The Toys “R” Us that is located in Times Square is one of the company’s most known locations in the world. It is the first stopping point for many New York locals during the holiday season while they are in search of toys for their young ones.
The location is one of the largest that the company has to offer, boasting an amazing 110,000 total square feet that is filled to the brim with toys and games. A number of attractions are also located at the Toys “R” Us Times Square.
Kids from all around the globe come to see the attractions at the location. The store is as much a theme park as it is a toy store. The “theme park” section of the store is known as The Center of the Toy Universe.
A number of rides are located inside of the store, including a sixty foot Ferris wheel. Not far from the Ferris wheel is a life sized T-Rex dinosaur that features a number of yells and roars that are supposedly what a dinosaur would have sounded like. One of the biggest attractions inside of the store is the life-sized 4,000 square foot Barbie dollhouse. The house looks like a dollhouse that you might give your daughter for Christmas, and is filled with all of the small pieces of furniture and games that they might choose to decorate the house with.
The location has toys for children of all ages, including a section for babies. Toys “R” Us Times Square even has items for teenagers, including video games systems and other electronics that are hot with high school aged kids today.
The Toys “R” Us company first started as Children’s Supermart in 1948. At the time, it was nothing more than furniture for babies. Not long after the store first opened and gained popularity with the locals, many began requesting that the store offer baby toys as well, which eventually spurred the creation of the toy store that we know today.
Most of the original stores have gone through some sort of renovation since they first opened their doors. You may remember that the original design of most Toys “R” Us stores featured a brown roof, with a rainbow over the logo. This design quickly fell out of favor with the general public, and although a few of the original “brown roof” stores still exist, a vast majority of them have been painted or renovated to look more up to date with customer expectations.
The company was forced to close 87 of their stores throughout the United States on January 9th, 2006, which led to the elimination of more than 4,500 jobs.
The Toys “R” Us that is located in Times Square is their most popular location in terms of visitors per year. The location has become a stop for locals, sightseers and tourists alike since it first opened.
