Register to get free articles
Want unlimited access? View Plans
Already have an account? Sign in
Amazon is understood to be considering buying sites from Toys R Us, just days after the toy retailer announced plans to wind up its US business.
According to Bloomberg sources close to Amazon say that it has taken an interest in Toys R Us’ estate, which will soon be reduced to 885 vacant stores in order to quickly and cheaply expand its bricks-and-mortar portfolio.
The stores would reportedly not keep the Toys R Us branding and will instead be used for Amazon’s recently acquired Whole Foods Market grocery brand or be used to expand its Amazon Go cashier-less stores.
The report did not state how many of the vacant stores Amazon would be targeting and if any UK locations would be considered. Amazon has so far declined to comment.
The news comes less than a week after Toys R Us announced that it would shut its US business, endangering 30,000 jobs, with its UK counterpart announcing in the same week it would also begin closing 100 stores, threatening a further 3,000 jobs.
Amazon has been expanding its bricks-and-mortar presence in the US in recent years, acquiring high-end grocer Whole Foods – which has around 470 stores – and opening more than a dozen Amazon Books physical retail stores in the past year.
