Toys 'R' Us: The Demise of The Toy Empire

Charles Lazarus, born on October 4, used to work in his father’s shop and he dreamed of having his own business when he grew up. Returning from World War II, he planned to start his own business. He then learned that many soldiers who also returned from World War II were still young. Their priority would be getting married, having children, and living the American dream. Learning from that condition, Lazarus then realized that there was one specific market which had not yet been touched by most businesses at that time, and that market targeted children.

Toys ‘R’ Us was one of the biggest players in toys business. Founded by Charles Lazarus back in 1957, Toys ‘R’ Us was unbeatable as it offered many different varieties of toys in a large scale with a price which could not be competed by smaller competitors. It was also proclaimed as “one of the outstanding companies in all of retailing” by Goldman Sachs in 1985 (Berfield, Ronalds-Hannon, Townsend, & Coleman-Lochner, 2018).

-