The Toys R Us I consider mine ( which I think is the second of two locations that were in Greensboro), had that large book section, with the books, in the 90s, while down the street from my beloved Borders and a mall with a Waldenbooks.
Also, I felt like the store was a winner when I was little, if the shelves were tall and full of toys almost to the ceiling. I hated the renovations that made the shelves shorter, especially the elimination of the board game wall and the discount section at the beginning.
But as you said, these were warehouses, full of stuff and they had those of us who were in the “Toys R Us kids” demographic in a trance of never wanting to grow up, I guess so we could forever spend money there tugging on our parents heels.
That's really interesting about the book section, Kristen! I don't remember seeing a large book section at any of the stores I used to visit, but that was 20 years ago now! :)
The new layout you refer to happened around 2000 and was called "Mission Possible" internally (also called "MP stores" for short). The idea was to encourage browsing and to hide a lot of the overstock behind decorative signage so it didn't feel quite as much like a warehouse. Since many of the fixtures resembled X's, it was nearly impossible to see everything in a department. Guests *hated* the new layout and it was very confusing. Most of the stores I worked in were MPs. The aisle stores that weren't renovated were the first to close. I closed one in Euclid, Ohio in around 2001/2002 and another in Revere, MA in 2004.
The Toys R Us I consider mine ( which I think is the second of two locations that were in Greensboro), had that large book section, with the books, in the 90s, while down the street from my beloved Borders and a mall with a Waldenbooks.
Also, I felt like the store was a winner when I was little, if the shelves were tall and full of toys almost to the ceiling. I hated the renovations that made the shelves shorter, especially the elimination of the board game wall and the discount section at the beginning.
But as you said, these were warehouses, full of stuff and they had those of us who were in the “Toys R Us kids” demographic in a trance of never wanting to grow up, I guess so we could forever spend money there tugging on our parents heels.
That's really interesting about the book section, Kristen! I don't remember seeing a large book section at any of the stores I used to visit, but that was 20 years ago now! :)
The new layout you refer to happened around 2000 and was called "Mission Possible" internally (also called "MP stores" for short). The idea was to encourage browsing and to hide a lot of the overstock behind decorative signage so it didn't feel quite as much like a warehouse. Since many of the fixtures resembled X's, it was nearly impossible to see everything in a department. Guests *hated* the new layout and it was very confusing. Most of the stores I worked in were MPs. The aisle stores that weren't renovated were the first to close. I closed one in Euclid, Ohio in around 2001/2002 and another in Revere, MA in 2004.
You had me at Toys "R" Us! Nice report!
Thank you Rolando!