Toys R Us Closes its Last Two Stores, One in Paramus

Toys R Us closed its last remaining two stores this week, one which was in Paramus at the Westfield Garden State Plaza mall.

Reasons for the Toys R Us closing again is trying to compete with online shopping and corporate executives have said that COVID-19 has put the proverbial "nail in the coffin."

Toys R Us had a storied past, founded in 1948 with its headquarters based right here in Wayne, New Jersey. Originally known as Children's Supermart later changing their name in 1957 to Toys R Us. After closing all their stores in 2018, the company reopened two new, smaller locations in 2019, one in Houston,Texas and one here in Paramus. The company lost billions since 2018, the losses so severe making it impossible to recoup and forcing them to close all brick and mortar locations yet again.

I have great memories of Toys R Us, in 2005 when we loaded up tractor trailers of toys to give to kids in the Gulf Coast who were wiped out as a result of hurricane Katrina. The staff at the Toys R Us in Eatontown helped us load shopping cart after shopping cart and gave us a significant discount for our Gulf Coast toy drive.

I remember running into Toys R Us in a panic two days before Christmas needing toys for my nieces and nephew and how helpful a Toys R Us worker was in fulfilling my list. I appreciated that attention to help me, which is a service you just can't get shopping for toys online.

Toys R Us will continue with an online presence maintaining a website of popular toys that links you to buy from Amazon. Just another major entity here in New Jersey that has fallen victim to evolving changes from COVID-19. It's a shame. To all the Toys R Us employees, thank you.