Toys ‘R’ Us eyes Japan exit, sale of business to Don Quijote operator
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Toys “R” Us Japan has been losing money in recent years, official gazettes show.
PHOTO: TOYSRUS_JP/X
- Toys ‘R’ Us plans to exit the Japanese market by selling its business to Pan Pacific International Holdings, the operator of Don Quijote discount stores.
- The Japan subsidiary, with about 150 stores and 6,000 employees, has been losing money amid declining birth rates and a shift to online shopping.
- Toys ‘R’ Us Japan began operations in 1991 and continues despite the US parent company's 2017 bankruptcy; Don Quijote operator has declined to comment.
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TOKYO – Major toy retailer Toys “R” Us plans to withdraw from store operations in Japan and sell its business to the company behind the Don Quijote discount store chain, a person familiar with the matter said on Sept 29.
Toys “R” Us Japan has been losing money in recent years, official gazettes show.
Amid a declining birth rate, Japan has been facing shifting demographics with fewer children, while consumers increasingly take to online shopping.
The Japan subsidiary, which has about 150 stores in the country, is owned by Toys “R” Us Asia and employs about 6,000 people, including part-timers, according to its website.
The first Toys “R” Us store opened in Japan in 1991.
The original US operator that launched the iconic toy store in 1948 filed for bankruptcy protection in 2017, while Toys “R” Us Japan, based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture, continued Japan operations.
Don Quijote operator Pan Pacific International Holdings declined to comment on the matter. KYODO NEWS