So long Toys R Us. The retail apacolypse

[vintage_tube]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Today's kids. Let's see, ADHD diagnosis up 3-5% year after year. Diabetes up 3-5% year after year. 33% of kids are overweight, 28% considered "obese". Millions of kids are on serious prescription drugs for behavioral problems and depression. They do not connect...

Kids are a responsibility and product of parenting. The parents instill what kids do and do not connect with and certainly what they ingest both food and prescription drug wise. Sadly many parents these days are too "busy" to instill healthy eating habits and promote a normal and active lifestyle for kids. So much simpler to give them processed cereals loaded with sugar, candy, soda pop, let them play video games all day long, watch them throw temper tantrums, bounce off the walls and then medicate them to ease the symptoms of an irresponsible parenting syndrome. Rant over.

Parenting has changed in the last 35 years or so. No more does anyone hear a mother say "Go outside and play" but expects a parent to entertain them after school or concerned today their child(ern) are roaming the streets & having fun -- waiting for the dinner hour holler.

Today, playing hopscotch or modified baseball in the neighborhood streets would likely result in a notice from the HOA or subdivision or a neighbor that your need to control your child(ern) or else.

Heaven forbid a child today outside playing, running around, sweating & sipping water from a neighbors hose to cool down -- that's concerning today and would result in a call to the parents or authorities I bet.

It's a shame kids activities are susceptible to routines the parent finds convenient & non-confrontational with their schedule & neighbor perception.

Best Sir,

Bob

[Catcher10]

Originally Posted by godwinaj

I freaking love that album!!! I've never seen it on vinyl! Did you find it online?

Bought it at one of their concerts 2009 I think. You can find it at Burning Shed online store......Mine includes the Nil Recurring songs also.

Brilliant album for sure....

[krustycat]

Very sad, many reasons but one of them is Amazon.

The problem: there may not be any competitor left and we will all end up paying more to Amazon in the long run. They are already jacking up the prices of exclusive merchandise only found on their site.

[Poppyhome]

Amazon exists because manufactures, stores, and business' sell to them......................because of tremendous exposure and selling power. Amazon has no competition.

Ron

[80B]

Sad to see Toys-R-Us leave, was fun as a kid and taking kids there.

[ylee]

Very sad news. I'm glad I had a chance as a parent to take my older kids there. I'm going to have to take my younger 3 (youngest is a newborn) and take pics of them there before they close forever a month from now.

Even without Amazon, Toys R Us would have had a tough time. One is due to Walmart, Target, Costco, and other "big box" stores selling toys. It's easy to do one-stop shopping at these stores which have more locations near where people live, whereas Toys R Us stores were fewer in number and farther apart. Another is the continued fragmenting of advertising avenues. The pile of debt prevented Toys R Us from effective advertising, whether thru Google, YouTube, or Hulu as people no longer primarily view CBS, NBC, and ABC. When's the last time you've seen Toys R Us advertising? I remember seeing them all the time on TV as a kid.

I would conjecture the ever-worsening traffic situation in most metro areas also contributed to the decline of Toys R Us. Going to the Toys R Us store that is 15 miles away on a weekend takes a couple hours out of one's weekend. With ease of online shopping, that becomes a barrier.

And speaking of online shopping finally, add Amazon to the mix and the end was inevitable. My wife and I are Amazon Prime members with free 2 day delivery. As a family of 7 plus two au pairs, we're ordering from Amazon and Costco all the time. It's far easier to simply add toys to the mass of delivery we receive several times a week. A generation ago, we would have been prime Toys R Us customers. We're too busy under normal circumstances to make special toy runs these days, especially with DC area traffic twice as worse as it was compared to the 70s/80s.

I guess I'm making excuses for myself as Toys R Us was like heaven on earth for me as a kid. It feels strange that they will no longer be around. It also seems strange that as a parent I have not been there much when I think about it. Times have truly changed in how we consume.

[cma29]

Yong -

[cma29]

Originally Posted by vintage_tube

Parenting has changed in the last 35 years or so. No more does anyone hear a mother say "Go outside and play" but expects a parent to entertain them after school or concerned today their child(ern) are roaming the streets & having fun -- waiting for the dinner hour holler.

Today, playing hopscotch or modified baseball in the neighborhood streets would likely result in a notice from the HOA or subdivision or a neighbor that your need to control your child(ern) or else.

Heaven forbid a child today outside playing, running around, sweating & sipping water from a neighbors hose to cool down -- that's concerning today and would result in a call to the parents or authorities I bet.

It's a shame kids activities are susceptible to routines the parent finds convenient & non-confrontational with their schedule & neighbor perception.

Best Sir,

Bob

Bob - completely agree with the premise of your post. I have an 8-year-old boy so I'm living through this. I want to send my kid outside as much as possible but when there are no other kids around the street to play with it's a losing battle.

[SuperD]

This sucks! I have 1 & 3 year old sons that now have to browse amazon to see what interests them. They don't see commercials anymore(DVR). I feel bad that I contributed to this many many times. My brother and his kids live in CA and when they visit, we go to Toys R Us and I take pictures of what they want and have Amazon send it to them. Is Best Buy next?

Dave

[GaryProtein]

Originally Posted by vintage_tube

Parenting has changed in the last 35 years or so. No more does anyone hear a mother say "Go outside and play" but expects a parent to entertain them after school or concerned today their child(ern) are roaming the streets & having fun -- waiting for the dinner hour holler.

Today, playing hopscotch or modified baseball in the neighborhood streets would likely result in a notice from the HOA or subdivision or a neighbor that your need to control your child(ern) or else.

Heaven forbid a child today outside playing, running around, sweating & sipping water from a neighbors hose to cool down -- that's concerning today and would result in a call to the parents or authorities I bet.

It's a shame kids activities are susceptible to routines the parent finds convenient & non-confrontational with their schedule & neighbor perception.

Best Sir,

Bob

The vast majority of parents today have FAILED their children