Parking lots were full and people rushed in and out of Toys ‘R’ Us as liquidation sales started at Toys ‘R’ Us stores in the South Bay last Friday, March 23.
After 70 years in business, Toys ‘R’ Us announced on March 15 that it was closing all of their 1,758 stores including locations in Chula Vista and National City.
The announcement came months after the famed toy store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for both Toys ‘R’ Us stores and Babies ‘R’ Us.
“It’s sad, man,” said Chula Vista shopper Sergio Paz, 40, who said he grew up on Toys ‘R’ Us. “It’s sad to see them go but I also understand with the change in times, things change. You have businesses like Amazon doing their thing which makes it a little bit harder for retail stores to stay afloat.”
Paz took advantage of liquidation sales at the Toys ‘R’ Us store at 1008a Industrial Blvd in Chula Vista. Sales started at five percent off with some items offering a 30 percent discount.
Paz bought his son a punching bag and a few sports toys.
Paz said Toys ‘R’ Us was his go-to store for his kids’ birthday gifts because they price matched Amazon and other stores.
Now that Toys ‘R’ Us is closing, he said he won’t have much choice anymore but to shop for toys on Amazon.
Kim Peterson, 53, took her two boys shopping Friday for Transformer toys.
She said she is going to miss Toys ‘R’ Us because the company was always a part of her children’s lives. Her two sons were birthday club members and would always get a birthday phone call from the toy store’s mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe. As birthday club members, they also received a small gift card for a toy of their choice as well as an announcement over a speaker phone that the store had birthday guests.
Peterson said now that her kids are older she won’t miss the store as much, but feels for other parents who won’t be able to create shopping memories with their young children at Toys ‘R’ Us.
“There is just something about taking your small one into a toy store with all the toys and seeing all the fun that they have,” she said.
Jacob Langley, 27, was at the National City store at 1100 E. 30th St., said as a child he would always shop at a Toys ‘R’ Us for Pokémon cards and whatever other toys interested him.
Langley said part of Toys ‘R’ Us demises is that kids now a-days play with electronics and tablets, not so much with toys.
“I mean it’s rough, its’ kind of depressing because it was part of my childhood,” he said.
“But that’s just how business works.”
