Monday, June 25, 2018

Part 2 of Toys R Us in the Retail Apocalypse — Company Man


As I most recently promised yesterday, I am posting the first of two follow-ups to Part 1B of Toys R Us, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse — Bright Sun Films.  Today, Mike the Company Man brings the bad news.

When Toys R Us declared bankruptcy nine months ago (just before my birthday!), Company Man asked The Decline of Toys R Us...What Happened?

This week Toys R Us has filed for bankruptcy. It was shocking news and left everyone wondering what happened. This video takes a look at Toys R Us and explores the causes of the bankruptcy as well as makes predictions about the future of the company.
Unfortunately, all of Mike's hopes for the company were for naught, as he reported last week in Toys R Us - The Final Chapter.

We are in the final days of Toys R Us. A company that's been part of our lives for the past 70 years is nearing its end. Exactly 9 months ago I made a video about their decline that talked about their core issues. It essentially told the story of Toys R Us, with the exception of the final chapter. This video completes the story and talks about what's been happening over the past 9 months and why they weren't able to recover.
I have one more installment in this sad story to post, which will come from Retail Archeology tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

5 comments:

  1. I enjoyed the clips along with the "Abandoned" clip. I suppose I can't blame Trump just because they ran the business like he would've. Glens Falls has a Toys R Us if it's still there. The location formerly had a Grand Union supermkt. Another business that went bankrupt. It happens.

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    1. That's sad to read. As for not blaming Trump, that's true, as much as we'd like to. On the other hand, we can blame two of his rivals, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mitt Romney of Bain Capital. Bain was one of the companies that bought Toys R Us in a leveraged buyout and left it saddled with debt.

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  2. Trump is a stupid asshole. Romney is an intelligent asshole. Trump destroys people's jobs by blundering, Romney does it on purpose.

    The people who run Toys R Us will come through OK, but it's tough on the workers.

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    1. As if working retail didn't suck bad enough already. And food service is worse and then Sarah Huck Sanders comes in. Done both and happy to not work.

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    2. Trump has also destroyed people's jobs by stiffing their employers. That may be stupid, but it's not a blunder; it's quite deliberate.

      I'm happy to work, but I no longer work either food service or retail. Academia is a great gig if one can get it.

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