Last week I happened to visit Esplanade shopping mall on Ratchada and found a large Toys R Us booth at the ground floor with some nice quality toys up for sale. Being a "flagship guy", I decided to check out their flagship store yesterday, so I stepped into the large Toys R Us (ทอยส์ "อาร์" อัส) store on the 6th floor of Central World. At the entrance to the store there is a huge Geoffrey the Giraffe smiling at you with a traditional "Thai Wai". The moment I entered the store I felt like I got into a fantasy world which reminded me of my days when I was a kid. I saw colored balloons, action-hero characters, Star Wars & Masked Rider characters, teddy bears, Barbie dolls, Dress-up Sets, Role Play items, Playhouses, board games like Scrabble and Monopoly, toy guns, Rubik's Cube, DVDs, XBox, Game Boy, PlayStation, electronics gadgets, and lots of other cool stuff. It's not just a place for kids, since as an adult I found the place really amusing, as I love to spend time with electronic gadgets!
They have a digital clock that is set on a count down to July 26, 2008, and after some googling that evening I found out that on this date more than 225 of those stores will open at midnight to sell toys from the latest Star Wars film, The Clone Wars which is the first fully animated Star Wars movie that hits cinemas in the United States on August 15. Two of the retailer's flagship outlets, one in San Diego's Mission Bay and the other in New York's Times Square, will hold costume and trivia contests that night as well, and will give away limited-edition Star Wars toys with every purchase. Even McDonald's is getting involved, with its first ever Happy Meal promotion for a Star Wars movie, called the "Clone Wars Happy Meals". Each will come with a specially designed box and one of 18 exclusive toys.
Children can be totally overwhelmed by the sheer variety of the toys at the store. The store greets visitors with a colored store map that gives the kids some idea on what to find and where to go. The map uses different colors to show the various zones of the store. The blue color is for the boys looking for guns or Star Wars stuff, pink color for the girls looking for Barbie dolls, and purple for adults wanting to check out PlayStation game consoles and other electronic gadgets. They have 8 major zones which are Hot & In Toys, Girl Toys, Boy Toys, Educational Toys, Sport and Outdoor, Baby Toys, Electronic Gaming and Family Fun & Games. The store uses a 'Boutique Zoning' concept which displays most products on eye-level shelves, instead of the hypermarket style display from floor to ceiling.
Some facts About Toys"R"UsToys R Us is a leading international retailer of toys and baby products founded in 1948 in Washington D.C by Charles Lazarus during the post war boom era as a baby furniture retailer, then known as Children's Supermarket. Toys R Us has 1256 retail stores in 36 countries worldwide, including 586 locations in the United States alone. Outside of the US, Toys "R" Us, Inc. operates, licenses or franchises approximately 670 stores in 35 countries under the Toys"R"Us name. Babies "R" Us comes under the umbrella of Toys "R" Us, a thorough baby world dealing with baby products and leads the juvenile industry. The glass-enclosed flagship store in New York City's Times Square is the largest toy store in the world at 110,000-square foot, featuring a colorful 60-foot tall indoor Ferris Wheel offering customers panoramic views of the stuffed toys, action figures, dolls, science kits and electronic games available on three floors. They are also Britain's biggest toy megastore.
Interestingly, their stores in Bangkok have a low price guarantee which states that if you find the same Toys R Us toy or product being sold elsewhere at a lower price, you can bring them your original Toys R Us receipt within 7 days and they will gladly refund the difference. They also have a free gift wrap service for any purchase at a Toys R Us store.
Toys R Us Store Locations around Bangkok are listed below:Bangna Store:Level 6, Central City Bangna, Bangkok.
Rama IV Store:G level, Carrefour Rama IV Road, Bangkok.
Lad Prao Store:Carrefour Lad Prao, 2nd floor.
Central World Store:Central World, 6th floor.
Toys R Us Fashion Island Store (opened recently):Fashion Island, 3rd floor.
Toys R Us Central Festival Pattaya:Central Court, 1st floor, Pattaya.
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