BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Toys ‘R’ Us can tarce its roots back to 1948 when Charles Lazarus turned his father’s bicycle repair shop into a children’s furniture store, added toys and renamed the chain Children’s Supermart.
In 1978 the chain took its present name and, for twenty more years, was the biggest retailer of toys in the world. By 1998, Wal-Mart had overtaken TRU as the largest toy seller.
Wal-Mart did this by cutting toy prices, sometimes selling below cost, said Bloomberg, to lure shoppers during the holiday season, which can generate more than two-fifths of toy retailers’ sales.
Earlier this year Toys ‘R’ Us hired Credit Suisse First Boston to help put a price on all assets.
