You couldn’t blame Steve Levy, owner of Toy City in Keene, if he felt a tinge of vindication about the news that Toys R Us is going bankrupt, because the chain helped drive him out of Concord decades ago.
But he said Thursday that he’s more sorry than happy.
“I feel bad for the 33,000-plus people who will be out of a job,” said Levy, who has been selling toys and children’s items since 1972. “But I don’t feel that bad for the management – 5 billion in debt is unconscionable.”
Levy owned a toy store in Concord more than 30 years ago.
“I started at Storrs and Depot (streets) then moved to Fort Eddy Plaza,” he said. “Then Toys R Us came in – and Tons of Toys was coming to Concord … and I said, ‘Gee, maybe it’s time to change my focus.’ ”
Levy transitioned into baby furniture and at one time had three stores, in Concord, Manchester and Keene, before he consolidated into the Elm City, where he has thrived as a store with toys, games and children’s accessories.
Toys R Us, which has been struggling financially for a decade, announced Thursday that it was closing the more than 800 stores it has in the U.S., including its locations on Loudon Road in Concord and in Manchester, Nashua, Salem and the Seacoast. The chain shuttered its Babies R Us division earlier in the year, but Thursday’s announcement about the closing of all its stores was still unexpected.
Toys R Us was at the forefront of changes to American retail three decades ago when large chains known as “category killers” began focusing on a single product area, such as Best Buy in electronics or Home Depot in hardware, and driving small, independent competitors out of business.
At one time, virtually every city had at least one independent toy store, such as French’s Toy Shop that operated on State Street from 1935 until a decade ago, but most have closed. Those that remain have focused on a niche, like YoYo Heaven on North Main Street in Concord.
“I don’t like how people are always on their phone. I wanted to try to make a store that has only hands-on type toys,” said Dan McBride, a Northwood native who started the store with his father four years ago.
As the name implies, the store began with McBride’s love of yo-yos, but it has slowly branched out during three moves into ever-bigger locations.
“When we began, yo-yos were half of the store, but we’re going more general now. We’re keeping it old-school, like board games, puzzles – things we didn’t have in the beginning,” McBride said. He guessed that the closing of Toys R Us wouldn’t affect his business much.
In Portsmouth, the owner of long-running toy store G. Willikers also said the closing of Toys R Us wouldn’t change his business model, which emphasizes local products.
“We will not try to replicate what they don’t offer anymore,” said Bob Breneman, whose parents started G. Willikers in 1978.
“The competitive advantage of a chain was buying in bulk, having streamlined their services. But we have always maintained that we are a lot more nimble. We can react to change a lot easier; we can make a decision the night before and implement it the following day,” Breneman said.
He said that their competition wasn’t overly fierce, with Toys R Us employees sometimes sending customers to him, and his store occasionally returning the favor. And as a local businessman, Breneman said news of its closure is not good news.
“A big, empty building in Portsmouth is never a positive thing – those are hard buildings to fill,” Breneman said.
Although the immediate cause of the Toys R Us bankruptcy was billions of dollars in debt taken on when it was sold a decade ago, an underlying problem was Amazon and online shopping, which undercuts the advantage of huge selection and low prices of category-killer stores.
Small stores are wary of Amazon, too.
“Some people go into a store and look at something and then go buy it on Amazon. That’s not cool,” said McBride, of YoYo Heaven. “We try to keep competitive with online prices. And we have no shipping cost!”
He added, “I think people are always going to want to come into a store and look at something. Amazon can only tell you so much about a product. You can’t touch it.”
As for Levy in Keene, he thought there is a chance that the demise of Toys R Us indicates the toy-store industry is shifting a bit, just as is happening with bookstores. Category killers like Barnes & Noble and Borders drove many independent bookstores out of business, but as Amazon has crippled the category killers, some independent bookstores are returning.
“I think it tells us that we should continue to focus on what makes us strong. The business that Toys R Us is giving up is going to go to the Targets, the Walmarts, the online. … Hopefully the customers will say there’s no TRU so let’s check out that specialty store on Main Street,” Levy said. “And if there’s isn’t an independent store, there should be. This is a chance to step up.”
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
