FAIRLAWN -- Toys "R" Us slashed prices Wednesday by 30-50%, as the retail chain continues its going out of business sale.
But shoppers like Chad Knobloch brought his 8-year-old son, Caleb, not intending to buy anything.
"Just to reminisce," said Knobloch, who remembers coming to the store himself when he was a kid. "We've been coming every week after my son's Taekwondo class, ever since we found out they were closing," the father of two said. "He and his sister are pretty sad about it."
"I just like coming here to look at the toys," said Caleb. He put on his Christmas list, toys with the "Only at Toys "R" Us" sticker. "Since they're closing, it's something so I can remember them," he said.
At first glance, the store location in North Olmsted looks fairly well-stocked. But the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bike racks are nearly empty. At the Fairlawn location, the electronics display that once held tablets and other devices are bare. In the Parma location, the aisle for Lego toys was thinning out.
But there is plenty of merchandise, so the retailer is restocking and ramping up its discounts hoping to unload its inventory. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2017, and announced last March that it would close all 735 locations in the U.S.
33,000 Toys "R" Us employees in the U.S. will lose their jobs. Workers in Parma say employees are in limbo, not knowing how much longer they will have a paycheck. They are assuming that they'll have a job as long as there is merchandise to sell.
"In which case, I hope the sale lasts a long time," said one worker, who wanted to stay anonymous.