By Jennifer Keiper, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) Toy retailer Toys R Us is announcing plans to close seven stores in the Chicago area. It is part of an overall plan to close 20 percent of its U.S. stores, or 180 locations, within months. Toys R Us once dominated American toy sales but has been hard hit by competition from Amazon.Com and major chains like WalMart.
Hobbled by $5 billion in debt, the company that once dominated toy sales in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy protection in September.
Chairman and CEO Dave Brandon said in a letter Wednesday that tough decisions are required to save Toys R Us.
The seven Chicago area Toys R Us locations that will be closing include the store in Chicago’s Bricktown Mall at 6420 W. Fullerton Ave. The other Chicago area closings are:
Highland Park 1610 Deerfield Rd.
Schaumburg 16 East Golf Road
Vernon Hills 295 Center Drive
Matteson 5001 Lincoln Highway
Burbank 7750 South Cicero Avenue
Niles 5660 Touhy Avenue
Toys R Us, based in Wayne, New Jersey, has struggled with debt since private-equity firms Bain Capital, KKR & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust took it private in a $6.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2005. The plan had been to take the company public again, but weak sales have prevented that from happening.
Toys R Us operates about 900 stores in the U.S. The store closings will begin in February and the majority of the targeted locations will go dark by mid-April.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story)
@2018 WLS-AM News
