RECORD STORE TALES #1119: The Olde Toys R Us Store Sure Has Changed…
Where Toys R Us stands today in Kitchener Ontario, there once was a drive-in movie theater. That was torn down in the early 1980s, and the mighty Toys R Us was raised. There it has loomed heavy over Fairview Mall across the street, for four decades, beckoning children with aisles and aisles of Star Wars toys, then replaced by GI Joe figures and Transformers. It was impossible to enter Toys R Us without finding something you wanted. It has ebbed and waned since then, now stuffed with unwanted and overpriced 6″ figures and Super 7 cards.
“At least we still have a Toys R Us,” we say. “Mastermind Toys is closing, and Walmart sucks. Now let’s go check out the vinyl at the Toys R Us store.”
Full stop. What? Vinyl at Toys R Us?
In another attempt to stay relevant as Hasbro drives their prices up and quality down, creating shelfwarming superheroes and Sith lords, Toys R Us is now stocking vinyl at their Kitchener location.
Last time I visited there, about a month ago, they were in the process of re-organizing. Where the Lego and Hasbro products were, was becoming a book section. Interesting! Book stores haven’t done well in the area, with the short-lived Booksmarts closing a decade ago, across Wilson Ave from TRU. Still, we must applaud any attempts to get kids reading books. I didn’t have a look at the book section myself; nothing caught my eye. What did catch my view was the familiar shape of white bins containing shrink-wrapped packages, 12″ by 12″. Each one was different, boasting vibrant artwork.
They were not calendars. They were records. Vinyl had come to Toys R Us.
The first one I noticed was Prequelle by Ghost. $25. Not bad. I picked it up in my eager hands.
I considered buying Ghost on vinyl at that price. Oh, sure, I already own a CD copy with a lenticular cover and bonus tracks, but…vinyl, right?
I put it back. Ghost are more of a car band for me. I wouldn’t play the vinyl more than twice. Decent price though.
Thinking of the bands aching to be collected on vinyl back at home, I looked for Kiss and Iron Maiden. No Kiss; lots of The Killers though. The albums were loosely organized. Toys R Us doesn’t have a dedicated person for this section to keep things organized, and…ouch!! What’s that? A record was clumsily wedged between two rows, pulling the cover in two directions and creating an ugly crease. I put the records back in rows, but this is why you need a dedicated person when you put a record store inside a toy store.
There were some interesting finds there. Purple Rain on vinyl would be cool to have. I chuckled when I saw a Linkin Park Meteora 2.0 box set. Jen used to love Linkin Park. I bought her the Linkin Park/Jay-Z album for Christmas when we were dating.
Over to Iron Maiden. They had a decent selection – better than a lot of the local chain stores. Several albums I needed on vinyl, and even the three-LP En Vivo set. A-ha! Number of the Beast. I just got ripped off at The Beat Goes On with an overpriced copy a few weeks prior. How does Toys R Us pricing compare?
Cheaper! Four bucks cheaper! Toys R Us had The Number of the Beast four bucks cheaper than the $40 copy I bought at The Beat Goes On across the street. How can Toys R Us be beating The Beat Goes On, a dedicated music store, in prices? According to friend Kevin, the record sections are actually little HMVs. They also have one in St. Catharines.
“They really need to work on their merchandising,” said Chris Preston, who had copious notes on how to improve this situation. “No genres whatsoever,” he added. Chris also felt it was a big miss to not sell turntables or accessories with the records.
There was no signage, and the records were as much in order as you’d find at the local mall stores. There were no letter groups – A, B, C, etc. Many additional records were not displayed at all, and just shoved into a lower shelf. That’s where I found Purple Rain. They did have coloured vinyl and limited editions. It wasn’t a bad little corporate record section, if it was properly cared for.
I questioned the wisdom of placing a record section in a store primarily occupied by running and screaming pairs of hands, right around record shelf height. I dealt with this at a CD store, remember. I think they’re gambling on the nerd factor. Those people who are coming in for the newest Lego releases or collectible figures. They’re hoping those people will also stop and buy a record.
“Nerds like records too now, right?” You can imagine an executive asking that question in a boardroom, somewhere in a downtown metropolis where decisions such as these are made.
Considering three, briefly, I ended up not buying any. I considered but dismissed Prequelle, and also Somewhere In Time and Powerslave by Iron Maiden. The prices were a little high for Maiden albums that I remember being stocked at $10 or less at the downtown Sam the Record Man in 1989. Incidentally, Toys R Us had Powerslave cheaper than Amazon at the exact same time, also by about four bucks.
What does it mean when Toys R Us stores are stocking vinyl in a makeshift music section, but no other formats like CD or cassette?
I think this means we have hit peak vinyl. HMV is dumping their stock in these micro-locations, because they have too much. I’ve seen it before. We did similar things when we had too many CDs in our warehouse. The Boss Man tried moving them in bulk to a micro-location. That was one of many schemes that I remember.
I do look forward to buying at least one record at Toys R Us in the future. I’ll keep the price tag on forever, just to prove it happened.
My overpriced Beast vinyl from The Beat Goes On. I wonder how the old Boss Man feels about another chain inching in on his territory, with cheaper prices?