WHP Global Acquires Toys R Us, Exploring All Options Including Reopening Of Stores In US

WHP Global has taken a stake in Tru Kids company. The move comes three years after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following which all of the Toys R Us stores were closed in the United States. Apart from Toys R Us, Tru Kids company also owns Babies R Us and Geoffrey the Giraffe. There have been several attempts to revive the brand and for this few pop-up stores made their debut in select locations. But those too fail to bring any change and because of the coronavirus pandemic, the last two of them also got closed earlier this year. Now the toy company has a new owner and they are reportedly mulling on several options. The brand management company is looking to re-open US stores once again in a variety of locations.

Chairman and chief executive officer of WHP Global Yehuda Shmidman said that we are coming off a year where toys are really going to have a great demand. “We are in the business of the brand, and it is well known that Toys R Us is the most trusted, credible, and beloved toy brand. We will definitely be going to a huge jump in the demand for toys and Toys R Us is really a blank canvas,” Shmidman said. He has been the vice-chairman of Tru Kid since 2019. The toy company is backed by Solus Alternative Asset Management. private equity group Ares Management manages the funds of the company.

They had purchased the intellectual property from Toys R Us after it went for bankruptcy. The toy company failed to emerge from bankruptcy and was pushed into liquidation. Tru Kids has been trying a number of strategies to bring back the momentum. It even took the help of tech platform b8ta to open pop-up locations in the US. But poor mall traffic, especially because of the global coronavirus pandemic, forced the company to close them earlier this year. For some time website of Toys R Us was powered by big-box retailer Target. But now any purchase on the website will redirect users to Amazon.