Goodbye, Geoffrey.
With Toys”R”Us closing its doors soon, the magic that once lived within its walls will be gone. I understand why they have to go, but much like that childhood friend that has to move away, I wish they weren’t going. I’ll miss them. I believe generations will miss them. I know we’ve become an online shopping community…so time has passed Toys”R”Us by, but they were special. I stopped by Toys”R”Us today with my boys likely for the last time. To shop their going out of business sales…but also to say goodbye. At least my 8 year olds got to be Toys”R”Us kids for a while.
When I was a kid, the box stores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart had toy aisles, sure…but walking into Toys”R”Us for the first time was so much more than 4-5 toy aisles. A whole place devoted to toys and fun for children was a dream come true. It was the toy aisles of the box stores combined with the small toy stores like K&K or KB Toys and still more! It was a mecca for children.
We didn’t have a Toys”R”Us near me when I was growing up until I was 12. By then, the magic of toys had begun to wane for me, but when I first walked into a Toys”R”Us at 12…even then, I was overwhelmed by the magic. It made me wish the store had been there sooner, but I still walked up and down every single aisle looking for something on which to spend my hard-earned, saved-up allowance.
When I took my twin boys there, the magic swept over them too. Each and every time. They loved it as much as I had, and I loved taking them. We’d run aisle to aisle, excited to find what the next set of toys had to offer. Allowances were spent…including mine. My boys even joined Geoffrey’s birthday club, got the book about Geoffrey’s life, a Geoffrey stuffed animal each, and paraded around the store with the giant mascot himself!
So, now that e-commerce giants like Amazon have put the toy chain out of business, it just won’t be the same. You can’t enter Amazon and be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of EVERY toy at once…you search on a website. You search or browse for what you want. You can sort of go from topic to topic to look through…but it isn’t the same as walking aisles with wonder and imagination and wishes. My sons got to be Toys”R”Us kids for almost 9 years, but I’m sad for the kids that won’t get to be. Sure, they’ll still get their toys…but they won’t get the experience.
For those of us that did get the experience and cherished it…thank you. Thank you for the memories. We will never grow up, we will always be Toys”R”Us kids! So, goodbye, Geoffrey. You will be missed.