Toys R Us to Open Flagship at Mall of America
WHP Global, the parent company of Toys R Us, will open its second U.S. flagship store at the Mall of America in Minnesota. Set to open just before Thanksgiving, this store will mark the first flagship store created in partnership with Go! Retail Group. Additional flagship locations will open in 2024.
The newest flagship store — located on Level 1, East, at the Mall of America — spans more than 11,000 square feet and will offer a wide assortment of trending toys and games for kids of all ages as well as a photo-opp with the retailer’s iconic Geoffrey the Giraffe advertising character, according to a media release.
In addition, beginning in 2024, the flagship will introduce branded elements like Geoffrey's Cafe and ice cream parlor as well as interactive experiences and product demonstrations from popular toy vendors.
Currently, Toys R Us operates a 20,000-sqare-foot flagship store at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey. That store opened in 2021, marking the toy giant’s return in the U.S. after WHP acquired the company in March of that year. The toy giant had previously shut down all of its brick-and-mortar operations in the U.S., the last stores closing by January 2021, after filing for bankruptcy in 2017.
WHP continued to resurrect the brand by launching 452 Toys R Us shop-in-shops inside every Macy's store nationwide in 2022.
In late September, WHP unveiled its partnership with Go! Retail Group along with big plans to bring the toy brand to new places and industries, including the travel industry with retail experiences for airports and cruise ships. WHP plans to roll out as many as 24 Toys R Us flagship stores across the U.S. through 2024 as well as around the globe.
Go! Retail Group operates a fleet of pop-up stores spanning seven countries and is an independently owned toy and game retailer in the U.S. It owns, operates or manages a slew of flagship year-round stores, in-house brands and e-commerce websites, including Calendars.com, Go! Toys & Games, Snoozimals and Calendar Club in Canada, the U.K. and Australia.
"After the success we've experienced with our first flagship at American Dream and shops inside Macy's, bringing Toys R Us to Mall of America was a must,” Jamie Uitdenhowen, executive vice president of Toys R Us at WHP Global, said in the release. “There is the perfect mix of entertainment and retail that makes it a highly trafficked go-to-destination for families year-round.”
For more than 70 years, Toys R Us has been a global leader in the toy category. The brand generates more than $2 billion in global retail sales annually through 1,400 stores and e-commerce businesses in 31 countries, per the company.
Toys R Us is also pushing forward plans to grow its physical footprint internationally this year and next. Over the summer, WHP formed a partnership between British retailer WHSmith and Toys R Us ANZ Ltd. to open Toys R Us shops inside nine WHSmith “high street” stores across the U.K.
In addition, Toys R Us Canada parent company Putman Investments in September unveiled plans to open eight 25,000-square-foot Toys R Us stores and two 24,000-square-foot standalone Babies R Us Canada locations across the country ahead of the holiday season.