Rad History 23. Toys "R" Us
Dec 12, 2025
Dive into the nostalgic world of a beloved childhood retail giant. Explore the sensory joy of visiting Toys R Us and how it redefined retail with its supermarket model. Discover the rise of its iconic branding, including Jeffrey the giraffe and the catchy jingle. Learn about its downfall due to fierce competition and a failed e-commerce strategy. Finally, witness how the brand tries to reclaim its legacy with new partnerships and pop-up stores while reflecting on the love lost for toys.
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The Jingle That Stuck
- The jingle and Jeffrey the giraffe turned warehouse stores into magical places for kids and a mass-market brand identity.
- Brian plays a 1990s version of the jingle to show how it embedded the store in childhood memory.
Discounters Ate Toy Margin
- The first big threat came from discount chains using toys as traffic builders, not from the internet.
- Walmart and Target undercut prices while profiting elsewhere, squeezing Toys R Us's margins.
The Christmas 1999 Fiasco
- Toys R Us's 1999 holiday website failure left thousands without promised deliveries and damaged trust.
- Instead of building e-commerce infrastructure, the company outsourced online sales to Amazon in 2000.
