Toys 'R' Us Is Coming Back To NJ

Toys "R" Us is coming back to New Jersey. And it's coming back in time for holiday season.

The parent company, Tru Kids, will bring Toys “R” Us stores back to the United States this holiday season. One will be in New Jersey.

Tru Kids said the company and a software retailer have entered into a joint venture to launch "a new store experience" that will deliver popular toy products in what it calls "smaller-format spaces."

The first two new Toys “R” Us stores will open this holiday season at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus and in The Galleria in Houston, Texas, a Simon Mall. Brand partners and "experiences" will be announced in the coming weeks.

“With a 70 year heritage, the Toys 'R' Us brand is beloved by kids and families around the world, and continues to play a leading role in the hearts and minds of today’s consumers,” said Richard Barry, CEO of Tru Kids and Interim co-CEO of the new Toys“R”Us joint venture.

“We have an incredible opportunity to entirely reimagine the Toys 'R' Us brand in the U.S. and are thrilled to partner with b8ta and key toy vendors to create a new, highly-engaging retail experience designed for kids, families and to better fit within today’s retail environment.”

The move comes more than a year after thousands of Toys "R" Us workers lost their jobs when stores throughout New Jersey and the United States finally closed after a year-long battle to keep the stores open.

Despite the efforts from billionaire CEO Isaac Larian, Toys R Us did not accept his bid to save 274 U.S.-based stores and the thousands of jobs they support.

Larian would also have kept the company's Wayne headquarters open as part of the bid CNNMoney reported recently. Between 7,000 to 10,000 jobs would have been saved if the headquarters and stores remained open.

Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy two years ago and later announced it would close or sell all of its 735 U.S. stores. Overall, about 31,000 people lost their jobs, including 1,100 at the Wayne headquarters.

The bankruptcy filing came amid slumping sales and mounting debt, which grew to about $5 billion. The once-popular chain faced increasing competition from Amazon, Walmart and Target. The chain was set to close about 180 of its stores, or about 20 percent.

Toys R' Us locations in New Jersey were:

• Bridgewater
• Burlington
• Cherry Hill
• Deptford
• East Brunswick
• Elizabeth
• East Hanover
• Eatontown
• Freehold
• Hazlet
• Iselin
• Jersey City
• Lawrenceville
• Livingston
• Manalapan
• Mays Landing
• Mount Olive
• North Brunswick
• Paramus
• Raritan
• Rockaway
• Secaucus
• Toms River
• Totowa
• Union
• Vineland
• Wayne
• Watchung
• West Windsor

The new Toys“R”Us stores will serve as "must-visit destinations for kids to learn, play, and fall in love with the latest and most popular toys, and for parents to have fun with their children and ignite their own childlike sense of play," according to a company release.

The stores will be highly interactive with events and activities every day, from seeing toys displayed out-of-the-box to test before making a purchase to "just having fun with Geoffrey the Giraffe" in the open play space.

“As a kid, my memory of Toys 'R' Us was running up and down the aisles kicking balls and playing with the coolest toys,” said Phillip Raub, co-founder and president of b8ta and Interim co-CEO of the Toys“R”Us joint venture. “As the retail landscape changes, so do consumer shopping habits. But what hasn’t changed is that kids want to touch everything and simply play. In partnership with Richard and his team, we are excited to bring back Toys 'R' Us in an immersive way, focused on creating a fun and engaging experience for kids—and adults, too.”

Using b8ta’s retail model, brands will showcase their products in an interactive, playground-like environment, creating an entirely new retail experience centered around product discovery and engagement, according to the release.