[Joe Moore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gunathar

Toys R Us cares only for baby stuff, crayons and NERF guns. It never cared to adapt to the online market: the website, online inventory and prices are a sad joke (at least here in Canada). I am not at all surprised to learn the chain is going under.

I don't know the numbers, but collector-oriented companies like NECA won't disappear because of this situation. THEY will adapt. THEY will find a way to sell their products without the need of a brick store.

I live in a region where collector stuff is simply nonexistent anywhere else than online. No TRU or Walmart here carry enough NECA or Star Wars figures (or the like) that's worth the time and gas of a road trip. I read the toy news and reviews online, compare prices online, and shop online for my collector needs. So does the disappearance of Toys R Us from the landscape affect me as a toy customer?

Not at all.

Of course, I'm sad for all the employees who enjoy working for the big chain. But the market is as it is: Adapt or die. Toys R Us didn't adapt so...

Companies will adapt, yes. But that adaptation will come at a cost, especially for anyone not Mattel, LEGO or Hasbro. One thing Toys R Us offered is brand awareness to smaller scale companies. I look at NECA specifically, because Toys R Us essentially is their only major retail outlet. Toy reporting sites and online toy stores only get you so many views, but walking past a toy aisle and seeing a "NECA Section" brings far more awareness than online sales ever will. Places like Walmart and Target just aren't going to carry stuff like the Mego line, or the diorama pieces, or long forgotten licenses.

A savvy collector will know to seek them out. The impulse buyer, the new collector, the fan seeing something that rekindles their genre love will never come across that stuff. Smaller companies that would wrangle prime shelf space will lose out even more. I look at someone like Just Play, who managed to get their surprisingly impressive Nickelodeon line set up in the collectors area. Stuff like that gets lost in the sea on hundreds of new pre-orders every day at places like EE and BBTS.