- Toys R Us liquidation sales will start as soon as Thursday in some locations, according to employees.
- The company has notified workers that stores and warehouses in several states will shut down by May 14, government filings show.
- “The company is now moving forward to liquidate all of its US operations and close all of its retail locations in the US,” Toys R Us said in a letter, dated March 15, that was delivered by FedEx to Toys R Us employees.
Toys R Us is preparing to close all of its stores, and liquidation sales will start as soon as Thursday in some locations.
The company has notified workers that stores and warehouses in several states, including Wisconsin, New Jersey, Missouri, Hawaii, and Georgia, will shut down by May 14, according to WARN Act filings reviewed by Business Insider.
The WARN Act, or Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, requires companies with 100 or more employees to provide advance notice of mass layoffs.
Liquidation sales at some of the affected stores will start as soon as Thursday, according to Toys R Us store employees who were reached by phone on Monday. One employee told Business Insider that stores were told they would close as soon as all of the merchandise was sold.
In a letter dated March 15, which was delivered by FedEx to some of Toys R Us’ 31,000 employees, Toys R Us said financing requirements and “disappointing” holiday sales in the US and Europe “presented challenges that the company could not overcome.”
“The company is now moving forward to liquidate all of its US operations and close all of its retail locations in the US,” the letter states. “Based on the best available information, the company believes that your employment will be terminated on May 14, 2018.”
The letter states that employees will be paid through May 14 but will not receive severance.
Toys R Us declined to comment on specific dates for store closures and sales.
The company is hoping to find a buyer for its Canadian business and 200 of its most profitable US stores. The fate of Toys R Us could be decided during a bankruptcy hearing on Tuesday in Richmond, Virginia.
More on Toys R Us’ demise:
- Toys R Us will close or sell all of its US stores
- Toys R Us is closing all its US stores — and blowout clearance sales could begin within weeks
- Toys R Us gift cards will expire in 30 days
- Toys R Us says a ‘perfect storm’ killed the toy chain — and it blames Amazon, Walmart, and Target
- These companies will be the biggest winners when Toys R Us closes its stores
- We visited one of the last Toys R Us stores to open — here’s what it looked like
- Toys R Us stores are slashing prices on Apple products as the toy giant prepares to shutter or sell all 735 locations across the US