Word: r
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...many retail analysts, the Toys "R" Us tweak makes a ton of sense. After all, if Wal-Mart and the Targets of the world can sell toys, why shouldn't Toys "R" Us sell food and paper towels? "Sometimes the fence swings both ways," says Marshall Cohen, an analyst at the NPD Group. Consumers are willing to pay for convenience, say the experts, especially when grabbing items that they really need. "Is it a good idea? It's the only idea," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail consultancy and investment bank. "Mothers are going to the store...
...Over the past few weeks, Toys "R" Us has been quietly testing the "R" Market in select stores across the country. Sales "are running ahead of where we expected," says Storch. However, customers at the Toys "R" Us in Phillipsburg, a town that sits on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border, were for the most part unimpressed. Over the course of two hours on a Friday afternoon, only a handful of customers even wandered over to the "R" Market, which had been open for about two weeks. Granted, the store wasn't exactly packed in the toy aisles either...
...weren't customers shopping for snacks at Toys "R" Us? First of all, some mothers simply refuse to torture their children. Think about it: you're a kid. You take a trip to heaven, a.k.a. Toys "R" Us, once every two months or so. And with all those bikes, trains and video games surrounding you, Mom brings you to the Clorox aisle? Talk about temper-tantrum central. "As you can see, he doesn't want to be here," says Jennifer Meade, whose 7-year-old son Logan is fiddling with a Nerf Blaster in a shopping cart, looking like...
...other major challenge facing the "R" Market: prices. Like many Toys "R" Us stores, the Phillipsburg outlet is dangerously close to a Wal-Mart - in this case, only a two-minute walk away, in the same shopping plaza. Sure, it's convenient to one-stop shop at Toys "R" Us. But after glancing at the prices - the Stauffer's Whales snacks, juice boxes and bottled water are all cheaper at Wal-Mart - Meade said she'd get that stuff there...
...Phillipsburg, Toys "R" Us is more price competitive with Wal-Mart on diapers and baby formula. But an 8.9-oz. box of Cheerios at the Phillipsburg Toys "R" Us cost $3.49. At the Phillipsburg Wal-Mart, you get 21.06 ounces for $3.98. At Toys "R" Us, a 52-load container of Tide with Febreze costs $16.49. At Wal-Mart, you get 78 loads for $19.97. Not a huge difference, but cash-strapped consumers are searching for every kind of bargain these days...