Toys 'R' Us Closing All Stores in the U.S.; Photo of Mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe Breaks Hearts Everywhere
Toys "R" Us has closed all of its stores in the U.S. on Friday, June 29, 2018. The bankrupt retail chain held final closing sales in most of its branches, along with a final photo from one Toys "R" Us employee that brought home to a lot of people that the iconic store from their childhood has come to an end.
Toys "R" Us has filed for bankruptcy after years of struggling against aggressive online competition along with other brick-and-mortar retailers on September of last year, with the store around $4.9 billion deep in debt. Finally, five months later, the retail chain has announced that it is selling or closing its business in the U.S.
The company is now effectively out of the retail chain business in the country after six decades, with as many as 33,000 jobs on the line, even as other investors like Isaac Larian, chief executive of MGA Entertainment which holds some top toy brands including Bratz and Little Tikes, sent out efforts to buy parts of the Toys "R" Us business in an attempt to save the name.
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"There is no toy business without Toys R Us," Larian said at the time, looking back the time he sold his first toy to the company in 1979.
That's the same thought many people online also shared through one photo of Toys "R" Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe that has gone viral. Against a backdrop of empty shelves and bare displays, Geoffrey has packed up his suitcase and is seen waving goodbye.
Geoffrey and the jingle "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys 'R' Us kid," that many people grew up with over the past 70 years is now part of a nostalgic past by the end of this week.
