Feed your Tamagotchi and unleash a swarm of butterfly clips around your center part. The ’90s are back, baby, and Toys “R” Us is coming along with it. The toy store beloved by generations is opening its first standalone San Antonio store since the retailer shuttered all of its brick-and-mortars in 2018.
Still, nostalgia is fleeting. The North Star Mall shop will only operate through the holiday season. The company has not yet announced the opening date, but presumably it will be up and running well before Black Friday in November.
The 20 nationwide Toys “R” Us pop-ups mark a new era of growth after a nationwide retreat. Following its 2018 bankruptcy, the toy store closed all of its standalone locations, and its website went dark. But Geoffrey the Giraffe wasn’t through grazing. Starting in 2021, the brand saw a resurgence, opening new flagship stores over the course of four years, including one in San Marcos’ Tanger Outlets.
The brand also struck a deal to open boutiques inside all Macy’s stores. San Antonio has four locations of the smaller shops, which are much smaller than the big-box Toys “R” Us stores of its heyday. Although the seasonal store and Macy’s outlet will carry some of the same merchandise, the standalone pop-up will likely offer greater variety.
The new Toys “R” Us holiday shops feature will showcase uber-popular brands like LEGO, Barbie, Hot Wheels, NERF, and Paw Patrol. Go! Retail Group, the owners of mall pop-up concepts like Calendars.com, is partnering with the brand to restore some of the old magic.
“This holiday marks an important step in our expansion strategy for the Toys “R” Us brand,” said Gideon Schlessinger, CEO of Go! Retail Group, via a release. “Through both flagship stores and seasonal holiday shops, we are delivering the same experience nationwide, strengthening our presence while meeting consumer demand during the most important season of the year.”