Toys R Us Leaving Newington Plaza

NEWINGTON, CT — A major retail store is leaving the Newington Fair shopping center, according to a corporate announcement on Wednesday.

The Toys R Us store in Newington was one of two in the area on a corporate closure list generated from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Manchester is the other Toys R Us 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 nationwide 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.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel; Manchester Economic Development