Toys 'R' Us Says It May Leave the Toy Business

[kysrsoze]

Battered by intense competition from discounters like Wal-Mart Stores, Toys "R" Us announced yesterday that it might bow out of the toy business altogether.

The $11 billion company, which rose to become the nation's largest toy retailer by developing a once-successful formula that pushed its rivals out of business, said in a statement that it was determined to split its toy business and its faster-growing baby supplies division, Babies "R" Us, into two companies. It also said it planned "to explore the possible sale of the global toy business."

Abandoning the world of Barbie and Lego would be a startling denouement for a company that rose to supremacy during the 1990's. Behind the bobbing head of its corporate mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, it surpassed rivals like F. A. O. Schwarz, which filed for bankruptcy late last year.

But the troubles at Toys "R" Us show how Wal-Mart and other large discounters, once seen solely as a threat to mom-and-pop stores on Main Street, are now squeezing previously strong national chains. Bookstores, music retailers, electronics chains and supermarkets have all struggled to compete with Wal-Mart's low prices and its enormous power over its suppliers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/12/business/12toys.html?hp


Man, I fuckin' hate Walmart!