Toys R Us Stands Strong in Japan

Toys R Us Stands Strong in Japan Despite Going Bankrupt in America and Europe

Toys R Us Files for Bankruptcy in America

Toy R Us filed for bankruptcy earlier last year in America. It was finally announced this 70-year chain has fallen. What once was a retail giant that closed many smaller toy shops, Toy R Us also has follow the steps of many of the smaller toy shops it has once out competed.

Founded post WW2, this retail spot was the perfect shop to open in a baby booming generation and for Generation X, where playing with toys such as Barbies and Legos was the norm and parents bought increasingly more for their kids.

However, as American society has changed, Toys R Us has failed to do the same. The attention span of people has decreased with cell phones and social media. With the click of a finger, anyone constantly have the instant gratification he or she desires. Many children are beginning to play more online than with toys. This all means the preference for toys have decreased

Along with that, competition has also increased. Amazon rolled out the service of 2-day shipping and an array of cheap goods that Toys R Us also offered. Many companies soon followed suite, but not so much Toys R Us.

However, as American society has changed, Toys R Us has failed to do the same.

To many, Toys R Us is seen as an expensive, inconvenient place to buy toys for your kid. With major department stores and even supermarkets offering the same toys, many times at a lower price, it should come no surprise why people stopped going to Toys R Us.

In addition, most people visit supermarkets or departments stores of a weekly basis so buying a toy for a birthday party while you’re in the area is simple and easy.

Toys R Us Stays Strong in Japan

What might come to your surprise is not only is Toy R Us a separate company in Japan, but it seems do it quite fine in the market. Japan still has an impressive 160 shops are scattered throughout the islands, based in Kanagawa.

It was only a year earlier that Toy R Us Japan has merged with Toy R Us Asia. However, the future of the chains might not be so clear. The Japanese stores are owned by parent company Asia LTC. which could be sold, effecting Japan as a result.

Will this retail giant survive its stay in Japan? Although Japan has also been affected by the presence of online stores like Amazon, it has been affected less than America. In addition, Japan is in many ways behind many western countries. Japan is still a heavily cash based society and continues to prefer brick-and-mortar stores in compared to America, where many brick-and-mortar are finding it harder to survive in this modern day economy.

As of now, Toys R Us stands strong against many odds in Asia, with over 700 stores in countries like Japan, China, and Singapore.

Today’s “otsumami” – a bite size snack:

The market of brick-and-mortar shops are more popular and stay strong in Japan and that includes Toys R Us. 

What do you think?

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