Tru Kids, Inc. (;

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Tru Kids Brands) is an American retail and licensing company, established on January 20, 2019, after its lenders cancelled the bankruptcy auction and took over the

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1948 in Washington, D.C.; its first store was built in April 1948, with i ...

intellectual property in October 2018. The company operates the Toys "R" Us locations in the United States, and licenses the Toys "R" Us brand to operators outside of the United States. The company owns the rights to the Toys "R" Us brand globally, except for Canada.

History

On October 1, 2018, Toys "R" Us issued a court filing for the bankruptcy, after the company's shut down since June 28, 2018. Tru Kids planned a merge for the company, to rerun as new Toys "R" Us. Tru Kids managed agreements with the company, to be its successor, and to be renamed "Tru Kids" from Geoffrey LLC. The company unveiled plans for a preliminary venture to be known as Geoffrey's Toy Box (Tru Kids' division), a wholesale

store-within-a-store A store-within-a-store, also referred to as store-in-store (North America) or shop-in-shop (U.K. et al.), refers to a space within a larger retail store, designated for use by a specific brand to feature its products, clearly branded with signs ...

concept that the company planned to deploy in time for the holiday shopping season. The company planned to revive the Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us brands in the future. In November 2018, it was announced that agreements had been made with the grocery market chain

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...

. Kroger will add toy displays under the Geoffrey's Toy Box brand to some of its locations, to sell selections of Toys "R" Us private-label products for the holiday season. The brand, Geoffrey's Toy Box, operates as Geoffrey LLC, an intellectual property holding company within Toys "R" Us. On January 20, 2019, the bankruptcy plan went into effect, and the Toys "R" Us, Inc. trademarks were transferred to Tru Kids. In July 2019, Tru Kids announced they would open two stores at the Galleria Mall in Houston, Texas and the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey as they touted a United States comeback. As part of opening the stores, Tru Kids partnered with software powered company

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to power the physical shopping experience in the new stores. On October 8, 2019, Tru Kids announced they had partnered with retailer

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

to relaunch the Toys "R" Us e-commerce site. As part of the agreement, Target now powers toy assortment and fulfillment capabilities for Toys "R" Us.com and Toys "R" Us retail stores in the United States. On November 27, 2019, Tru Kids opened their first reimagined United States retail store after being absent from the US retail landscape for over 16 months. On January 15, 2021, Tru Kids closed their Galleria Mall Toys "R" Us location citing financial losses following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Following that, on January 26, 2021, the Garden State Plaza location also closed. Toys "R" Us will continue remain present in the United States as e-commerce only with partnership of

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. In March 2021,

brand management In marketing, brand management refers to the process of controlling how a brand is perceived in the market (economics), market. Tangible elements of brand management include the look, price, and packaging of the product itself; intangible element ...

firm WHP Global acquired a controlling stake in Tru Kids. WHP announced plans to reopen Toys “R” Us stores in late 2021. WHP announced that they could come in various formats, including: Airport stores, pop-up stores,

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

s, and mini stores in larger retailers.

Units

Official divisions

* Geoffrey's Toy Box - intellectual rights

Acquired from Toys "R" Us, Inc.

- branding ** Babies "R" Us - branding

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.trukidsbrands.com Toys "R" Us 2019 establishments in New Jersey American companies established in 2019 Retail companies established in 2019 2021 mergers and acquisitions Toy retailers of the United States Companies based in Morris County, New Jersey Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey Privately held companies based in New Jersey