Toys "R" Us crashed into the UK market in the 1980s building a string of toy warehouses across the country and rapidly became THE name in toy sales for the nation.
The company was originally an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer founded in 1957.
Its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters located in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey and over the decades it rose to become the dominant brand.
But competition from everything from supermarkets to online retail saw the company file for bankruptcy in 2017 and 2018, closing all of its US, British, and Australian locations, with the last US stores closing in 2021.
Operations in other international markets such as Asia and Africa were less affected, but chains in Canada, parts of Europe and Asia were eventually sold to third-parties.
By the time of its bankruptcy in North America in 2017 the company was dealing with $5 billion in long-term debt and needed to borrow $2 billion so it could pay suppliers for the upcoming holiday season
The company had not had an annual profit since 2013 and reported a net loss of US$164 million in the quarter ending April 29, 2017.
It lost US$126 million in the same period in the prior year and had been paying US$400 million per-year to service its debt, which prevented it from investing in improvements to in-store experiences to compete with Amazon and Walmart.
Meanwhile in the UK and Europe, on December 4, 2017, the company reported that it would be liquidating and closing at least 26 stores in the United Kingdom as part of an insolvency restructuring known as a company voluntary arrangement.
After amassing £15 million in unpaid taxes, Toys "R" Us Limited entered administration on February 28, 2018.
On March 2, 2018, it was announced that all UK stores would begin a liquidation sale, and on March 14, 2018, it was announced that all UK stores were expected to close within six weeks. On April 24, 2018, Toys "R" Us stopped trading in the United Kingdom after 33 years of service.
