The giraffe is back : Macy's to open Toys R Us shops inside Chicago flagship, elsewhere

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Chicago will see a bricks-and-mortar Toys R Us store on State Street this year, after Macy's announced it will launch in-store Toys R Us shops in all of its U.S. retail locations over the next several months.

Since last August, Macy's has sold Toys R Us products exclusively online, the company said in a news release Monday.

The new "in-store shops" will open between late July and mid-October. They'll range from 1,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet in flagship locations, including at the Macy's in the historic Marshall Field and Co. Building on State Street in the Loop.

"We hope Toys 'R' Us kids of all ages discover the joy of exploration and play within our shops and families create special memories together," said Nata Dvir, Macy's chief merchandising officer, in a statement.

"The customer response to our partnership with Toys 'R' Us has been incredible and our toy business has seen tremendous growth."

Stores will include "hands-on demonstration tables for customers to interact with various toy assortments," the company said. Flexible footprints will allow Macy's to expand the stores during the holiday season.

Macy's has more than 400 department stores, 14 of which are in the Chicago area.

The Toys R Us shops are not Macy's first pass at the store-within-a-store concept. The company first brought its off-price Backstage concept to the Chicago area in 2018. And in April, Macy's opened its first city Backstage in the Marshall Field building on State Street.

Kohl's has its own in-store Sephora shops, saying earlier this year it expected to roll out the small-format shops at 850 stores by 2023. Target's in-store makeup partnership is with Ulta; the company launched its "shop-in-shops" last year and said in February it planned to add more than 250 shops to Target stores this year.

Toys R Us sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2017 and announced plans the following year to shutter its more than 700 remaining U.S. stores, including 31 in Illinois.

At the time, the retailer still accounted for between 15% and 20% of the U.S. toy market.

The company attempted to open two U.S. bricks-and-mortar stores in 2019, one in New Jersey and one in Houston, but both closed last year. The company continued to sell toys online.

Shortly after Toys R Us closed the two stores, New York-based brand management firm WHP Global took a controlling stake in Toys R Us parent company Tru Kids. Macy's now sells Toys R Us products as part of a partnership with WHP Global.

In 2019, Toys R Us opened a pop-up exhibit it called Toys R Us Adventure in a former Topshop store on North Michigan Avenue.