KB Toys

1922–2009 Pittsfield, MA Northeast Defunct
KB Toys
Wikicontributor135, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons

Liquidated all stores in early 2009 after a second bankruptcy.

KB Toys began as the Kaufman Brothers wholesale candy business and reinvented itself as a toy retailer, becoming the dominant toy store inside American malls — small, densely packed shops with stacked boxes, blowout sales, and a knack for hot holiday items. As big-box discounters and Toys 'R' Us pulled toy shoppers to standalone stores and the web, KB's mall model lost ground. A 2008 holiday season and the recession finished it, and KB Toys liquidated in early 2009.

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