Toys R Us announced on Wednesday (Dec. 1) that it’s opening a flagship store with a two-story slide, ice cream parlor and more than 10,000 toys in New Jersey’s American Dream mall in mid-December, news that could make kids in the Garden State especially excited as the holiday shopping season wraps up.
“Toys R Us is back and it’s back in a mega way,” Yehuda Shmidman, WHP Global and Toys R Us chairman and CEO, told USA TODAY in its report. “This is going to be our largest format store in America.”
Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017, closed all of its U.S. stores in 2018 and opened pop-up stores in Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey and Houston in 2019, both of which closed at the beginning of 2021. There are more than 900 Toys R Us stores in 25 countries.
Brand management company WHP Global took over as the controlling owner of Tru Kids, the former parent company of Toys R Us, Babies R Us and Geoffrey the Giraffe.
American Dream and Ken Downing, chief creative officer of mall developer Triple Five, hinted in September during a press tour of the 3.3-million-square-foot megamall that Toys R Us would be opening a store there.
In a statement, American Dream CEO Don Ghermezian called Toys R Us the “perfect addition” to American Dream. The sprawling shopping center includes Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park, DreamWorks Water Park, Legoland Discovery Center, Sea Life Aquarium and Big Snow Ski Hill as well as flagship locations for Aritzia, H&M, Primark, Uniqlo, Sephora and Zara.
Related news: Macy’s Brings Back Toys R Us, Exceeds Q2 Expectations
In August, Macy’s brought the Toys R Us brand to its website and announced it will have shops-within-shops in more than 400 retail stores in 2022 as part of a new partnership with WHP Global.
The return of Toys R Us is part of Macy’s exponential growth in the toy segment this year.
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