you can never have too many toy stores
With Toys 'R' Us shutting down, KB Toys hopes the time is right to make a return
Toys 'R' Us is closing all of its stores in the United States, and a defunct retailer is hoping to rise up from its ashes.
KB Toys ceased operations in 2009, but Strategic Marks purchased the brand in 2016 from Bain Capital — the same company that took Toys 'R' Us private in 2006, saddling it with debt. Strategic Marks President Ellia Kassoff told CNN Money the plan is to open 1,000 pop-up locations on Black Friday, and where the pop-ups do well, they'll make permanent KB Toys stores.
Kassoff said he's been in touch with Hasbro, Mattel, and dozens of other smaller toy suppliers, and the "assumption is that there's about half a billion dollars worth of toys that have been produced for Toys 'R' Us with no place to go. That's a big, big void that we're hoping to fill up."