Toys R Us is planning to temporarily quadruple its retail footprint this holiday season, as the former retail giant looks to recapture some of its former glory and market share.
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The former kids' staple is planning to open 120 standalone stores this holiday season, temporarily adding to its 36 permanent locations in 22 states in a major expansion for the brand, which has failed to rebound after a 2017 bankruptcy led to all of its stores closing.
The pop-up locations are an expansion of a strategy Toys R Us parent company WHP Global executed in 2023 that included 24 temporary retail stores in key cities and activations across U.S. airports through the holiday season.
“Toys"R"Us has always been a place for discovery, and we're building on that legacy by bringing customers the hottest toys, biggest trends and experiences that make the brand unlike any other,” Jamie Uitdenhowen, executive vice president of Toys R Us at WHP Global, said in a statement.
WHP is once again working in partnership with Go Real Group on the pop-ups. The Austin-based parent company runs a network of pop-up stores through several brands across six countries.
Some Toys R Us locations will include content studios for influencers and toy brands to create content, host toy reveals, and have launch events, while others will have candy shops and cafes. Lego, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Pokémon, KPop Demon Hunters and other popular brands will be featured.
Toys R Us is also planning to further push into airport retail with two shops-in-shops at Orlando International Airport. The locations add to other airport shops-in-shops, Toys R Us activations inside Macy’s stores and its partnership with the Navy Exchange Service Command, which manages retail stores worldwide for the military.
The toy retailer didn’t offer a timeline for when the stores would open and close. No specific store locations have been announced. Toys R Us didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
The storied brand, and its giraffe mascot Geoffrey, has a more than 70-year history. It was once a retail powerhouse but was pressured by the rise of e-commerce and went bankrupt in 2017.
Nearly all of its locations closed in 2018, with its final two stores shuttering in 2021 after WHP Global acquired the brand and announced the same year that it was returning with a 20K SF experiential location at the American Dream Mall along with store-within-a-store activations with Macy’s. The store at the massive New Jersey mall is no longer open.
Despite rising inflation and shrinking consumer confidence, retail vacancy has held steady at a relatively low 4.2% nationally at the end of June, according to Colliers. Availability has been held back by historically low levels of new construction, with 8.7M SF of space delivered in the second quarter, leaving 56M SF of new retail space under construction around the country.
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