‘I thought they were closed’

Lisa Windsor was on her way to a different store when she learned something about the Polo Park-area Toys “R” Us location that surprised her: it’s still open.

“I thought they were closed,” she said as she left the store Friday afternoon, Spider-Man toy in hand.

“I was literally driving by to go to Party Stuff. It’s my son’s birthday today, so I thought I’d swing by and see if they had anything for his birthday.”

Windsor’s brief confusion makes sense: in January, Toys “R” Us employees put a sign up in the 1445 St. Matthews Ave., store’s front window notifying customers the longtime location would be closing. “Everything must go!” said the signage.

Last month, however, around the same time Toys “R” Us Canada Ltd. filed for creditor protection, employees took down the sign. Now, a poster in the store’s front window reads: “This store remains open for business.”

An employee told a Free Press reporter, contrary to earlier information, the store will stay open. A manager declined an interview and directed the Free Press to Toys “R” Us Canada’s head office.

The company did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

Black-and-white signs throughout the store advertise sales on nearly all merchandise, ranging in most cases from 20 per cent to 60 per cent off. It’s a sale that started at the beginning of the month and ends Sunday evening, the manager said. The store is no longer accepting gift cards.

Bryce Ross said he’s visited Toys “R” Us on St. Matthews Avenue sporadically, but the father of three has been stopping in more frequently in the last six weeks.

“I saw that it was closing, so… I’ve been coming more often because I’ve been waiting to see if there’s discounts,” said Ross, who works nearby. “Then I asked (an employee) and she said that they’re not closing anymore.”

He visited the store Friday to see if he could find any good deals on Disney movies for his daughters.

Toys “R” Us Canada announced at the beginning of February it had filed for creditor protection while it embarks on a restructuring that could see its footprint diminished or the whole business sold to new owners.

The company has closed 53 stores in the past two years, and faces a number of lawsuits from unpaid suppliers and landlords.

Started in Washington, D.C., in 1957, Toys “R” Us expanded into Canada in the 1980s. The national chain once had more than 100 stores across the country.

The U.S. parent company filed for bankruptcy in September 2017. Afterward, the Toronto-based investment firm Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. bought the chain’s Canadian assets for about $300 million.

Fairfax sold its Canadian Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us operations in August 2021 to Putman Investments for an undisclosed amount, while retaining ownership of the vast majority of its real estate. Putman also holds the Sunrise Records, HMV and Northern Reflections brands under its banner.

A number of factors have led to Toys “R” Us Canada’s current predicament, said Andrew Wagar, a Toronto-based marketing professional and board member at the Canadian Toy Association.

“Their fall, I would say, is an amalgamation of changing consumer purchasing habits, changing consumer demographics, changing consumer tastes, as well probably equally some questionable business decisions on the part of Toys ‘R’ Us,” Wagar said.

“You put all of those things in a blender and mix them together and you have Canada’s largest toy retailer bankrupt.”

Contrary to popular belief, toy sales are up around the world, Wagar said. Circana reports in 2025, toy sales in Canada exceeded $2.6 billion, a 14 per cent increase over the previous year.

Meanwhile, data collected by the association shows the number of hobby and toy store businesses in Canada has grown from 3,500 in 2020 to approximately 4,100 last year. “The toy industry in Canada is actually healthy,” Wagar said.

Toys “R” Us has a second store in Winnipeg at 1560 Regent Ave. W. An open for business sign hung in the front window on Friday. An employee said the Transcona-area store is “on a shortlist” of locations that will stay open.

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca