Defunctland: The History of Toys "R" Us Times Square

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I think this is the first Defunctland episode where I’ve actually been there. It was the summer of 2002, and I remember it well. The Hot Wheels section with the big Twin Mill and the metal version of the Toys R Us jingle (each section had their own version), the LEGO Statue of Liberty, the giant T-Rex that scared the fuck out of my brother, and yes, the Ferris Wheel that my mom had to drag me on because I was a total wimp. We took the Nickelodeon car, which was what I wanted. Part of me wanted to go back someday, even though I knew it’d never happen. And now it’s gone.

👍︎︎ 53 👤︎︎ u/JohnTheMod 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies

Gosh, seeing this makes me wish I had explored it more throughly when I was there as a kid back in 2010. That palce was so cool...

Also, I just miss Toys R Us and Toy Stores in general. I just have fond memories of the store chain in general going to the one near my house all the time as a kid. Good times, good times...

👍︎︎ 29 👤︎︎ u/The-Bigger-Fish 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies

Man, This place will always be remembered as the one store that had a giant wheel in it for me.

This is probably the second episode on defunctland that I could relate to because we've actually been to this store, next to the big NBC store that's also in NYC. But I remember back in the day, I believe we were Christmas shopping after seeing the nutcracker? forgive me, my memory on this trip is extremely foggy. But yeah, I remember this store all too well I guess, I remember riding the nickelodeon cart on the wheel, and I totally remember the cool kickass sections in the store Mainly the hot wheels one. And the Giant T-Rex that scared the ever living shit out of me. But other than that, I just remember being excited whenever New Years Rockin Eve would show the inside, because it honestly felt like magic.

Part of me was very upset at the fact that it's gone, but another part of me also is super thankful we went in there.

👍︎︎ 18 👤︎︎ u/Rdup222 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies

YESSSS!!

👍︎︎ 17 👤︎︎ u/jayradano 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies

I used to love this Toys R Us as a kid it was the coolest!

👍︎︎ 9 👤︎︎ u/T_Peg 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies

I'm really excited to watch this one. I live in the city, but I avoid Times Square like most folks here tend to do because it's a hellhole but I went to this TRU every once in a while. I brought some visiting friends here once, and went a few times with other friends just cuz.

they had a glass bridge on the topmost floor and me being afraid of heights, I had to go around the other way to get to the other side of that floor if I wanted to. never went on the ferris wheel because of that same fear of heights but it was a cool thing to see. the giant dinosaur upstairs was awesome too. was a cool store.

👍︎︎ 14 👤︎︎ u/funkybrunky 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies

man I loved this store, went to it all the time growing up and even after I moved to the city as an adult I still would go if I ended up in Times Square

👍︎︎ 6 👤︎︎ u/MutantCreature 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies

Despite being a New Yorker, I didn't frequent the store until its later years when I had to commute into the city for college. It was a real treat stopping by after a long day of school. I had my first ever claw machine win in the Rcade. I was incredibly sad that the T-Rex stopped working some months before the store closed, so it just stood there lifeless until its last day. I really miss Toys R Us and wish it never left. Still, I'm really glad to have been a Toys R Us Kid.

👍︎︎ 6 👤︎︎ u/nonsensology 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies

Used to work there as Spiderman

👍︎︎ 11 👤︎︎ u/mercman256 📅︎︎ Dec 22 2020 🗫︎ replies
Captions
In 1998, Toys “R” Us, the number one toy  retailer in the United States, suddenly fell   into second place. The 41-year-old chain had  been surpassed by Wal-Mart in the battle for toy   supremacy. Toys "R" Us was finding it increasingly  difficult to compete with big-box retailers.   However, Wal-Mart and similar big-box stores  were not the only cause of the chain’s   decline. Customers viewed Toys “R” Us stores as  dirty warehouses, with no character or charm.   On top of this, the management and service at  stores was less than stellar. Recognizing this,   the board of directors of Toys “R” Us looked to  another toy chain that was known for their quality   and class, FAO Schwarz. The famous toy stores  were experiences in themselves, and the chain was   ingrained into popular culture after appearing in  the 1988 Tom Hanks film Big. FAO Schwarz had just   the strategy that Toys “R” Us needed, so the board  of directors recruited their chairman John Eyler   to be Toys “R” Us’s next chairman and CEO. To  assist him, Eyler brought with him Joanne Newbold,   a designer that had helped him construct 25  stores for FAO Schwarz. Of the move, Newbold said,   “We call it going over to the dark side.” Despite  the difficult task ahead, Eyler referred to his   plan for Toys “R” Us as “Mission Possible.” To  improve the reputation of the chain’s stores,   he approved an ambitious redesign that favored  visual aesthetics over everything els. In order   to improve customer service, Eyler approved  wage increases for Toys “R” Us employees,   but this was just the beginning. The most  ambitious of Eyler’s ideas was to open a brand   new flagship Toys “R” Us store in the crossroads  of the World, New York City’s Times Square. On August 1, 2000, just months after Eyler and  Newbold had joined Toys “R” Us, the company   announced the construction of the new Times Square  location. The space was 101,000 square feet split   throughout four stories. The owner of the real  estate Charles B. Moss Jr. had been holding onto   the space throughout a rapid revitalization of  Times Square, seeing the area turn from a dirty,   seedy tourist trap to a premiere shopping  district. Stores like The Gap and Virgin Megastore   moved in, and rents began to skyrocket. Moss was  waiting for the right partner to rent his real   estate, which sat on the corner of Broadway and  44th Street, and when Toys “R” Us made an offer,   he accepted it. The resulting Toys “R” Us would  be the largest toy store in the world and the   largest retailer in Times Square, one third  larger than the Virgin Megastore. The location   would cost $35 million to build. It was to be “The  Center of the Toy Universe” according to Eyler. Designing Toys “R” Us’s Flagship Store was no easy  task. Not only was Newbold designing in some of   the most lucrative real estate space in the world,  but she was designing far more than just a store.   Toys “R” Us Time Square would be part store,  part mall, part theme park, and part event space. The store was constructed throughout the fall of  2001, with a grand opening date set for November   17, 2001. On November 14, three days before  the grand opening, Toys “R” Us held its first   event. A key aspect of the plans for Toys "R” Us  Times Square was for the space to be a stage for   toy manufacturers to hold launch events.  The first of these would be for the XBox,   with Bill Gates himself present to launch the  console and hand it out to the first lucky gamer. Three days after this, Toys “R” Us was ready  to open to the public. To celebrate the store’s   opening day, an hour-long character procession  was organized. At 9 am, over 50 beloved children’s   characters would walk hand in hand from 48th  and Broadway to the store. The four-block parade   featured such beloved characters as Spongebob  Squarepants, Bert, Ernie, Barbie, Shrek, and Elmo,   which must have been awkward considering there  were at least three other Elmos roaming the area   at the time. After the parade, the ribbon was cut,  with Toys “R” Us’s mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe   dressed to the nines. The Toys R Us International  Flagship Store was officially open to the public. As guests approached the store they were  greeted by an impressive video billboard   display with 165 panels, cycling through various  advertisements and interior views of the store.   As guests entered the store, they were immediately  confronted by Geoffrey the Giraffe, welcoming them   to the store. The most striking element of Toys  “R” Us Times Square was its main attraction,   a 60 foot tall Ferris Wheel, which was  placed in the store’s atrium and spanned   all four stories of the store. The Ferris Wheel  featured the chain’s signature backwards “R”   in the center with 14 themed cars, all  featuring famous characters from toys,   movies, television, and more. The cars  included a Pokemon car, a tonka truck,   a Toy Story car, a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head car, a  FisherPrice car in the shape of a Lil Snoopy toy,   a Matchbox Fire Truck, a spaceship, with  E.T. on one side and Geoffrey on the other,   a Little Tikes car, aand a Nicktoons car featuring  multiple characters, including Jimmy Neutron,   Blue, Spongebob Squarepants, Tommy,  Chuckie, Reggie, and Little Bill. The cars to the ferris wheels were, according to  Newbold, a “tortuous exercise in design.” Newbold   admitted that the final result of some of the cars  was less than ideal. She said that the Mr. and   Mrs. Potato head car specifically looked off, and  that, to her eye, “Mrs. Tate looks way too much   like Bette Midler.” The licensing agreements  for each car was for two years, and most of the   companies chose to renew the license again and  again. However, sometime between 2001 and 2007,   two cars were replaced. The Pokemon car was  replaced with a Scooby-Doo car, and the Tonka   Truck was replaced with a My Little Pony car.  Sometime after this, the Barbie car’s design was   changed to the Glam Convertible, and Fisher-Price  car replaced their Lil Snoopy with a School Bus. The store’s street-level floor was actually its  second floor, and in order to board the Ferris   Wheel, guests had to take an escalator down to  the first floor. Also on this floor were video   game displays, an ice cream shop called Scoops  “R” Us, and a UPS Store. The UPS Store allowed   shoppers to purchase toys and immediately ship  them as gifts to friends and family. The third   floor featured the majority of the store’s retail  space. An elevated ceiling was painted yellow,   and from it, models were suspended. One depicted  Superman saving shoppers from a falling truck.   The other was of Spider-Man, swinging  from webs above the heads of guests.   The third floor also featured an elaborate Lego  section, with sculptures of prominent New York   City icons. Nearby was the Candyland candy store,  which brought the famous board game to life.   One of the most popular spots on the third floor  was a two-story, 4000 square foot walk-through   Barbie Dreamhouse. This impressive feature  could only be overshadowed by the third floor’s   signature feature, a robotic 20-foot tall  Tyranassorus Rex that moved and roared. This   was part of a Jurassic Park display, and the  dinosaur weighed 5 tons. During construction,   an entire side of the building had to be left open  to install the creature. Finally, the fourth floor   was much smaller in comparison in order to allow  for the high ceilings of most of the third floor.   Its main feature was the Pepsi-World soda  fountain. Also on the fourth floor, off limits   to guests, was a boardroom for meetings that had  an incredible view of the store and Times Square. As aforementioned, Newbold and Eyler designed Toys  R Us Times Square with built-in stages for toy   unveilings. Toys R Us Times Square did hold many  product launch events, bringing in big crowds and   rolling out celebrity guests. In retrospect,  some of these events were quite interesting. Nate: And now…Some of the Product Launch  Events Held at Toys “R” Us Times Square,   “or” One of the First Times the Early 2000s  Unique Visual and Cultural Aesthetic Can Be   Viewed in Retrospect “or” Oh my  God, Am I Nostalgic for 2003?   Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with  celebrity guest, audiobook narrator Jim Dale  The VideoNow portable video player  with celebrity guest Hillary Duff  iZ, the musical robot thing  with celebrity guest Rihanna  Rubiks Revolution with  celebrity guest Vanessa Hudgens  Dolls from the TV show Lost with  celebrity guest Jorge Garcia.  Deal or No Deal merchandise with  celebrity guest Howie Mandel  Miranda Cosgrove’s debut album Sparks  Fly with celebrity guest Miranda Cosgrove  Twilight New Moon merchandise with  celebrity guests Nikki Reed and Kellan Lutz  EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002  with celebrity guest Tiger Woods  The Tamogachi Connection virtual pet  with celebrity guest Ryan Cabrera  VideoNow Color with celebrity guests  Hillary Duff again and Tony Hawk The store was also used as a  location for open auditions for   child stage shows such as Dora the  Explorer Live and Blues Clues Live. As far as design and implementation went, Toys “R”  Us Times Square appeared to be a massive success.   However, there were many other factors to  consider. The first was rent. The space alone   would cost Toys “R” Us $12 million a year,  over $100 per square foot. On top of this,   the store opened in November 2001, just over two  months after the September 11 terrorist attacks.   American’s willingness to travel was greatly  impacted by the events, especially travel to   New York. Sales in Times Square specifically  were down 40 percent. However, Elliott Whale,   General Manager of Toys R Us Times Square said,  “If the traffic numbers are off in Times Square   we are certainly not feeling it. Based on the  circumstances you are seeing a lot of folks   just wanting to have a good time.” Toys “R” Us  estimated that their flagship store would draw in   20 million visitors a year, two-thirds of the  total traffic of Times Square at the time.   However, the first year’s numbers, in part due to  the attacks of September 11, were reported to be   nearly half that, with roughly 10 million shoppers  visiting the store in its first year of operation. Toys “R” Us Times Square enjoyed an eventful  existence. In 2003, the store was featured   in the 2003 Disney television film, Eloise at  Christmastime. That same year was the beginning of   the flash mob craze that swept the nation for some  reason, and nowhere was safe, especially not Toys   “R” Us Times Square. In August of 2003, a large  group of people went to the store’s third floor   not to perform a choreographed dance, but instead  to kneel in front of the T-Rex and scream for a   very, very long time. Every holiday shopping  season was a busy, eventful, and sometimes   dangerous event for Toys “R” Us. On November 27,  2004 at around 3:25 PM, a rush of holiday shoppers   were overwhelmed with pepper spray, which  was discharged from an unknown person within   the store. Three people had to be taken to the  hospital, and all 3000 shoppers were evacuated. By 2004, Toys “R” Us’s hopes of overtaking  Walmart had been dashed. When asked whether   Toys “R” Us was still focusing on reclaiming the  #1 spot, vice president Ursula Moran said no,   adding “We’re number two.” In 2005, Toys “R”  Us was bought by three investment companies   for $6.6 billion dollars. Of this capital, 80% was  borrowed, and as a result of the leveraged buyout,   Toys “R” Us was now 5 billion dollars in debt.  Eyler stepped down from his role as CEO after the   buyout, and Toys “R” Us began a new, uncertain,  debt-ridden future. On top of all of this,   the Times Square location had still not turned a  profit, although Moran said that it was “pretty   close to making money.” Toys “R” Us continued  to operate the location off of the idea that   the prestige and elegance of the location and  experience was worth accepting the losses from the   store itself. However, this concept was becoming  more difficult to sell as the corporation as a   whole continued to lose market share and  close stores across the country. By 2007,   alternative revenue streams were considered for  the Toys “R” Us Times Square location, namely   children’s birthday parties. Utilizing the fourth  floor’s office space, the store created birthdays   packaged for children, including the Dancing  Divas party and the Pirates Passage package. In 2009, on a seeming-crusade to acquire as  much debt as possible, Toys “R” Us acquired   FAO Schwarz. With the acquisition, Toys  “R” Us now operated the two most famous   and popular toy stores in New York City. In 2010, The Delicious World of Wonka, the   first ever Wonka retail experience, opened on the  second floor of Toys “R” Us Times Square. A short   time after this, the space on the fourrth floor  was replaced with a new attraction, the Rcade. A sort of annual tradition at the store for a few  years was the anti-war-toy protest put on by the   Granny Peace Brigade and the Raging Grannies, two  protest groups composed of old women. Every year,   the grannies would march throughout the store,  protesting violent video games and toys that   glorified weapons and war. The first year of  the protest the grannies commandeered the Ferris   Wheel and waved banners off of it. However,  they failed to account for their escape route,   and being on the Ferris Wheel, it didn’t  take long for employees to stop them and   promptly escort them out of the store. The third  year they decided to switch it up, spreading   out throughout the store and waiting until a  specific time to reveal their granny protest,   a "grambush" if you will. Every year the grannies  would be rounded up and escorted out of the store,   where they would continue their demonstration  next to the unlicensed street characters.   On the subject of Times Square streetmosphere,  in 2012, in classic, Times Square fashion,   a man dressed in a knock-off Elmo costume  was arrested outside of Toys R Us after he   began screaming anti-semitic rants. The man’s  name… Adam Sandler. But not that Adam Sandler. By 2015, Toys “R” Us was continuing to struggle  with its debt. The company made the decision to   close the famous 5th Avenue FAO Schwarz store in  July citing high rents. However, the fifth avenue   FAO Schwarz was not the only casualty of Toys “R”  Us financial troubles, because not long after,   Toys “R” Us announced that it would not be  renewing its lease on its Times Square location.   The rent was set to quadruple, and it was now  being marketed for $2,500 per square foot,   and it was estimated that Toys “R” Us’s second  floor, the street-level floor, was worth $42   million a year in rent alone. The massive hole  in real estate would be filled in part by the Gap   and Old Navy, which combined would fill 60% of  the space, with no plans for the remaining 40%. And thus, Toys “R” Us Times Square, the  company’s flagship store and the tentpole   of its early 2000s revitalization effort, was  officially ending its run, and it didn’t take   long for the autopsies to pour in. The general  consensus was that in spite of Toys “R” Us’s   aspirations to gain prestige from their flagship  store, the benefits did not outweigh the costs. After news was announced that the store was  to be closed, thousands of visitors poured   into the store to ride the Ferris Wheel, see the  Tyrannasorus Rex, and tour the Barbie Dream House   one final time. Crowds flocked the store in its  final days, clearing out the shelves. Toys “R”   Us Times Square officially closed on December  30, 2015 after a 14 year run. The interior was   promptly demolished, and construction on  the Gap and Old Navy began in early 2017,   with the stores debuting to  shoppers later that year. In 2018,   McDonald’s took 7000 square feet of the  remaining space, opening a two-story restaurant. Toys “R” Us remained out of Times Square for just  18 months, before the toy chain returned with a   new, two-story pop store open for the holiday  season. The new store, while much smaller,   also featured elaborate toy displays and, in a nod  to the original store, a smaller dinosaur robot.   The store was planned to stay open until the  new year, but it lasted a few months longer,   continuing its run into 2018. Less than one month  after the pop up location opened, on September 18,   2017, Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy. The  company began liquidating assets, and after   a disastrous 2017 holiday season, the chain had  no hope of recovering. By May of 2018, all of   Toys “R” Us’s domestic stores had been closed.  The brand would see a small-scale revival effort   within the past two years, but as of now, there  have been no more ventures into Times Square. Many wondered what became of Toys “R” Us  Times Square’s most beloved attractions,   such as the dinosaur animatronic. When asked, the  president of the construction company tasked with   demolishing Toys “R” Us Times Square said ““The  dinosaur? We shredded it and burnt it to pieces.”   The Superman figure saw a better fate, and it  would re-emerge on a collectors site with a hefty   price tag of $9.800. The best preservation  of Toys R Us Times Square however would be   that of the Ferris Wheel, with many of the  character cars being transported to Orlando,   Florida, where they would become parade  floats at Give Kids the World Village.   Due to licensing issues, E.T. had  to be covered up with a gift bag. Toys “R” Us Times Square did not save the company,  and it was not a profitable venture. However,   it was successful in creating a memorable  and beloved location for tens of millions   of shoppers and tourists from around the world. It  was far more than a store or even an attraction.   It was an experience. But it takes a lot more  than creative toy displays, a unique location,   or even a Ferris Wheel to elevate a store into  something more meaningful. It takes people.   And the employees of Toys “R” Us Times Square were  given a tall order. They had to raging grandmas,   pepper sprayers, flash mobbers, holiday shoppers,  stage parents, anti-semitic Elmos, and millions of   more people, but despite the challenge, the team  at Toys “R” Us Times Square was able to deliver   a unique and memorable experience to millions.  Joanne Newbold’s brilliant store design would   have never been appreciated in full without the  work of these people, many of whom were there   from the store’s opening in 2001 to its closure in  2015. There is no better summation of the weird,   chaotic, and special experience that was Toys “R”  Us Times Square than the one that was provided by   Customer Service Manager Johnny Tammaro  on the store’s final day of operation. Johnny: "Fourteen years. That's how long we've  been here. That's how long this store has been an   amazing place for millions of people from all over  the world and all over the country and all over   the city. Who else do you know in your life that  either lost their job or their job was finished   and the whole freaking world knew  about it? Not too many people." Worker: "We're famous fires!" Johnny: "We're famous fires! *crowd laughs* Johnny: "I have a list of things I won't   forget! Number one, do you know where the  bathroom is? Number two, is this candy free?   Number six, well can't you check the back  room? Number eight, how do I get out of here?   Those are things I will not miss.  I got a list of things I will miss.   It's just one word. You.
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Channel: Defunctland
Views: 1,330,820
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, toys r us, toys r us history, toys r us times square, toys r us times square history, times square, times square history, jurassic park dinosaur, toys r us ferris wheel, toys r us ferris wheel history, flagship store, times square ferris wheel, times square ferris wheel history, failed companies, toys r us bankruptcy, toys r us defunctland, toys r us defunct
Id: cbH8qX12Glo
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 19min 57sec (1197 seconds)
Published: Mon Dec 21 2020
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