Could KB Toys Make A Come Back?
Following the recently announced closure of Toys R Us, many have wondered about the future of the toy industry and it looks like a name from the past, KB-Toys could try to fill in the void, left by Toys R Us.
Ellia Kassoff From Strategic Marks, LLC announced earlier this week:
As some of you know, our company Strategic Marks, LLC has acquired KB-Toys about a year ago. During that period, we had been working on several models to resurrect the “Great American Toy Store” and to make sure the stores can compete with Toys R Us, other brick and mortar stores as well as on-line retail. Well, with the demise of Toys R Us, this week, we have now accelerated our business plan and hope to have our stores up and running before Christmas. We’re in discussions with many of the toy manufactures, as we try to find out the best way to support them and the 20% loss of the US toy market due to the Toys R Us liquidation. We believe we will have the infrastructure in-place and [hopefully] save the toy industry.
This was followed by another announcement:
Wow! is all we can say after our first announcement here on Linked In that we’re bringing back @kbtoysstore very soon. We’re received so many calls, emails, and private messages of support as we try to #savethetoyindustry. Due to the overwhelming response, we can’t commit to replying back immediately but we will get to all messages as fast as we can. Many of you asked what our plans will be and all we can say is we spent the last six months working on a sustainable model to bring back KB Toys the right way so it can compete with not only the big box stores but on-line as well.
Our umbrella, Strategic Marks, LLC has been very successful bringing back many of the most popular products and companies over the last ten years because we follow a very strict formula; [To bring back the experiences we loved as a child, just as you remembered them]. With #kbtoys, we had to also look at why they initially failed and to make sure those mistakes won’t be made again. Now, with the closing of @toysrus so quickly, it caught us by surprise so we’ve spent the last few days with our team and leaders in the toy industry to figure out how we can accelerate the project so our stores can open for the Christmas season. When we’re ready, you will be very happy with the results and we believe our model can withstand both on-line as well as other large competitors for not only the short-term but long-term as well.
We understand, we’re not just restarting the only other well-known and loved toy chain in the US but hope to find places for those 33,000 jobs which will be lost as Toys R Us closes. Please be patient with us over the next few weeks as we get this rolling.
My Take: The closure of Toys R Us does open a huge opportunity for another retailer to grab a portion of the market and specialist toy stores could still work, without some of the issues that Toys R Us faced such a huge debt and struggling to adapt to changing market forces.
However this announcement should be taken with a huge grain of salt, as nothing could materialise. Even if it was to return, they wouldn’t have as many stores as Toys R Us and returning to Malls, where KB Toys originally were located would be much more difficult since they are also struggling.
I’m hopeful that a new Toy retailer can return to offer a different experience to the big stores like Walmart or Target, but it can’t return based on Nostalgia alone.
What do you think of KB Toys returning?