite toys
games and bicycles,
they've even got trains
Wow!
Don't wanna grow up into an adult
we're the Toys R Us kids (parody of the classic "I Don't Wanna Grow Up, I'm a Toys R Us Kid" jingle)
That's basically the anthem for grown-up "big kids"
Hello Mac lives on in the hearts of middle-aged guys…
Toys "R" Us… no idea about that one.
Don't forget about Hakuhinkan either (a historic toy store in Ginza, Tokyo)
Hasn't that place got fewer toys and turned more into a character-goods shop?
Background and Points of Debate
Since opening its first store in 1991, Toys “R” Us Japan has been a leading force in domestic toy retail, but foot traffic has thinned amid the falling birthrate and the spread of online shopping, with official filings reportedly showing continued losses. The U.S. parent company went bankrupt in 2017, and this “withdrawal from Japan” is being seen as an extension of that same trend. The operator of Don Quijote, the buyer in this deal, has a track record of acquiring struggling retail chains and converting them into formats like “MEGA Don Quijote,” and many thread posters predicted a similar conversion this time. On the other hand, some argued the main cause isn’t the falling birthrate itself but a shift in shopping habits toward buying online in the first place, and opinion was split over which factor to blame. Note that the acquisition target is the operating company, and it remains unclear at this stage whether all 150 stores will be converted to the Don Quijote format.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Toys “R” Us to Withdraw from Japan Business — Don Quijote to Acquire, 150 Domestic Stores.”
Leave a Reply