Toys “R” Us in Times Square, New York has shut its doors to the public for the last time, after trading from the location for fourteen years.
The shelves were stripped almost bare but despite the lack of wares many visitors were enjoying the store’s unique features for the very last time. Many families took a final ride on the 61 foot tall indoor ferris wheel, watched the life-sized, animatronic T-Rex or visited the life-sized Barbie house.
High rents were the cause of the company’s decision to leave the iconic location. Clothing retailer, Gap and its subsidiary brand Old Navy will be moving-in and expect to be open by mid-2016. The new tenants will not occupy the entire 110,000 square feet previously rented by Toys “R” Us, only approximately half the ground floor space will be used and overall around 60% of the unit will be used by the new tenant.
Most of the store’s goods were in the process of being shipped-out as soon as Christmas had passed-by, other stores and internet fulfilment centres will get the bulk of the merchandise leaving just a fraction of the stock left for the closing-down sale.
The products that did form part of the closing-down sale included brands, such as Star Wars, Chuggington, Lego Creator and various collectibles.
The Times Square branch of Toys “R” Us was the world’s largest toy shop, now that honour goes to the Moscow branch of Hamleys which covers over 72,000 square feet.
Further evidence : Gothamist