We visited a Babies R Us store that's about to shut down - and it was a total mess
The Babies R Us I went to in Downtown Manhattan had been set to close since January. Employees said it's expected to close by the end of the month.
Because of the upcoming closure, this location was not accepting returns or coupons.
Signs like these were hanging all over the store and were the first thing I saw when I walked in.
Absolutely everything in sight was marked down, often more than once.
Toys were especially steeply discounted, with price cuts of up to 50% off the original cost.
... and some toys had signs advertising additional markdowns. Even the displays the toys were on were for sale.
There were a lot of boxes that had never been unpacked, many of them torn or falling apart.
There were half-empty displays in the middle of the store ...
... and it only got worse as I went further back.
Many shelves only had one or two items on display, which looked like they were just there because there was no other place to put them.
As I ventured further into the store, I found entire rooms that were empty.
The boxes on display in this nearly empty room were torn and clearly had been moved around a lot. Many pieces of merchandise here were marked as the last of that product available in-store.
Hoping that the second floor wouldn't be depressing as the first, I went upstairs. These signs were at the bottom of the (broken) escalator, so my expectations were pretty low.
The signs weren't exaggerating. There were still displays up, but they were abandoned. It felt like the store had been closed for weeks already.
The entire floor looked like it had been abandoned. The only sign that the store was still open was the sight of an employee in a Babies R Us shirt, walking around the floor and playing music from his phone.
There were more massive sale signs, even though there was no merchandise.
I walked up to the third floor to find all of the store fixtures and displays for sale. It was a mess — the floor was literally falling apart, and I had to climb over merchandise to get around. The two employees on this floor were just sitting down and talking.
In the back corner of the store, there were tables covered in baby mannequins that were for sale for upwards of $75. A lot of them were damaged or being sold for parts — it was bizarre and unsettling.
The learning center was completely dark and eerie ...
... and I had to walk through a maze to get back to the escalator.
Along the way, I passed a few more empty rooms.
As I was walking to the exit, I noticed that even the soda and small merchandise by the register were on sale. There was no line and very few people working. The store looked like it could close any minute now, and it showed what the future may hold for the remaining Babies R Us and Toys R Us stores.
More on Toys R Us' demise:
Toys R Us reveals closing dates for liquidating stores — and clearance sales will start this week
Here's why Toys R Us couldn't be saved
Toys R Us will close or sell all of its US stores
Toys R Us is closing all its US stores — and blowout clearance sales could begin within weeks
Toys R Us gift cards will expire in 30 days
These companies will be the biggest winners when Toys R Us closes its stores
We visited one of the last Toys R Us stores to open — here's what it looked like
Toys R Us says a 'perfect storm' killed the toy chain — and it blames Amazon, Walmart, and Target
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