Toys R Us appears to have quietly relaunched as 'Geoffrey's Toy Box' with pop-ups in grocery stores
- Toys R Us' controlling interests decided in early October not to auction off all of its assets. Instead, it reorganized its intellectual property into a holding company called Geoffrey, LLC.
- Details were scarce at the time of that announcement, but it revealed at an industry event later in the month that it would launch a new retail brand for pop-up stores in stores, called Geoffrey's Toy Box, the New York Post reported.
- Displays with the new brand have apparently popped up in Kroger and Fred Meyer stores, according to shoppers posting on social media.
Geoffrey has risen from the grave.
The company formerly known as Toy R Us announced in early October that it had cancelled an auction to sell off all of its assets. Instead, its controlling interests reorganized as Geoffrey, LLC and later announced during a toy-industry event that it would launch a new retail brand for in-store pop-ups, called Geoffrey's Toy Box, the New York Post reported.
Details were scarce at the time, but displays with the new brand have recently popped up in Kroger stores and subsidiary Fred Meyer, according to shoppers posting on social media. Winsight Grocery was first to report on the apparent partnership.
According to its October 2 press release, Geoffrey, LLC still owns the rights to Toys R Us' giraffe mascot, Geoffrey, and the defunct retailer's 20 proprietary toy brands, including Imaginarium, Koala Baby, Fastlane, and Journey Girls. It also owns the right to use the Toys R Us and Babies R Us brand names globally, except in Canada.
Geoffrey's Toy Box makes use of this by incorporating Geoffrey as well as the classic style of the Toys R Us bubble logo.
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Details on the plans for the roll-out of the pop-up stores-within-a-store are currently scarce.
Instagram user @exclusivebenji told Business Insider he spotted the displays in a Fred Meyer store in Lacey, Washington. Fred Meyer is a subsidiary of Kroger.
Other social media users have posted about seing the displays in Kroger stores.
Geoffrey, LLC and Kroger did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
The future of Toys R Us' brand has been in doubt since it filed a motion to liquidate its US business earlier this year.
In a press release announcing the formation of the new company, Geoffrey, LLC said: "The new owners are actively working with potential partners to develop ideas for new Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores in the United States and abroad that could bring back these iconic brands in a new and re-imagined way."
