Title: Toy stores that went out of business - The Silicon Underground
Headings: Toy stores that went out of business
Toy stores that went out of business
Kay Bee
Toys R Us
Radio Shack
Lionel Kiddie City / Lionel Playworld
Children’s Palace / Child World
All Wound Up
FAO Schwarz
Warner Bros Studio Store
Zany Brainy
Noodle Kidoodle
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Content: Toy stores that went out of business - The Silicon Underground
Toy stores that went out of business
Dave Farquhar Retail
January 2, 2018 September 5, 2019
Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in late 2017, stoking concerns about its future going forward before closing in the summer of 2018. The venerable retailer outlasted a large number of competitors, but toy stores have been in sharp decline for decades. Here are some names of old toy stores that went out of business, and what happened to them. Kay Bee
This mall-format Toys R Us store resembles the old KB Toys format. In 2018, Toys R Us joined KB among the ranks of toy stores that went out of business. Kay Bee, also known as KB Toys and KB Toy and Hobby, was the king of mall toy stores for decades. In 2000, it underwent a leveraged buyout by Bain Capital that left it saddled with debt. It went out of business in 2009, and Bain Capital’s role in its demise became a controversy affecting Mitt Romey’s 2012 presidential campaign. I have a more complete account of Kay Bee’s downfall here. It is one of perhaps three examples on this list of toy stores that went out of business unnecessarily, due to mismanagement by its parent company.