TIME TO GROW UP, TOYS ‘R’ US KIDS
The clock has run out for the beloved retail giant — a sad reality for many who grew up going to the store.
Chris Frymyer said he was always a Toys R Us kid. He left the store Thursday with a car full of gifts and an aching heart full of memories.
“I’m in my 30s now. When I was a kid, this was the store to go to. Even my nieces and nephews — it’s a big thing for them. Let’s go to the toy store. And it had always been Toys R Us,” Frymyer said.
But now the end has come. The last of the more than 700 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores will be closed Friday.
“It’s sad. It’s very sad to see the store close,” a mother told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen.
In the company’s Kennesaw store, about the only things still for sale were the bare shelves.
“Nothing left. But I was fortunate to buy a playground. Very last one,” the mother said.
“Was it in there today?” Petersen asked.
“It was, and we got it,” she said.
Business experts said a $5 billion debt and the rise of online shopping put the company under.
Frymyer said the store was part of his childhood and he’ll never forget it.
“‘I don’t want to grow up. I’m a Toys R Us kid.’ That’s always been there — the giraffe. A friend sent me a picture on Facebook of a giraffe in a coat with a suitcase saying goodbye. It’s kind of a memory to go away,” he said.
Toys R Us had 30,000 employees.
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