Mascot Geoffrey the giraffe soon started a family, with wife Gigi and a son and daughter. Rosenberg said Lazarus understood that the success of Toys R Us stemmed from creating a “circus-like atmosphere to keep kids wanting to come back every week.” He would laugh, but it wasn’t easy to get him to laugh.” “As a young marketing guy, if Charles Lazarus liked something you were doing, it was like the greatest thing in the world,” Rosenberg said. Lazarus walked through the showrooms giving feedback on the playthings arrayed before him, trailed by a group of employees feverishly taking notes, Rosenberg said. Lazarus” a tour of your showroom was a rite of passage for marketers, said Rosenberg, who first met Lazarus on such an occasion in 1987 as a marketer for Tiger Electronics. Thousands of buyers from around the world attend, but back then, it was Lazarus whom manufacturers were most anxious to impress, said Marc Rosenberg, a veteran toy marketer and founder of SkyBluePink Concepts. Lazarus loomed large over his industry at the heyday of his company, personally traveling to the annual Toy Fair in New York City. Bush for the opening of the first Toys R Us in Japan. In 1992, Lazarus traveled with President George H.W. By the 1980s and early ’90s, Toys R Us dominated the toy-store business and its jingle, “I’m a Toys R Us kid” became an anthem for children across the country. © 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc.In 1965, Geoffrey the giraffe became the company’s mascot, appearing in his first TV commercial in 1973. He is survived by two daughters from his first wife, Udyss, whom he divorced in 1979. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Charles’ family and loved ones.” “He visited us in New Jersey just last year, and we will forever be grateful for his positive energy, passion for the customer and love for children everywhere,” the statement added. “There have been many sad moments for Toys ‘R’ Us in recent weeks, and none more heartbreaking than today’s news about the passing of our beloved founder, Charles Lazarus,” the company said in a statement to the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia. The company is preparing to close its 730 US stores, with liquidation sales to begin on Friday. Unable to secure financing or to produce healthy sales during the holiday season, the company announced last week that it would wind down operations. The heavy debt from the leveraged buyout and the stiff competition from Amazon, Walmart and others took its toll on Toys R Us. It launched the Babies R Us chain in 1996 - with its first store in Westbury, NY. Toys R Us was the dominant toy retailer throughout the 1980s and 1990s and became an international presence, opening its first stores outside the US in 1984, in Canada and Singapore. In 1987, that aspiration came true: He was the highest-paid US executive, earning $60 million, according to Forbes. Lazarus grew up poor, helping his father run a bicycle repair shop and aspiring to be rich, according to interviews. The deal saddled the chain with $5 billion in debt - just as the Great Recession rocked the US and Amazon was emerging as a force in retail. In 2005, the buyout firms Bain Capital and KKR & Co., along with Vornado Realty Trust, acquired the Wayne, NJ, firm for $7.5 billion in a highly leveraged buyout. Lazarus stepped down as chief executive in 1994 and as chairman in 1998 - ceding control to a new generation of executives. The chain’s jingle, “I Don’t Want to Grow Up, I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us Kid,” was an anthem for a generation of children. In 1965, Lazarus introduced Geoffrey the Giraffe as the growing chain’s mascot - and the lovable creature was seen in scores of commercials. Lazarus, 94, opened his first toy store in 1957 in the suburbs of his Washington, DC, home - and by the 1980s had created the supermarket-of-toys format and had grown the chain into the most powerful force in toy retailing in the world. The founder of Toys R Us, Charles Lazarus, died on Thursday - hours before his beloved toy chain was to begin going-out-of-business sales. Toys R Us is coming back next year for holidays, teaming up with Macy's Toys R Us reopens in Macy's stores in 9 states, more 'coming soon'įormer Toys 'R' Us CEO warns of record retail bankruptcies by fallĪ giant Ferris wheel is coming to Times Square
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