Toys R Us gift cards good only for the next 30 days

When Toys R Us initially announced it was filling for bankruptcy protection a year ago, the Asian venture said it was not affected and operated as a separate legal entity independent of other Toys R Us businesses around the world.

Toys R Us says it will close or sell all its stores in the U.S. in a matter of months. After filing for bankruptcy in September, we can't say we didn't kind of see this coming.

FAO is now mainly selling toys online, but the company plans to open a new store in New York City's Rockefeller Center in time for this year's holiday season.

The retailer is also hoping to find a buyer for its website, as well as some of its more successful US locations.

The 70-year-old retailer is headed toward shuttering its US operations, jeopardizing the jobs of some 30,000 employees while spelling the end for a chain known to generations of children and parents for its sprawling stores and Geoffrey the giraffe mascot.

Usually, bankrupt companies are not required to honor gift cards, but through the Chapter 11 process, Toys R Us has accepted the cards, and will continue to do so for existing gift cards for the next 30 days.

Toys R Us also singled out Target as part of a triumvirate of retailers that contributed most to its declining sales. The company is already closing its businesses in the United Kingdom.

But even struggling retailer JCPenney is making a bigger bet on toys lately, opening up specialty shops past year for toys made by Hasbro, Mattel, Lego and other leading brands. And Sharper Image, which also shut its stores, now sells gadgets online and opened a NY pop-up shop during the holidays a year ago.

"There is no toy business without Toys R Us", Larian said, noting that he sold his first product to the chain in 1979.

Amazon is winning over people ditching stores to shop online for toys - in December 2016, 14.7% of parents with children under 9 said they went online to purchase toys, versus 7.3% in 2011, a report by Coresight Research found. FAO Schwarz, which Toys R Us once owned, is opening shops inside department stores in the USA and China.

The retail landscape was shifting underneath Toys R Us' feet, and the combination of increased competition and lack of maneuverability helped lead to its current situation.

Toys R Us then launched a turnaround plan that ended with the chain seeking buyers.

Smaller toy companies will likely feel the effects greater than the larger ones. There were reports earlier this week that Toys R Us had stopped paying its suppliers, which include the country's largest toy makers.

"I am looking for these magnetic triangles that my granddaughter plays with and she really loves them", Ed Leonard said. She assumes that even after stores close, toysrus.com will be up and running for quite some time.