If you enjoyed having a wide selection of toys available to you for 30 hours straight between Thanksgiving and Black Friday, we have some great news for you! Toys ‘R’ Us is keeping the same holiday hours as last year, opening their doors at 5 PM on Thanksgiving and keeping them open straight through until 11 PM on Black Friday. [More]
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Toys ‘R’ Us Brings Free Shipping Threshold Down To $19
By 9.9.15
Toys ‘R’ Us is planning ahead, and wants you to think of them when you shop for toys this holiday season. Specifically, they want you to think, “Hey, I can get free shipping from Toys ‘R’ Us if I spend more than $19, and I don’t have to buy a membership, unlike at Walmart or Amazon!” [More]
FAO Schwarz Flagship Closes In NYC, Forcing All Those Giant Stuffed Animals To Find A New Home
By 7.15.15
The doors will close, the giant piano keyboard will fall silent and all those giant stuffed animals will lose the attention of adoring crowds when FAO Schwarz’s New York City flagship closes today. Will there be a clearance sale on ginormous tigers, or an auction of oversized musical instruments? It’s unclear, though Toys “R” Us, the owners of FAO Schwarz, says it’s looking for a new home to sell toys and bring in tourists again. [More]
What It’s Like To Run Through A Toy Store And Grab Whatever You Want
By 4.7.15
Winning the chance to run through a toy store as a kid and grab anything and everything your heart could desire, Nickelodeon’s Super Toy Run was the epitome of luck, making the show’s winners the subject of intense envy back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. So what was it like to live the dream? [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Can’t Beat Discounters On Price, Invites Everyone Over For Play Dates
By 3.24.15
Toys ‘R’ Us has a problem: they’re a specialty store that people love, but they must compete with mega-discounters like Walmart and online vendors like Amazon on price. When they can’t do that and still make money, how are they to survive? The company’s new idea: get kids in the door by creating an experience, not just a place to buy toys. [More]
Is In-Store Pickup Any Faster Than Just Shopping At The Store?
By 12.30.14
For years, an increasing number of retailers have been pushing their “buy online, pickup in store” (BOPIS, for all you acronym lovers) option as a expedient option that offers the convenience of online shopping without the hassle of having to search the aisles. But is it really any faster than traditional bricks-and-mortar shopping? [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Will Stay Open For 39 Hours Straight Leading Up To Christmas Eve
By 12.16.14
It’s no 100-hour marathon like Kohl’s is holding this year leading up to Christmas, and it’s not the four straight days of staying open its stores have pulled in the past, but Toys “R” Us is extending its holiday hours for last-minute shoppers again this year. [More]
Layaway Angels Fan Out, Hit West Virginia And Tennessee
By 12.15.14
Layaway is a useful tool that some retailers only offer during the holiday season. Let lets consumers without access to credit pick out gifts and pay them off over time––and, as one mother pointed out to me, keeps gifts hidden at the store, far away from impatient, snooping kids. Layaway was dying out before the Great Recession, and came back with its own folk heroes: the Layaway Angels. [More]
Santa Exists, Dropped $20K To Pay Off Toys ‘R’ Us Layaway Accounts
By 12.12.14
News stories about “layaway angels,” people who stop by a retailer’s layaway counter and pay off the balances of strangers, became very popular during the holiday season of 2011. They’ve since become a recurring tradition, and this year we have mostly heard about people spending five-figure amounts to pay off everyone’s balance in a show of generosity. [More]
Why Are Big-Box Stores Pricing Barbies Differently By Race?
By 12.10.14
Are pricing algorithms racist? That’s not really possible, and several big retailers are blaming “pricing errors” for discrepancies in the prices of Barbie dolls of different ethnicities. Shoppers interested in a doll in a figure-skating costume, for example, have to pay $1.99 extra at Walmart for a doll with darker skin and black hair. How does that happen? [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Opening At 5 P.M. On Day That Used To Be Called ‘Thanksgiving’
By 11.7.14
Are you looking forward to spending Thanksgiving Day standing in line and fighting with fellow shoppers over the last remote-controlled dinosaur? No? It doesn’t really matter whether you plan to show up or not: opening at 5 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day worked out for Toys ‘R’ Us last year, and they’re planning to do the same again this year. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Removes “Breaking Bad” Action Figures, Now 100% (Toy) Meth-Free
By 10.22.14
When a Florida parent learned that there were action figures from the very adult cable drama “Breaking Bad” on the shelf at Toys ‘R’ Us, she was upset. Not because she hates the show or anything, but because she found the toys inappropriate. She began an online petition campaign and spoke to a local TV station, and Toys ‘R’ Us has responded by taking the toys off its virtual and real-life shelves. [More]
Parent Notices Meth-Toting “Breaking Bad” Action Figures At Toys ‘R’ Us, Complains
By 10.20.14
Should a toy store sell only toys for children? Toys ‘R’ Us is our last nationwide toy retailer, and one parent was horrified to see that the chain sells toy versions of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, the antiheroes of the cable drama “Breaking Bad.” They are wonderfully detailed, down to their accessories: beakers, chili powder, a gun, and…oh, yeah, a tiny bag of blue crystal meth. [More]
Claire’s Realizes Malls Might Not Be Around Forever, Opens Stores Inside Toys ‘R’ Us
By 9.17.14
Because there will always be a need for cheap jewelry, stretch pants and kitschy pop culture merchandise as long as there are tweens and teens out there shopping, mall staple Claire’s isn’t going anywhere. Well, that’s not entirely true — it isn’t going away, but it is expanding its horizons by setting up shop inside some Toys ‘R’ Us locations. [More]
Like The Sign Says: This “Sale” At Toys ‘R’ Us Will Save You Exactly No Money
By 7.15.14
While we’ve become savvy enough shoppers to notice when a bit of Target math is about to render any advertised sale useless in the face of actual math, most of the time it’s up to shoppers to realize they’re not actually about to get a deal. But at Toys ‘R’ Us, at least the signs are up front about the fact that you’re about to save exactly nothing in a so-called sale. [More]
Family Accused Of Traveling The Country To Shoplift $7M Worth Of Merchandise
By 3.6.14
I don’t know about you, but when my family went on trips together it involved long car rides listening to books on tape, spending a week or hiking in the woods and other fun memories. None of those involved traveling together out of state to shoplift around $7 million in merchandise over decades, like one set of parents and their adult daughter group are accused of doing. [More]
Here Are Some Dubious Sales At Walmart, Petsmart, And Toys ‘R’ Us
By 2.25.14
How much of a discount should a store place on an item for it to really matter? One cent? One dollar? Does the branding of a “stock up” sale matter when the item on sale is something that you shouldn’t really keep stockpiled in the first place? These are the questions that we ponder here at Consumerist HQ when we read your submissions. [More]
This Toys ‘R’ Us Sign Is True: One Cent Is Over $0
By 2.14.14
Just because something is literally true, retailers, that doesn’t mean you have to put it on a sign. Especially when you’re advertising a sale that is barely a sale at all. [More]
