Toys “R” Us Announces Plans to Open New Stores

Patrick Herron September 29, 2023 at 5:28pm

WHP Global, parent company of Toys “R” Us, has announced plans to open up to 24 Toys”R”Us flagship stores across the U.S. beginning in 2024. In addition to traditional brick and mortar stores, the expansion will also involve opening locations in airports and on cruise ships. According to WHP, Toys “R” Us marked its return in the U.S. when it opened a 20,000 sq ft. location in East Rutherford, NJ in 2021, followed by the launch of 452 Toys “R” Us shops at Macy’s stores in 2022. Exact locations for the upcoming stores have yet to be announced.

The first Toys “R” Us was located in Rockville, MD. In 1948, Charles P. Lazarus opened a baby furniture store named Children’s Bargain Town in DC. Two years later, in 1950, he introduced a few select toys to his inventory. It didn’t take long for him to realize that toys, unlike furniture, either broke or fell out of favor with kids rather quickly…so he added more toys and cut back on the furniture.

In 1957 he used the supermarket model of being able to walk around with a cart and shop for whatever caught one’s eye in his first Toys “R” Us location on 355. The original location was a little further north on the Pike than the Mid-Pike plaza location a lot of folks remember and the Rockville location permanently closed after the 2013 holiday season. The former Toy ”R” Us location at 600 Frederick Rd in Gaithersburg has remained vacant since the company closed all its stores in 2018. Featured image courtesy of Google Maps.