In Manchester: Trader Joe's Coming, Babies R Us Going

MANCHESTER, CT — A day after one major retailer announced its intentions to set up shop at the Plaza at Buckland Hills, another announced it is leaving Manchester.

Toys R Us officials said the Babies R Us store in Manchester was one of two in the area on a corporate closure list generated from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Trader Joe's has submitted plans to take over the vacancy at the other end of the plaza, left by Eastern Mountain Sports in a bankruptcy-takeover shuffle, economic development officials said Tuesday.

Newington is the other Toys R Us related store nearby doomed for closure, according to the list.

Other Connecticut locations on the hit list are Waterbury and North Haven. A total of 180 stores are slated to be shuttered and the closings will begin early next month and run through mid-April, according to a corporate announcement posted Wednesday.

Stores in Milford, Danbury, Norwalk, Waterford, and West Hartford locations will remain open.

"The reinvention of our brands requires that we make tough decisions about our priorities and focus," Toys R Us chairman and CEO David Brandon said in a release. "The actions we are taking are necessary to give us the best chance to emerge from our bankruptcy proceedings as a more viable and competitive company."

A court still has to sign off on the mass closures. In addition to the closures, Brandon said an undisclosed number of surviving locations will be co-branded as Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores.

The closure announcement comes four months after Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid declining sales and climbing debt. Going-out-of-business sales are scheduled to begin in February.

There is no timetable yet for Trader Joe's, officials said.

Photo Credit: Tim Jensen; Manchester Economic Development