Search results
trukidsbrands.com (corporate) Toys "R" Us in Macy's Philadelphia flagship, February 4, 2024. Toys "R" Us[nb 1] is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1948; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters located ...
- Overview
- HISTORY Vault: The Toys That Built America
The retailer turned everyone into a “Toys ‘R’ Us kid”… by driving its competition out of existence.
It was 1948, and Charles Lazarus had a hunch. Newly returned from World War II, he knew he wanted to go into business, and he knew—long before the term “baby boom” was a common phrase—that his friends were about to start having lots of babies.
Explore the little-known stories behind America's most iconic toys and games.
WATCH NOW
Those instincts didn’t just help Lazarus capitalize on the baby boom: They helped originate Toys ‘R’ Us. Once a retail juggernaut, the store dominated the entire toy industry—and children’s imaginations—by driving its competitors out of existence.
Now, the retail giant has been forced into bankruptcy, the victim of a retail model it helped pioneer. In March 2017, the 70-year-old businessannounced that it would call it quits. It was the end of an era for the store that once held a lock on the entire toy industry and made toy shopping—once a seasonal treat—into a regular family outing.
Lazarus opened his first store, Children’s Bargain Town, in Washington, D.C. in 1948. Specializing in baby goods, it only began selling toys once Lazarus realized customers didn’t come back for more strollers, high chairs and other baby goods with their second child. He started selling a few inexpensive toys, then added to his inventory as they proved popular.
But Lazarus wasn’t content to stop with a single store. He had an idea that was bigger than Children’s Bargain Town or any kids’ store he had ever seen—a massive store filled with every toy in existence. In 1957, he got out of the baby furniture business, renamed his company Toys ‘R’ Us and created the first ever big-box toy store.
1996: The Babies "R" Us chain is launched. 1997: Toys "R" Us acquires Baby Superstore, Inc. for $376 million; its 78 stores are converted to the Babies "R" Us format. 1998: Company begins selling toys online and launches a huge restructuring. 1999: The Imaginarium educational toy store chain is acquired.
Mar 9, 2018 · 1996 – The first Babies R Us store opens. 1998 – Walmart beats Toys R Us for the title of top U.S. toy seller for the first time. 2001 – Toys R Us Times Square, touted as the largest toy ...
- Joan Verdon
Charles Lazarus. Charles Philip Lazarus (October 4, 1923 – March 22, 2018) [1] was an American entrepreneur, executive, and pioneer within the retail toy industry. Lazarus founded the Toys "R" Us retail chain, which evolved from a children's furniture store he originally opened in Washington, D.C. in 1948. [2][3][4] He opened his first store ...
People also ask
Who founded Toys R Us?
When did Babies R Us start selling toys?
When did Toys R Us Go Out of business?
When did ToysRUs start?
Mar 22, 2018 · Toys 'R' Us founder dies at 94. Charles Lazarus, who founded Toys "R" Us 70 years ago, died Thursday, a week after the company announced it will be forced to shut down its U.S. operations. Lazarus ...
May 24, 2022 · In this edition of the Toy Book’s Backstory, Deputy Editor James Zahn explores the saga of Toys “R” Us! May 24, 2022 by James Zahn. 7 m. It was the late 1940s and the dawn of a new era in the U.S. With World War II firmly planted in the rearview mirror, families settled down in some of the country’s first planned communities.
