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Toys R Us Research Paper

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Toys ‘R Us, the famous toy store, is closing all stores in the U.S. It filed a bankruptcy in September and made the announcement that it was closing on Wednesday. This is a surprise since in the second half of the 1900s, Toys ‘R Us grew into a large toy store because of the amount of new toys, and the low prices. At one point, some people said that it won’t stop growing and it will keep getting bigger and bigger. Toys ‘R Us started in 1948, when a man named Charles Lazarus opened a kids/babies furniture shop called Children’s Bargain Town in Washington D.C at age 25. He figured that after World War II, soldiers were coming home and were wanting to start families. They would probably need to get a lot of nursery decor. Before long, Lazarus found …show more content…

In 1957, Lazarus opened his first toy store. It was supposed to look like a supermarket with items stacked high on shelves and a huge amount of different toys. He named it Toys ‘R Us and made it look like it had been written with bad handwriting. He also made the ‘R backwards so it looked like a kid wrote it. The “Mascot” of Toys ‘R Us was originally Dr. G Raffe, who came out about two years after Toys ‘R Us opened. He eventually evolved into Geoffrey. Geoffrey made his first appearance on TV in the early 80s and introduced the jingle “I don’t want to grow up.” While this was happening, Toys ‘R Us was doing great. It made more stores in 1978 and quickly became a Wall Street favorite. “What we are is a supermarket for toys” Lazarus said in 1981 “We don’t have a competitor in variety. There is none." The Washington Post compared Toys ‘R Us to another favorite, Mcdonald’s. “Like Mcdonald’s, with its regimented service and standardized burgers and fries, Toys ‘R Us has become an American Institution.” Toys ‘R Us also sold baby products so that shoppers could come year round. Then, in the 1990s, it all fell apart. The first thing that happened was that Lazarus stepped down as

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