Four years after filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and three years since closing its 735 stores, the brand that Charles Lazarus started in 1957 has been raised from the dead in time for last-minute holiday shopping, the New York Times reported. Its first new store and the mall, in East Rutherford, N.J., are betting on the strength of nostalgia’s grip, hoping that a familiar retail name will attract shoppers who are increasingly accustomed to doing their buying online. Toys “R” Us is planning to follow the opening of the American Dream store with hundreds of mini locations inside Macy’s stores over the next year. Yehuda Shmidman is the chief executive officer of WHP Global, the brand acquisition and management firm that acquired a controlling stake in the parent company of Toys “R” Us in March. WHP, whose investors include Oaktree Capital Management, is one of several companies that buy struggling marquee brands and then look to capitalize on the familiarity of the brands’ names by licensing them. Its other brands include Anne Klein and Joseph Abboud. The collapse of Toys “R” Us in 2018 was painful not only to its loyal customers but also to its more than 30,000 employees, who lost their jobs. The retailer became a case study in a private equity deal gone wrong, as the company’s investors loaded it up with billions in debt and drove it into bankruptcy. While lawyers and advisers collected millions in fees during the bankruptcy process, its former workers struggled to get severance. Reminders of the brand’s tumble into bankruptcy still exist nearby. Less than a mile from American Dream, a Toys “R” Us sign remains on the display board visible to drivers on Route 3 at the Harmon Meadow shopping complex. Lauryn Dankin’s family called the closure of the local Toys “R” Us in Watchung, N.J., “one of the darkest days in our family.” Paramus also had one of the most recent locations; a smaller, “reimagined” store opened there in November 2019 only to close in January 2021. Whether good memories of shopping experiences past is enough to keep this version of Toys “R” Us going remains to be seen. “We didn’t create the brand, and we’re not changing it,” Mr. Shmidman said. “All we’re doing is bringing it back to Americans who have been yearning for it.”
