Toys "R" Us: How Wall Street Killed America's Biggest Toy Store

On March 23, 2018, every Toys "R" Us store in America began its closing sale. The day before, its founder Charles Lazarus had died, aged 94. This is the story of how a man who sold cribs in his father's bicycle shop built America's biggest toy store, how it survived a bankruptcy, Walmart and a bad deal with Amazon, and why it could not survive the 2005 buyout that left it paying about $400 million a year on its debt. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: the last day 0:52 Chapter 1: The Crib Seller 2:05 Chapter 2: The Toy Supermarket 4:15 Chapter 3: The Giant Gets Squeezed 5:56 Chapter 4: The Buyout 7:01 Chapter 5: The Debt Trap 8:29 Chapter 6: Game Over NOTE Nobody in this story was charged with a crime. Numbers about the 2005 leveraged buyout come from company filings and reporting (Bloomberg, AP, CBS News); opinions about what caused the collapse are attributed to analysts and critics. SOURCES Wikipedia articles on Toys "R" Us, Charles Lazarus, Geoffrey the Giraffe, Babies "R" Us, KKR and Bain Capital (with their cited sources); FundingUniverse company history of Toys "R" Us; Bloomberg Law ("Toys 'R' Us wipeout"); CBS MoneyWatch (Toys "R" Us workers and severance, 2018); AP (KKR and Bain $20 million fund for workers, Nov 2018); Private Equity Stakeholder Project. HOW THIS VIDEO WAS MADE Script, research, voice direction, editing, graphics, depth and motion effects are our own work. Some scenes are AI-generated illustrations (recreations, not real photos); no free photo of Charles Lazarus exists, so he is only shown from behind, never with an invented face. The narration voice is AI-generated (ElevenLabs). PHOTO CREDITS (Wikimedia Commons) Abandoned Toys ‘R’ Us in Monroe LA 01: Timothy Holdiness (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... 20190603 140857 Babies R Us and Toys R Us: Gayest Frogs (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Bain Capital Logo: Bain Capital (Public domain), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Official portrait of President George H W Bush January 1992: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum (Public domain), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us CrossIron Mills: Rowanlovescars (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..."R"_Us_and_Babies_"R"_Us_CrossIron_Mills.jpg Toys "R" Us Store Closing 05: Talor Berthelson (CC BY 2.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..."R"_Us_Store_Closing_05.jpg Toys R Us Modesto Closing: TaurusEmerald (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us Store Closing 02: Talor Berthelson (CC BY 2.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..."R"_Us_Store_Closing_02.jpg Toys R Us Hialeah Florida Closing Sale (26581532387): Phillip Pessar from Miami, USA (CC BY 2.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Geoffrey the Giraffe (1965): Toys “R” Us (Public domain), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... US Navy 060611-N-8544C-037 Toys R' Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe entertains family and friends during the homecoming ceremony for the guided missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69): U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Susan Cornell (Public domain), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys“R”Us Yokkaichi: EVandRailway (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Kohlberg Kravis Roberts logo as of 2009: Unknown authorUnknown author / Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (Public domain), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys R Us department in Macy's Center City Philadelphia: Keizers (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Early Toys R Us in 1966 at 1466 Rockville Pike: ? (Public domain), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Toys "R" Us Times Square 2005 A: Joris van Rooden (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..."R"_Us_Times_Square_2005_A.jpg Toys "R" Us Times Square 2005 B: Joris van Rooden (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..."R"_Us_Times_Square_2005_B.jpg Toys "R" Us Times Square 2005 C: Joris van Rooden (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..."R"_Us_Times_Square_2005_C.jpg Toys "R" Us Store Closing 06: Talor Berthelson (CC BY 2.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...