Why Toys'R'Us Sucks

[Kyle]

If you're suggesting that Collin's mom is inappropriate for viewing by children, Daz, then I agree with you.

[theJudeAbides]

I agree with everyone here about TRU. They just seem to be a poorly managed (going all the way to the top) chain of stores.

Their service tends to be quite terrible. The few I've been in often have very few people in them (both customer and employee-wise). Other than a few employees manning the checkout lines, there doesn't seem to be anyone else around. Where are the employees whose job it is to help customers? Why does nobody ask if they can help me find something? This isn't rocket science here, it's customer service 101, and they clearly fail.

Then, there's their "selection," or lack thereof. Why is it that, despite being a store that's dedicated solely to selling toys, their selection doesn't seem to be that much better than other big name retailers. Of the TRUs that I've visited, not one has had more than one aisle dedicated to LEGO toys. You'd think that if you're a store that's dedicated to selling toys, you would have a larger selection than those that aren't, but you'd be wrong. And LEGO isn't the only area; look at action figures, video games, or any other area, and you'll find it's the same story. If they exanded their selection to be larger than other retail stores, there would actually be a reason to shop there, but they don't, and there isn't.

And finally, there's the prices, which as many have pointed out, are not only no better than other stores, but are actually higher. I don't understand the concept of trying to build a customer base around duping people into buying toys at a higher rate. In this information age where people can quickly compare prices from different stores online before leaving their homes, you have to figure that sooner or later, people are going to get wise to your scheme. And once they do, how do you think they'll feel? They'll be left with a bitter taste in their mouth and move on past your lies to someplace else.

So there you have it, the tri-fecta of modern retailing: Service, selection, and pricing. And TRU manages to botch every single one of them. Bravo, guys, well done.

But that wasn't enough for them. They decided not only should they NOT market their store, but that they should anti-market it. Yeah, let's reach out to the people who would market our store and potentially give us new customers and drive sales, but instead of creating long-lasting relationships with them, let's give them the middle-finger and go back to sucking at everything else.

Way to one-up yourself at your own game of sucking-at-life guys.

[fredjh]

Toysrus has been struggling most likely as they are having difficulty competing with wal mart. On wikipedia, it says toysrus is the 2nd largest toy chain despite that they tottally specialize in toys. However, wal mart does not specialize in toys, but is the #1 toy selling giant... But they really shouldn't overprice most of their lego sets. They also like to change their regular prices quite often as well.

Yeah, I'm a price whiner myself, I admit, but I don't like WalMart. Several years ago we went to buy a game on release day at Toys R Us, and the sales dweeb was like "Dude, they were all pre-ordered, you should have pre-ordered." So we went a couple blocks away to Target and got it without any problem.

For some reason, a lot of people just make TRU their first stop (hey, we did when we were looking for the game), but now I know better; we generally go to Target first. Even the kids asked the other day to go to Target.

[BlueDragonZ]

I agree with everyone here about TRU. They just seem to be a poorly managed (going all the way to the top) chain of stores.
The few I've been in often have very few people in them (both customer and employee-wise). Other than a few employees manning the checkout lines, there doesn't seem to be anyone else around. Where are the employees whose job it is to help customers?

Its the same here in Canada. But its even worst here. Its a bit better now during the Christmas period. But if you go into toysrus in the spring or summer... 1 employee manages the customer service desk, checkout, phones and returns at the same time !!! I feel sorry for them. I had to do a return for like 20 mins..

And i think toysrus isn't doing that well because even though walmart doesn't have a better selection then them, they have more stores and order more toys than toysrus. Thus, they probably get a bigger discount on them.

If this keeps up, i don't think toysrus will be here in like 20 years later unless they come up with a new plan. Marking up prices and earning parent's profits won't do as they only do that when its their kid's birthday or christmas present. They have been trying to restructure their stores which now includes a BabiesRUs section and a electronic zone. But i think they should start selling dry food products like chips, oreo like Zellers. Zellers wasn't doing too well here in Canada before too, but ever since they got purchase by a US company, they start restructing with more food products including the Neighbourhood market. Food sells pretty well as everyone needs them whereas toys.. is entertainment and not the 1st priority in the list for most people.

[Rook]

Sorry if someone already said this. But is there anyway that you could do an nline petion and then the member of the forum could "sign" it? Then you could attach it the next time you submit.

[Solo]

This issue has been resolved. Complaining on the internet actually works!