Major toy retailer, KB Toys, going out of business

I've seen this coming for years. I live in Canada where most toy-only stores went belly up years ago.

Mkall wrote:I've seen this coming for years. I live in Canada where most toy-only stores went belly up years ago.

I saw it coming too since they closed the last local store last year. I can't say I'll miss them too badly.

They've been swirling for a while, it was only a matter of time.

Doesn't surprise me either... even here in in KB's home state the stores are pretty paltry and lacking in decent offerings compared to even WalMart's toy section.

Still a damn shame, though, for personal reasons... I grew up in Pittsfield, and ever since G.E. moved out and took most of the non-service jobs with it, the city's started going to pot - having yet another major company leaving is going to be another blow. I think my best friend's mom is still working at KB's HQ as well, which means she'll be out of a job soon. :-/

They're blaming the economy? They were closing stores last year BEFORE we officially went into a recession in the states. 50 of them if I remember right, including the one in my town.

Their selection was terrible, their prices 5-10% more than most other places in town when they had a current selection.

I'm thinking it has little to do with the economy and more to do with past business practices.

No surprise here. They were always sub-par, even when times were relatively good. Too bad their bad business practices mean job losses for some good people.

I'm not surprised. They usually sell only toys that no one wanted for more than what they originally wanted in retail stores. That's why no one ever wanted to buy anything from them.

I did retail in KB in the Phoenix and East Valley area 3 years ago and the customer flow then was weak even then. Heck I've had stores that struggled to sell our product, and that was when people didn't overmotgage thier souls in order to move into thier dream home.

Well like everyone is saying, its only a matter of time, before KB's would succumb to this!, but i was told that if it wasn't for KB's the StarWars and Transformers toy line wouldn't been around or made through the late 80's to the 90's. But Kb's had stuff that no one else did and at the same time were higher in price!! good with the bad i guess! bye bye KB's Toys!!

The store at my mall just closed about 3-4 months ago. I used to shop there to check out the transformers, as well as when i was younger. it sucks.

Jeysie wrote:Doesn't surprise me either... even here in in KB's home state the stores are pretty paltry and lacking in decent offerings compared to even WalMart's toy section.

Still a damn shame, though, for personal reasons... I grew up in Pittsfield, and ever since G.E. moved out and took most of the non-service jobs with it, the city's started going to pot - having yet another major company leaving is going to be another blow. I think my best friend's mom is still working at KB's HQ as well, which means she'll be out of a job soon. :-/

My wife was born and raised in Adams, not too far from you there.

That tends to be the problem with specialty toy stores. Their prices are just unreasonably higher than anywhere else.

So why buy a 10 dollar toy for 13 or 15 when you can get it for 10 a block down at Wal-Mart.

Specialty Toy Stores need to give people something they can't find at Wal-mart and that likely should be either an exclusive, or good help in finding the figure you want. Its the only way to actually justify the higher price, And make people want to shop there.

Otherwise, they are really swimming against the current and in times like these if you can save 2 or 3 bucks on something well...

Sorry to see KB go, but even Toys R' Us has better deals, and even they have closed down several stores.

Yeah There prices where way to expensive compared to the places like walmart,target and toy r us just name a few. They had shutdown most of the stores here in washington state a couple of years ago.

I only buy from them as a last resort. Everything is WAY overpriced. If they drop their prices, I might make some purchases because they do have tons of the old Universe line.

I knew this was going to happen eventually. There was no way they could compete with the other stores with there prices. I will miss em though. Ive been going o KB for damn near my entire life.

and to top it all off woolworths in the uk has gone into administration and going through a closinfg down sale atm.

woolworths used to be really good for toys and was were i bought my first transformer (first aid) with my own money.
my local woolies had a shelf full of movie megatron legends going for £1.20 each last night but nothing else all the good tf stuff must of been sold first.

that is sad kb was the only store that had movie bumblebee in when no other store had him yet i seen it coming as well but i didnt think it would be that many i expected select few not the entire chain the one at my mall still making business they have animated, movie, univese figures there there a littel late getting them but i know when no one has wht im loking for i can count on kb to get what im looking for.

GOOD RIDANCE...LEAVES ROOM FOR MORE EXCLUSIVES AT WAL-MART AND TARGET WHICH ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM ME ANYWAY. PLUS A BIT CHEAPER...

They were nowhere near my first stop for Transformers but I definitely did buy some things there. They tended to get some cool things that others didn't. I'll have to stop by and pick up a few things before my local one closes, not just for sale purposes but also for nostalgia. They were the only real place to buy toys in my local mall growing up, unless I could convince my mom to drive me to Toys R' Us.

Rated X wrote:GOOD RIDANCE...LEAVES ROOM FOR MORE EXCLUSIVES AT WAL-MART AND TARGET WHICH ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM ME ANYWAY. PLUS A BIT CHEAPER...

I kinda agree. Sad that everyone working there is out of a job given the current economy...but like you said about Wal-Mart and Target being cheaper, KB always were over-charging for stuff. Didn't mind paying 2 or 3 extra for some of the exclusives, but a case could be made that I shouldn't have to. Wal-Mart, for example, charges the same for their more recent exclusives as they do other Transformers that are at the same price-point.

Well, after they closed a third of their stores nationwide a few years back, it was pretty obvious that KB was in a downward spiral. We haven't had a KB Toys within 200 miles of me in about 5 years, so this really doesn't bother me. Their prices were outrageous, and their selection tended to suck.

When do the sales start? They have lots of stuff I'd buy at going-out-of-business prices...

That was always an expensive store anyways

The last KB toys in Memphis that I know of closed down several years ago - more than five, maybe as many as eight.

Uh...weren't they supposed to close like two years ago. It was on the news sayin they were done at the start of 2007. I don't mind much. They never have any figures, and if they do, they're like three bucks more than anywhere else.

Thought they had already closed. I seem to recall a discussion on here concerning KB, but it was a long, long time ago.

Can't quite remember the last time I actually saw, or set foot in one of their stores. The selection sucked, and towards the end in the stores I remember closing, the sales people were rather rude.

Eh, it's not the economy. I fully believe if a business fails, it has a lot to do with the business model and the people running it.

i used to like KBtoys but once i was able to buy my own transformers i stopped goin there they never had a good slection but on the bright side the did have a couple of the hard to finds like energon arcee and alternaters wheeljack but it is sad par tof it i think ois the fact that compared to walmart and target there toys were a bit over priced but thats my opinion

This sucks, but like everyone else said, it was expected. As a kid, KB's was like a mini version of Toys R Us, and it was more intimate. I remember once when the 2007 Movie was a day or two in the theaters, the first Optimus Prime Leader Class was sold out everywhere as well as Megatron's. Than, about a couple of weeks later, they opened a new KB Toys in the Dolphin Mall, and I knew they would have The Leader Class Optimus since their stock hasn't been touched by customers at all, and needless to say, I got it the minute that KB Toys opened for it's first day of operations. I also scored a Megatron Leader Class later on with dumb luck. I will miss that toy store.

- UltraMagnus2005

can't say I'l be sad to see em go never really bought much from em they always had high prices.

Well, I've only ever had one or two purchases from KB Toys, cause their prices were horrible compared to everywhere else. But now I'm going to have no reason to visit my local mall. It's all TEEN stuff and, even though I'm a teen, I could care less about all that.

I'll have to visit the one in Nashua, or even the one in Manchester. Maybe even Burlington. Anyway I go, it's gonna be a very annoying drive.

Ahhh KB, how I shall miss thy sale items.... but not your overpriced regular stuff.

It's sad to see them go but they left me a long time ago. I couldn't justify paying $5 more per figure when they were cheaper everywhere else. That and the only time they gave me a job interview they lied and said my experience with toys wasn't enough to justify a job there. I was mad, the only employees didn't know what a Transformer was the week before!

That really, really sucks.
KB is always way more stocked on a variety of things than other places like Wally mart and Target, TRU whenever I go there. sigh I guess I'll just have to contend with Internet shipping costs to get those hard-to-find items now......

Can't say I'm surprised, really. Like everyone else has already said, their prices were always higher than other stores.

Random wrote:Thought they had already closed. I seem to recall a discussion on here concerning KB, but it was a long, long time ago.

They filed for Chapter 11 in January of 2004.

It's no surprise that this is happening again. Not sorry I bought the exclusives I have from them, it's just charging $13.99... Its $4 more than the price point for deluxe class at the time... I think exclusives were more than normal deluxe figures, but only by a dollar or so...

This is acient news to me .. Every KB closed up here in my section of Jersey way back when the Alternators were just starting the second wave .. That was the only time the stores even got transformers just when they were closing up.. Before that the store was pretty much a dust collector for star wars junk, they seem to think everone loved star wars for some reason and never really got any up to date toys like transformers untill they were going out of business. Oh and they were pretty much over priced on anything good .

PrimulArchangel wrote:This is acient news to me .. Every KB closed up here in my section of Jersey way back when the Alternators were just starting the second wave ..

Must have been a while ago, then, if they closed after Alt wave 2... Know all the ones I've been to stayed open after the bankruptcy in '04. Might make an effort to get in there before they close...see if I can find anything worth buying. (Not gonna hold my breath for Darth Malak, but that's only because seeing him and Revan out was roughly a year ago now, I think...)

I bought an Energon Barricade to try some kitbashing. Everything was 30% off. Which means regular price everywhere else. I'll go back when everything is 60% off.

30% off makes deluxes $9 and voyagers $17, at least at the one I went to. That's cheaper than other places, so I'd check it out.