Toys R Us opens 'new' kind of store, with its first US location in Garden State Plaza

Toys R Us is officially back in North Jersey.

The beloved toy brand marked an important milestone in its storied history Wednesday: its return to the retail world with the opening of its first U.S. store at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, just in time for Black Friday.

The 54-year-old brand has re-imagined the toy shopping experience for customers, said Richard Barry, chief executive of Tru Kids, which operates Toys R Us, during the space's soft launch on Thanksgiving Eve.

"Historically, Toys R Us stores were 40,000 square feet, large big-box locations," Barry said during a store preview. "What we’ve looked to do here is completely re-imagine the shopping experience and the buying experience by really embracing experiential retailing."

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At 6,000-square-feet, the new store is significantly smaller than the brand's original format. The space also offers interactive play areas, propelling the toy giant into the world of experiential retail.

The new store, located near the mall's AMC Theater, does not have the aisles of toys that traditional Toys R Us stores did. Instead, the spaces inside are more deliberate: There are four branded areas on the right side of the shop where kids can test out certain toys.

"As you walk through this store, you’ll see that at every touchpoint there’s something for kids to get their hands on," Barry said, and he rattled off the store's many experiential elements. "While we have lots of technology, one of the things that is very important to us is the fact that things are tactile."

For instance, there's a Nerf Gun area where kids can shoot at targets. In the Paw Patrol space, children can test out products at an activity table. At the Nintendo space, customers can test games, and at the Lego space kids can build a city.

The shop also features other areas for kids to test out products, like a Kinetic Sand station at the front of the store that was a big hit with kids on opening day.

Beyond toys, there are larger interactive experiences throughout the shop: Geoffrey's Tree House, which children can climb, ringing a bell at the top; a Play-A-Round Theater with the popular lyrics "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys 'R' Us Kid" plastered on its walls; and a "Magical Mirror" play pod, where kids can interact with a 3D version of Geoffrey the Giraffe. There's also a life-size version of the mascot at the store's entrance — a perfect selfie photo opp several parents and children took advantage of.

The once-dominant toy giant suffered a fall from grace two years ago.

The brand's thrust into experiential retail may be what it needs to thrive in a changing retail world that it had struggled to navigate. After a crippling 2017 holiday season, the retailer, then based in Wayne, liquidated its stores across the United States. This past February, the company resurrected itself under a new name, Tru Kids Brands, with an aggressive plan to revolutionize the iconic brand.

Tru Kids announced in July that it had partnered with a software-powered experiential retailer, called b8ta, to launch its new fleet of stores for the holiday season. The company is slated to open its second new store at Simon Property Group's The Galleria in Houston next week. 

The company has since announced other experiential and digitally driven initiatives.

Last month, it partnered with Target to relaunch ToysRUs.com — a relationship that was evident inside the Plaza store, where interactive touch screens let customers search for toys that may be available online but not in the store. The company also launched two “immersive toy wonderlands” called Toys R Us Adventure in Chicago and Atlanta.

Tru Kids said it hopes to open up to 10 of its new-concept stores over the next year, Barry said. Right now, New Jersey is the only state with such a space.

Back to its Jersey roots

The toy brand's early return to New Jersey was a deliberate decision by Tru Kids, which is now based in Parsippany. Barry said the company wanted to have one of its first stores launch in the Garden State, which he called the brand's "heartland."

"It was really important for us to be in New Jersey for one of our first stores," Barry said.

It's no coincidence that Toys R Us chose to open at the Plaza in Paramus, one of the most trafficked retail boroughs in the country, and two days before Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The buzz around the beloved toy brand's return, coupled with expected crowds this weekend, is sure to propel sales during the store's first weekend.

Before the retailer's downfall in 2017, Toys R Us had two large storefronts in Paramus, as well as dozens more across North Jersey. Richard LaBarbiera, Paramus' mayor, said during the grand unveiling Wednesday that the retailer's return was a win not only for the commercial sector, but also for locals who may have grown up with the brand.

"If you were born and raised in Paramus, you were a Toys R Us kid, like many other people throughout New Jersey and the country," LaBarbiera said. "We had two Toys R Us-es, as everybody knows, and when they left it left a huge void in our marketplace as well as our hearts. Now to see it return, it’s just a great day."

Several shoppers during the store's soft launch echoed that sentiment. For several parents, many of whom grew up going to Toys R Us with their own families, the real treat of shopping at Toys R Us was being able to pass on what they considered a family tradition to their children.

"I used to go to one when I was a kid," said Johnny Rodriguez of Paterson. "Coming here now with my own kids, it’s kind of cool."

Rodriguez was at the store with his two daughters, Averly, 9, and Valentina, 3. He said he was driving the girls when he asked them if they knew what was opening today.

"Toys R Us!" the girls quickly responded. He said his daughters' giggling and excitement motivated him to drive them to Paramus.

Inside the shop, Valentina kept handing her father toys that she wanted to take home. The two girls also were eager to test Geoffrey's Tree House and check out other elements of the shop. When asked if they'd like to come back again, they smiled before looking at their father.

"I got the hint,” Rodriguez said, laughing.

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