Toys R Us Returns With 120 New Holiday Stores

If you reached adulthood in the 80s or 90s, you likely know Toys R Us. That international retailer featured a talking giraffe mascot and sang a jingle so catchy it stuck in your head forever. The lyrics promised a dream: "I don't wanna grow up, I wanna be a Toys R Us kid."

The reality was different. We did grow up. About ten years ago, millennials stopped buying toys as the primary demographic, which sealed the fate of that giant store chain. Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and shut down every single location by 2018.

Then, recently, a surprise occurred. The brand began reappearing, first inside big department stores like Macy's, then slowly opening its own shops in malls and airports again. Now, the company plans to launch 120 new locations this holiday season, bringing the total count of standalone U.S. stores up to 160.

Wait a minute. Did you catch that last detail? The headline claims toy sales are surging among adult shoppers. Does that mean dozens of people in their 30s and 40s are wandering the aisles, shoving children aside just to grab the final Funko Pop figure? That sounds miserable, right?

Probably not. It is more likely a group of older millennials with kids of their own passing their love for games down to the next generation. I knew it immediately. Yep, I figured that out too.

It seems Toys R Us is only reopening because 90s kids who are now old enough to be parents took those lyrics way too literally. I know you want to be a kid forever, but if you are 36 years old, it is time to let someone younger try the LEGO Star Wars set first.

I do not know what my generation has with arrested development, but we seem allergic to acting our age. Listen, I am not saying you cannot keep hobbies from when you were 13. Hell, I still jump on the Xbox to vent steam or watch TV shows from my youth.

However, I have rarely spent large portions of my salary on toys and video games as an adult. I donated all my Pokemon cards to children at the summer camp where I worked during college. If I bought a toy in the last two years, it was for my son. That is the troubling part of these numbers.

Instead of passing the torch for kid hobbies, millennials are hoarding them for themselves. Nostalgia is powerful, something I write about often, but there is a thin line between honoring the past and refusing to live in the present. It is fun to see my son's eyes light up when he opens a Spider-Man figure or a Bluey plush toy. I cannot imagine someone with a beard and a car payment feeling that same joy from those items.

Everything feels strange and slightly dystopian if it goes beyond that. I will be happy to take my son to Toys R Us when one opens nearby, just as my father did for me. But the happiness will be vicarious. Anything more than that simply would not feel right.