Charles P. Lazarus, a Washington, D.C. native, founded the company now known as Toys R Us. In 1948, he opened a baby furniture store named Children’s Bargain Town. Two years later, in 1950, he added a few select toys to his inventory. It wasn’t long before he realized that toys, unlike furniture, tended to break or quickly fall out of favor with children, prompting him to introduce a larger toy selection while scaling back on furniture.
In 1957, Lazarus adopted a supermarket-style shopping experience that allowed customers to walk around with a cart and choose items that caught their eye. His first Toys R Us location opened on Route 355 in Rockville, Maryland, slightly north of the Mid-Pike plaza site now remembered by many—a spot once home to Mi Rancho and Chesapeake Seafood House, near today’s Party City.
Over time, the store moved to the Mid-Pike Plaza and later to the far left side of the plaza, remaining in that location until its closure after the 2013 holiday season. Ultimately, Toys R Us shut down all U.S. locations on June 29, 2019, marking the end of 70 years of operations.
On a personal note, I remember disliking visits to Kids R Us in Rockville, knowing that Toys R Us was just on the other side of the wall.