So long Toys R Us. The retail apacolypse

[audioguy3107]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

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

I’ve Wondered the same thing about Best Buy......they’ve fought back from the abyss before, and with not really any other major big box competitors exclusively in home electronics, I see them surviving, at least in the short to medium range timeframe. I’m not a huge BB fan, but it is nice to run over to their store to grab basics like an Audioquest interconnect if you don’t want to order it and wait.

- Buck

[Bar81]

Originally Posted by Bar81

It's not as much a retail apocalypse but rather, another raped company by private equity - loaded up with debt and destined to fail.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...316-story.html

[ylee]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

I’ve Wondered the same thing about Best Buy......they’ve fought back from the abyss before, and with not really any other major big box competitors exclusively in home electronics, I see them surviving, at least in the short to medium range timeframe. I’m not a huge BB fan, but it is nice to run over to their store to grab basics like an Audioquest interconnect if you don’t want to order it and wait.

- Buck

Whenever I hire a new software engineer, I walk to a Best Buy near one of my offices and pick up a HP Spectre laptop (.5 TB SSD drive, 16 gigs of RAM) in ten minutes. Can't beat the convenience.

[Antonmb]

It’s funny, I don’t have the same golden memories of Toys R Us. I grew up in a rural New England town and the local hardware store and drug store both carried toys. For anything more than that I seem to recall my parents making the 1-1/2 hour drive to Boston or Cambridge to some big store (FAO Schwarz maybe?). When Toys R Us opened a store in the nearest larger town, it was the end of toys in the local shops. When I got older, to me Toys R Us was the retail juggernaut and purveyor of plastic that put small stores out of business, ala Walmart. And should we be sad at the demise of the mall?

[audioguy3107]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

And should we be sad at the demise of the mall?

I'll tell you I am! I grew up in the glory days of the mall, going and playing video games at the arcade, me and my friends chasing girls around, cheap food at the food courts etc..... I've always loved the mall....it's still hard for me to buy clothes online rather than just try some stuff on at various stores. Anyway, seems like the mall goers days are numbered though, some of the retail apocalypse mall stories and pictures out there on the net are pretty sad. I've seen several malls in the Atlanta area that used to be the go to destinations in the 80's and 90's pretty much fall off the map.

- Buck

[ehoove]

As far as Toys r us goes, we tried to not take our girls there as it was not fair to entice them with toys we would not buy for them, but we did find it the place to find what they wanted before the Internet made it much easier. Now I must say as a young boy, our trips to the electric train store were a highlight for me even though I knew we would seldom buy something. Wonderful Memories!

As a audio manager in a Thriving Music Store in the downtown section, I watched it become a ghost town in the early 70's as the malls moved into town. Now the original mall is abandoned as some previously posted pictures prove.

The down town is now vibrant with restaurants and shops and is a destination spot even rated as so on the INTERNET. So it goes - "Times they are a changing"

On the child rearing of today, I cringe when friends send their kids to therapy for every little curve ball life sends their way, and don't get me started on participation medals.
Regards,
Jim

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by ehoove

As a audio manager in a Thriving Music Store in the downtown section, I watched it become a ghost town in the early 70's as the malls moved into town. Now the original mall is abandoned as some previously posted pictures prove.

The down town is now vibrant with restaurants and shops and is a destination spot even rated as so on the INTERNET. So it goes - "Times they are a changing"

I guess it’s generational: if you grew up in an era when local downtown shops were the place to shop and hang out, and watched them being driven out of business by malls, then this isn’t a bad trend. I am of that era and am glad to see the restoration of some of our downtown areas.

If, on the other hand, you grew up in the heyday of the mall and that was the place to hang out, then the closing of malls may be as sad for you as the loss of our downtown was for me.

The only thing that makes me sad now is the lost jobs, and the blight on the landscape of dead malls.

[ehoove]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

I guess it’s generational: if you grew up in an era when local downtown shops were the place to shop and hang out, and watched them being driven out of business by malls, then this isn’t a bad trend. I am of that era and am glad to see the restoration of some of our downtown areas.

If, on the other hand, you grew up in the heyday of the mall and that was the place to hang out, then the closing of malls may be as sad for you as the loss of our downtown was for me.

The only thing that makes me sad now is the lost jobs, and the blight on the landscape of dead malls.

Agreed!
Regards,
Jim

[Masterlu]

RIP Charles Lazarus

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ler-dies-at-94

[GeAllan70]

Sad news.