Toys R Us in Germany

I'm eventually getting back to normal after being away from home three times in as many weeks, and that means I can finally report back having been to Germany and seen Toys R Us there.

My overall impression was that it was much more successful than the UK business, with a better organised store that felt more inviting and offered better browsing. I went on a Saturday afternoon and it wasn't very busy, which was a little surprising as you might expect Saturdays to be the busiest day of the week (especially as they are closed on Sundays in accordance with Germany's restrictions on Sunday shop opening). The school holidays began on Monday so perhaps parents were planning to go in with their kids then, instead.

Journey Girls on the shelves

Bye Bye Toys R Us

In a way, this post is redundant: having written my last post about the demise of Toys R Us in the UK looking certain it appeared that it would be impossible to buy Journey Girls in the UK in future. The news that all UK Toys R Us stores will close has confirmed this.

In a not entirely unexpected turn of events, Toys R Us are shutting all their US stores, with operations in other countries set to liquidate or be sold. Some of the news stories are saying that they will try to sell their 200 best performing stores along with some of their Canadian business.

If a buyer could be found then I suppose it might be possible that Journey Girls would continue, but any surviving business would be a much smaller company. I would guess that if a fragment of Toys R Us survives they won't be investing in this little corner of the 18" doll world. A quick search on Youtube shows how little presence the Journey Girls brand has in social media, compared to many new American Girl and Our Generation videos being uploaded regularly.

I have visited my local Toys R Us stores here in the UK in the last few weeks, and they were considerably busier, but just as scruffy and uninspiring as ever. Obviously during liquidation you expect stores to look picked over, but I don't remember Toys R Us ever being anything approaching tidy, even at quiet times. And though I will miss Journey Girls I won't miss the shopping experience - large, badly laid out stores with dated branding ('Teen Tronics' should have been ditched years ago) and unfortunately dirty toilets.

We are fortunate in the UK that we still have the Smyths chain of toy shops (stocking Battat products including Our Generation - look out for a future post about Smyths and other places to buy 18" dolls in the UK). Similar in some ways to Toys R Us, with out of town stores and a wide selection of products including bikes, Smyths stores are generally tidy, well laid out and a pleasure to shop in. What's more, they don't play annoying jingles every few minutes. I don't suppose anyone is going to miss "millions of toys all under one roof, it's called Toys R Us, Toys R Us, Toys R Us" - surely?

PS - I'm in Germany next week and hope I get chance to pop in to Toys R Us there. It doesn't look like there will be any things I can get there that I couldn't get in the UK, but I want to make the comparison while there is still chance. I will aim to report back!

No More Journey Girls in the UK?

Today Toys R Us in the UK went into administration. This is similar to Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the US, where an insolvent business can continue trading under certain conditions. Sometimes companies can continue trading but the picture looks bleak for Toys R Us because they already tried a Company Voluntary Agreement (a voluntary version of administration where the companies owed money agree to allow the insolvent business to carry on trading rather than force them into adminstration) and obviously this failed.

If the next step is liquidation (selling everything they can and closing the business) then this may mean it is no longer possible to buy Journey Girls in the UK. The other Toys R Us businesses in America and around the world are not affected by the UK company, which (although a subsidiary of the US Toys R Us) trades as a separate business.

The picture had been somewhat bleak already for Journey Girls, with my two local stores no longer stocking any dolls, but having a small selection of accessory and outfit sets in a reduced section hidden in the baby doll aisle. Before Christmas the range was fairly decent, albeit much more restricted than what is on offer in America, Australia and other countries. In the last two iterations (and possibly longer) we had only four dolls from the main series released: Kelsey, Kyla, Meredith and Dana. We had fewer outfits and none of the underwear/sock sets, no pets and very little of the furniture and other accessories.

Meredith has been sold out for weeks

Meredith has been sold out online and in store for several weeks and the other dolls have been unavailable online. With online shopping and click and collect shut down from today, Journey Girl fans are reduced to what is available in their local Toys R Us, as long as the stores continue trading.

The bigger picture is that many job losses are likely and employees' pensions will be reduced. The UK will probably lose a toy store chain that is not particularly well liked (the stores are big and impersonal, and in my experience recently, untidy and unloved. The toilets/restrooms in particular were dirty and in need of refurbishment) and other, better toy shops and retailers will fill the gap.


But if you loved the Journey Girls dolls, for their faces, their unusual half-vinyl torsos (unique to chain store dolls in the UK, as far as I know) or their fashion, then you may like me be sad to see Toys R Us go. I hope some sort of solution is found, even if it's to continue online only. Toys R Us in other countries do not appear to ship internationally so the only alternative will be the second hand market/Ebay and very expensive international shipping.

This also leaves the potential situation that the Journey Girls revisit the UK in a future version of the dolls, but with no one in the UK able to buy them. I really hope Toys R U are not that cruel!