Kind of?
Basically, I believe that the Australian division of Toys-R-Us is the one planning a return to the UK, as they own the rights to the chain over there and run it independently following the model of the original, since the parent company went bust. Effectively this means that Toys R Us Australia is kind of a successor to the parent chain, and as such runs their chain similar to how the original was managed, as far as I know. Therefore, were they to re-open here, it would probably resemble the Toys R Us we remember, as the Australian division appears to be using the old model.
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/202...gic-brits/
That said, this article indicates, at least initially, Toys R Us UK will be an online-only store, followed by a 'hybrid retail offering', whatever the heck that meansĀ
Ā Given Smyths has proven physical superstores do still have a market, we can assume maybe some superstores will return, but perhaps less of them than previously.
Because there is no Toys R Us UK anymore, in theory the Australian division is in the clear to return the chain verbatim [exactly as per the original chain in design and format] to the UK, as the Australian chain appears to be/have been a mirror-image of the old US chain, much as the UK version used to be, and because Toys R Us USA no longer has any presence in the UK division, there would be no issues regarding who owns the rights to the UK chain or the rights to re-open Toys R Us in the UK, as presently, nobody does, because there isn't one - Smyths is like Toys R Us, but that's where the connections end, other than their purchase of a significant portion of Continental Europe's Toys R Us chain to rebrand as Smyths.
Incidentally, Smyths is peculiar in that they don't so much have a private-label set of brands, but they are the exclusive supplier of a number of brands, including some generic toylines which I suppose one could say are their equivalent to own-brand/private-label; None are branded as 'Smyths' though, and the only way to find any connection to them with the product is to check the manufacturer's label, which invariably reads 'Imported by Smyths Toys' with no indication of the original manufacturer in most cases. Additionally, they do stock a range of exclusive products that aren't avaliable anywhere else, from name brand toylines, so in many respects they have copied the model of Toys R Us, although these 'exclusives' are sometimes avaliable online from other sellers; Smyths exclusivity seems to be high-street only.
So, on the whole, it's anyone's guess as to what form the new Toys R Us will take, but if Smyths is a good example, then I believe that Toys R Us may eventually return in the superstore format we all once knew; How long that may take, however, is up for debate.
As it happens, I might be going to a Smyths branch later, so i'll get some pictures if I can and you guys can see exactly what i'm talking about, but yeah, it's fair to say at least for now, Smyths is basically our Toys R Us. Expect pictures of the doll aisle at the very least, since there's no Plarail aisle [boo hiss] and that's what i'm going there to look at lolĀ
Basically, I believe that the Australian division of Toys-R-Us is the one planning a return to the UK, as they own the rights to the chain over there and run it independently following the model of the original, since the parent company went bust. Effectively this means that Toys R Us Australia is kind of a successor to the parent chain, and as such runs their chain similar to how the original was managed, as far as I know. Therefore, were they to re-open here, it would probably resemble the Toys R Us we remember, as the Australian division appears to be using the old model.
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/202...gic-brits/
That said, this article indicates, at least initially, Toys R Us UK will be an online-only store, followed by a 'hybrid retail offering', whatever the heck that meansĀ
Ā Given Smyths has proven physical superstores do still have a market, we can assume maybe some superstores will return, but perhaps less of them than previously.Because there is no Toys R Us UK anymore, in theory the Australian division is in the clear to return the chain verbatim [exactly as per the original chain in design and format] to the UK, as the Australian chain appears to be/have been a mirror-image of the old US chain, much as the UK version used to be, and because Toys R Us USA no longer has any presence in the UK division, there would be no issues regarding who owns the rights to the UK chain or the rights to re-open Toys R Us in the UK, as presently, nobody does, because there isn't one - Smyths is like Toys R Us, but that's where the connections end, other than their purchase of a significant portion of Continental Europe's Toys R Us chain to rebrand as Smyths.
Incidentally, Smyths is peculiar in that they don't so much have a private-label set of brands, but they are the exclusive supplier of a number of brands, including some generic toylines which I suppose one could say are their equivalent to own-brand/private-label; None are branded as 'Smyths' though, and the only way to find any connection to them with the product is to check the manufacturer's label, which invariably reads 'Imported by Smyths Toys' with no indication of the original manufacturer in most cases. Additionally, they do stock a range of exclusive products that aren't avaliable anywhere else, from name brand toylines, so in many respects they have copied the model of Toys R Us, although these 'exclusives' are sometimes avaliable online from other sellers; Smyths exclusivity seems to be high-street only.
So, on the whole, it's anyone's guess as to what form the new Toys R Us will take, but if Smyths is a good example, then I believe that Toys R Us may eventually return in the superstore format we all once knew; How long that may take, however, is up for debate.
As it happens, I might be going to a Smyths branch later, so i'll get some pictures if I can and you guys can see exactly what i'm talking about, but yeah, it's fair to say at least for now, Smyths is basically our Toys R Us. Expect pictures of the doll aisle at the very least, since there's no Plarail aisle [boo hiss] and that's what i'm going there to look at lolĀ
Been building Plarail worlds since 2001; Building when I can in 2023 
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