Who Bankrupted Toys 'R' Us? Blame Private Equity and Millennial Parents
The retail apocalypse for legacy brick-and-mortar companies has come to the toy business.
Toys “R” Us announced on Wednesday that it will close about 180 stores in the U.S., or about one-fifth of its domestic locations, as the company emerges from bankruptcy proceedings to restructure $5 billion in debt.
On one level, this is just the latest chapter in the never-ending saga of brick-and-mortar calamity as the retail industry focuses more on online sales. The first half of 2017 was among the, and the pain isn’t nearly over. In the 63 imminent store closings (after shuttering 350 locations in 2017), Gap plans to close 200 locations in the next three years, and Walmart that it would close 63 Sam’s Club stores and lay off thousands of workers.
