Toys R Us Closing Will Have Economic Impacts

On March 15, 2018, Toys R Us announced that it would close all of its Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores in the United States, including the store in Greensburg. The chain began closing down 180 stores in January. Closing down sales began for all other locations on March 23 according to cnbc.com.

Around 33,000 employees will lose their jobs, making the Toys R Us closure the twelfth largest job cut since 1993, falling just behind the closure of electronics retailer Circuit City in 2009, where 34,000 employees lost their jobs according to cbsnews.com.

The closure of Toys R Us may also be problematic for the charity Toys for Tots. According to the Toys For Tots official website, Toys R Us partnered with the charity for 14 years and was the charity’s largest retail partner. Throughout their sponsorship, Toys R Us had raised more than 55 million dollars and   collected over four million toys for the charity.

The closures of Toys R Us and Babies R Us will leave vacant over 800 large buildings scattered throughout the country. Stores such as Target, Biglots, and Ashley Furniture are interested in buying some properties according to retaildive.com, but many large retailers are not expanding as much as they have in the past, possibly leaving lots of empty retail space according to cnbc.com