Bel Air Toys R Us Is Closing In Late June

BEL AIR, MD — The last day of business for the Bel Air Toys R Us will be Wednesday, June 27, a store representative told Bel Air Patch. The toy store in the Tollgate Marketplace is one of the hundreds that are shutting down across the nation since the company declared bankruptcy.

Several leases at Toys R Us stores went to auction last week in bankruptcy court, and Bel Air's was one.

The highest bidder for the Toys R Us lease in the Tollgate Marketplace was the property's landlord, Retail Properties of America, according to court filings.

A sale hearing is scheduled for Monday, June 25, in Richmond, Virginia, where Toys R Us will ask a judge to authorize the transfer of its leases that went to auction on June 11.

In the event that the successful bidder is not able to complete the sale at the June 25 hearing, the lease would go to the backup bidder. The backup bidder for the Bel Air lease was Ollie's Bargain Outlet.

Three Toys R Us leases in Maryland were included in the auction this month. The other two were in Glen Burnie and Hagerstown, and Ollie's Bargain Outlet won both of those.

The outlet store sells merchandise that is being liquidated or closed out by larger merchants. It has four Maryland locations: Aberdeen, Dundalk, Jessup and Windsor Mill.

Before the auction on June 11, Toys R Us received a list of qualified bidders interested in the leases. For the Bel Air lease, both Big Lots and Ollie's were categorized as the top qualified bidders.

At the auction itself, however, Big Lots did not appear on the short list of successful and backup bidders for Bel Air.

Big Lots was the successful bidder on six other leases (Indianapolis, Indiana; Montebello, California; Ontario, California; Springfield, Illinois; Bay Shore, New York; and Auburn Massachusetts) and the backup bidder on one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Ollie's was the successful bidder in five leases (Hagerstown, Maryland; Glen Burnie, Maryland; Roanoke, Virginia; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Mesquite, Texas) and the backup in two (Bel Air, Maryland, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).

For properties with leases that did not get claimed June 11, officials say those auctions remain open.

The sale of its leases is the latest in a series of legal actions that followed after New Jersey-based Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in September 2017 amid slumping sales and mounting debt.

Liquidation sales began at all Toys R Us locations on March 23.

By May, the stores were no longer accepting reward coupons, gift cards and endless earnings as the business began winding down its operations.

The store at 660 Market Place Drive in Bel Air will officially close after Wednesday, June 27.

• Toys R Us Will Sell Or Close Remaining MD Stores: Report
• Toys R Us Liquidation Sales Delayed At MD Stores: What's Next?

Get more information about the status of Toys R Us on the company's restructuring page, which includes a link to its bankruptcy court filings.

Image of the Bel Air Toys R Us via Google street view.