Other Baby Toys

Toys "Я" Us is a toy store chain based in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company operates nearly 700 stores in the United States and nearly 600 stores are operating in 29 other countries, some of them under franchises or licenses. more...

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The flagship store in New York City's Times Square is the largest toy store in the world, featuring a colorful ferris wheel.

History

Beginnings

Charles Lazarus initially started Toys "R" Us (LTD) in Washington, DC during the post-war baby boom era in 1948 as a baby furniture retailer known as "Children's Supermart". Its first location was at 2461 18th St, NW, where the nightclub Madam's Organ is currently located. Lazarus began receiving requests from customers for baby toys. After adding baby toys, he got requests for more grown up toys. Eventually the focus of the store changed and Toys "R" Us as we know it was born. The company has since relocated to Wayne, New Jersey.

1995 strike in Sweden

In 1994, Toys "R" Us was establishing itself in Sweden, starting with three shops in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. Contrary to industry custom in Sweden, a country with strong trade unions relying on agreements rather than legislation, Toys "R" Us initially refused to enter a collective bargaining agreement. During the 1995 bargaining this resulted in a strike initiated by Handels (short for Handelsanställdas förbund, "Union of Trading Employees"), the main union organizing the employees.

The strike soon received media attention and sales dropped as customers started to support the strikers. Toys "R" Us offered price cuts to counter the loss of customers, but was not successful. During the strike there was news reports of harsh treatments of employees, further fueling public support. Different groups used the strike to promote both pro- and anti-union views and politics.

The turning point was the initiation of "sympathy measures" (sympatiåtgärder) by a number of other Swedish trade unions, in which members of these unions were instructed to not engage in any work for Toys "R" Us. One example was the garbage not being picked up by members of the public workers union, Kommunal. When the bankers union stopped handling the companys financial transactions Toys "R" Us choose to sign the collective bargaining agreement, reportedly the first in the history of the company.

The strike and the precurring events are sometimes attributed to differences between American and Swedish company culture. Handels still claims that in some respects, the pre-strike working conditions at the Swedish Toys "R" Us shops was in violation of Swedish law.

Buyout

After several major missteps in the marketplace, mainly precipitated by the removal of Robert Nakasone by the Board of Directors, Toys "R" Us had been limping into what appeared to be oblivion. Nakasone’s replacement did little to help as he showed as little understanding of the Internet as the Board did. In an effort to shore up their failing enterprise, the Board of Directors installed John Eyler, formally of FAO Schwarz. Eyler launched an unsuccessful (and very expensive) plan to remodel and re-launch the chain. Blaming market pressures (primarily competition from Wal-Mart and Target Stores), Toys "R" Us considered splitting its toys and babies businesses. On July 21, 2005, a consortium of Bain Capital Partners LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), and Vornado Realty Trust completed the $6.6 billion acquisition of the toy giant. Public stock closed for the last time at $26.74, just pennies from the 52-week high, but far short of its all time high of almost $45 in fourth-quarter 1993, and its five-year high of $31 in 2Q 2001. Toys "R" Us is now a privately owned entity.

Read more at Wikipedia.org