Toys R Us to Flatbush Blockbuster Location

Well that will be amazingly more convenient than the nightmare that is the Times Square store.

Kind of glad I don't live a hundred feet away from there now, though. That's going to be crazy busy.

Subject: oh yeah

The one on Flatbush and Caton? Going to be a very small Toys R Us. Might just be a back to school through X mas thing.

theyre inundating the area they are taking the old Jeans express location too right off 11 st and 5 ave

Ugh. Sorry folks, but the store is ugly and I don't want it here.
The location was...for many years...a bar and restaurant...which became seedier as the years went by. Blockbuster was ugly too. I know it is good to have a business but why Toys are Us?

not to worry they are not doing well with the market.... they should be gone before long

StoopLady wrote: I know it is good to have a business but why Toys are Us?

because they're willing to take a lease? Because it prevents it from becoming yet another Verizon-TMobile-Sprint-Realtor-Dollar-Store?

I'm not that keen on a toys-r-us either, since it has the potential of killing indy toys stores in the area. But that's commerce for you.

Carnivore wrote: [quote=squindar]I'm not that keen on a toys-r-us either, since it has the potential of killing indy toys stores in the area. But that's commerce for you.

Amazon has already done that. The only question is whether the appeal of a brick-and-mortar store with a serious inventory can beat Amazon on the local level. I'd bet no, but I'd rather see the Toys R Us there than an empty storefront.

I'm among those too lazy to order from Amazon, and am prone to impulse buys which cost more than ordering on line.

If I want a Nerf football or supersoaker, I will soon head to Flatbush.

....there are others like me.

squindar wrote: I'm not that keen on a toys-r-us either, since it has the potential of killing indy toys stores in the area. But that's commerce for you.

Well, I would call for people to give their business to Little Things and other stores in 7th and 5th avenue, and NOT to a temporary TRU which does not have any roots in the neighborhood and is out to take profits and run after the gift season is over.

To me it is a shame that they target the neighborhood with such a concept. Stores such as Little Things and others are a part of the life we lead, they contribute to make the Park Slope we like. A temporary store is exactly the contrary, it does not add anything and has the potential of destroying. It is a bald faced statement: we are here for your money, we could not care less for your neighborhood.

I know, I know, such is commerce. But still, I and everyone around here have the potential to say no to such a thing. Buy local, contribute to keep our neighborhood viable.

Is it not enough that another independent store - Prospect Park Stationers - has just closed in Flatbush and that American Apparel is not doing that great? I am afraid we are heading towards a big vacuum around the train stations in the area, a vacuum that may attract undesirable elements.

Why is everyone so sure this will just be a pop-up store for the holidays? It's August. Don't those pop-up store usually pop up in October or November? There's no particular "gift season" right now or in the near future.

Given that there is some store renovation, staff hiring and training time involved I would guess that these places might be targeting an open date on or around Labor Day.

Lowes and Home Depot and a few other large retailers these days start stocking and displaying December holidays after their big Labor Day clearance sales, and perhaps it makes more sense to pay one more month rent and salary to make sure people know they are there in the neighborhood and for marketing efforts to have maximum impact on 4Q sales.

Just a guess though.

Jeffrey.. I would make that guess along with you.
I am a "toy" customer and I do have the internet shopping habit.. especially Amazon. Amazon Prime is free shipping and I take advantage of that especially on those large and heavy weight Lego toys. If I have a child with me that I am buying toys for Little Things is my only destination. Just on the principle of hating big box stores (or even this concept of temporary medium size off shoots of Box stores) you will never find me trolling the isles of toys r us.

parksloper24,

I don't get the sense that people here are saying the big box stores are doing this to kill local businesses. In rural one-store towns, yes.

Here? No. They are just trying to cast the widest net possible in high-density areas for the 4Q that defines their entire retail year.

All folks are saying here is that this has the *result* of killing local businesses that are also depending on 4Q to drive the bulk of their annual sales.

BCODSNPKSLOPE wrote: it makes me very happy when some of these big conglomerate businesses fail .. the ones that rape a neighborhood of its small businesses and sell inferior products that are loaded with chinese lead in the red dyes etc. they drive down the quality of the merchandise and often the local wages...
Id love to see Wal Mart fail too but there are too many sheep in the country who embrace that behemoth scurge on society too

Build a better customer.

puply wrote: Is it not enough that another independent store - Prospect Park Stationers - has just closed

wow, that was a shock, but yeah, they're gone. Just walked by there tonight, signs on the roll-down gates. Thanks for 25 years of business, we're outtahere. But thinking about it, it's not a huge surprise...the times I went in there (maybe 4x/year) I seldom saw anyone else in there, and if copying was the core business, I suspect that's slowly being killed off all over the place by cheap printers & pdf's....

The Toys R Us place is stocking shelves FAST. I mean really fast. If they have employees available to staff it, I would not be surprised to see it ready for business on Monday.