Canadian Toys”R”Us Announces Closure of Kingston Store
Toys”R”Us Canada announced the closure of its Kingston, Ontario store, Friday on Instagram. The move will bring the chain to 17 stores, from 103 as of early 2024, and 40 in last November.
The closure of the Kingston location has been a long time coming. In January, their property was sold after 160 days on the market, The Kingston Whig-Standard reported at the time, with “Everything Must Go” signs posted. Already by that point, the staff had been reduced to 10 to 15 full or part timers.
Yet in that time, the store continued to operate in a “new normal,” adding in adult anime clothing and their HMV section, promoting birthday parties at their PLAYLAB play area, getting in restocks of brands like LEGO, Bluey, and Hot Wheels. On May 3, they held a Star Wars-themed event. They even introduced a program accepting “pre-loved books” for store credit, in conjunction with Starlight Canada.
On Instagram, the store posted:
The time has come for us to close this chapter and say goodbye..
We want to thank everyone who supported our store over the years- every visit, every purchase, every conversation meant the world to us.
Come by, shop our liquidation sale:🔥70% OFF Apparel
🎧 25% OFF CDs, DVDs, & LP’s
🧱 10% OFF LEGO
🛍 30% OFF Remaining merchandise
The store confirms that they don’t have an official last day.
In the comments, customers and former staff paid tribute. A former staff member, Nino, posted:
I feared for this day thank you to the place I loved going to as a kid and gave me so many magical memories and into adulthood giving me the best job I ever had for 6+ years.
I will forever cherish every second there and every single beautiful person I met because of this place. From being Geoffrey to hosting the playlab birthday parties to being a top tier cashier my time there will always stay with me forever thank you Kingston toys r us I will drop in as much as I can before we say goodbye! Love you forever ❤️❤️