Toys "R" Us
Liquidated its U.S. stores in 2018; the brand has since been licensed for smaller shop-in-shop and pop-up formats.
Charles Lazarus founded what became Toys 'R' Us in 1957, building the big-box 'toy supermarket' that dominated American childhood for a generation. Geoffrey the Giraffe, the jingle 'I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys 'R' Us kid,' and aisles of bikes and Nintendo defined the brand. Saddled with debt from a 2005 leveraged buyout and undercut by Walmart, Target, and Amazon, the company liquidated its U.S. stores in 2018.
Known For
- Geoffrey the Giraffe
- 'I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys "R" Us kid'
- The big-box toy-supermarket format
- Sister chain Babies "R" Us