You would think that a toy shop would be one of the most parent (and child) friendly shops you could go into, wouldn't you? Sadly, that's not normally the case (although there are exceptions, ELC for example), and one of the worst of the offenders is ToysRUs, a huge, impersonal multi-national ... Read review
Advantages: Lots of different toys/games/electronics/babycare in one shop Disadvantages: Crowded aisles | Boxes left in aisles | Not enough staff
...difficult to get to the toys I want to buy. I personally find the educational toys the very hardest to get to, which is a shame as they are the best things that they sell.
To make things even worse, there are a number of bikes and dolls pushchairs that are left lying around (supposedly so the children can try them out), and added to these obstacles are the boxes that are left blocking the aisles. Let's just say that if you're pushing ... ...is a massive range of toys available, ranging from those cheap, tacky plastic pocket money toys to top of the range Barbie palaces. If you've got a character or brand in mind, I'm sure you'll find something to suit your child and your pocket. That's not to say that their range is complete, far from it, I'll often find that they don't have the particular toy I'm looking for. If it's a board game that takes your fancy, then you're in (semi) luck, there ... more
You would think that a toy shop would be one of the most parent (and child) friendly shops you could go into, wouldn't you? Sadly, that's not normally the case (although there are exceptions, ELC for example), and one of the worst of the offenders is ToysRUs, a huge, impersonal multi-national chain store. I'm not saying I never shop there, I actually do on a fairly regular basis, but it's definitely not one of the most pleasurable shopping experiences, and now I'll try to explain why…..
---(Not So) Prime Location---
The store I visit is in Basildon Town Centre, and has it's own attached car park, I'm afraid I can't tell you how many parking spaces there are, or even how much it costs (although there is a big banner saying from 20p), as I don't own a car. But if there's no available spaces in their car park there are plenty of other spaces around the town, the only time you would really have trouble finding a space is in the run up to Christmas. The actual store is quite a distance from the bus stops, and with a heavy box, it actually feels like miles.
---Obstacle Course---
Right that's the actual location out of the way, from now on I will only be describing my experiences within this particular store. And what a massive store it is. While I couldn't tell you exactly how big it is, (why would anyone really want to know how many cubic feet of floor space it is), I would estimate it's about the size of a medium supermarket. But in this case size, really isn't everything, for me at least the store has something of a claustrophobic feel to it, with shelves stacked to the ceilings and some rather narrow aisles. I need to manoeuvre a wheelchair and there are times when it's very difficult to get to the toys I want to buy. I personally find the educational toys the very hardest to get to, which is a shame as they are the best things that they sell.
To make things even worse, there are a number of bikes and dolls pushchairs that are left lying around (supposedly so the children can try them out), and added to these obstacles are the boxes that are left blocking the aisles. Let's just say that if you're pushing a wheelchair or buggy then make sure you've passed your advanced driving test.
---Stop Thief---
Before I even get into the sort of goods that they sell (and it's not just toys), I'm going to have a moan about one of their policies. There are times when they seem to have decided that every customer is a potential shoplifter and insist that any bags you have on your person MUST be left in little pigeon holes. Now personally, I find this really insulting, and on the last occasion that this happened I just turned round and walked back out. Once you've finished shopping, you can reclaim what is rightfully yours, that's if there are any staff working on the customer services desk.
---Toys And More---
There's far more to ToysRUs than just toys, but I guess that's what they're famous for. There is a massive range of toys available, ranging from those cheap, tacky plastic pocket money toys to top of the range Barbie palaces. If you've got a character or brand in mind, I'm sure you'll find something to suit your child and your pocket. That's not to say that their range is complete, far from it, I'll often find that they don't have the particular toy I'm looking for. If it's a board game that takes your fancy, then you're in (semi) luck, there are what appears to be hundreds of board games, including family favourites and newer more modern games. The only problem is their peculiar way of organising them in alphabetical order, which makes browsing very confusing. The prices for these toys are normally cheaper than else where, but often by only a penny or two and not nearly enough to make the discomfort worth it.
My favourite selection of toys in here, are in the rather crowded Discovery section. These are the educational toys that make learning fun. These seem to slightly undercut The ELC price wise, but to be honest are not quite as good quality.
A fairly new section in the store is the Teenzone, which is basically where you find such electronic goods as MP3 players and digital cameras. I'm sorry to say their prices for these goods are not really competitive, 9 times out of 10 I can find them cheaper elsewhere. The televisions and DVD players are reasonably priced, but are really only no-name brands, and I've never bothered buying this sort of thing from here. The only real exceptions in this section are the video game packages, which are reasonably priced, as long as you don't mind being stuck with their choice of games.
A further section of the store is devoted to bikes, trikes, scooters and rocking horses (among others). Although the bikes seem very cheap (at first glance at least), not only are the prices slightly higher than the local independent bike shop, but they also only come part-assembled and assembling them is not really that easy.
For those of you that want your children to enjoy playing out in the British sunshine, there is another section that sells outdoor toys. Many of these toys are assembled, but this is for display purpose only, don't let your children climb on them (as hard as that is). Again the prices are reasonable, but if you spend a little time looking around other shops and the web you'll probably find similar for less money.
The final category of goods available (at last, I hear you shout) is in a section titles BabiesRUs, and here you will find a selection of baby goods ranging from bottles and nappies to cots and travel systems. I'm afraid I don't have much experience with this section, so I can't comment on prices.
---Mummy, I need a wee wee---
At the back of the store there are some toilets, you'll have to leave your trolley outside but there are toilets for boys, girls and baby changing/disabled. I've only used the girls (yes they do call it girls not ladies), and it seems clean enough, if not spectacularly so. Although the way they call it girls does make me feel a little odd when I use it on my own.
---Checking Out---
Once you've chosen your toys, it's time to pay for them and I hope you're in a patient mood. Although there are several checkouts (including one that's disabled/buggy friendly), very often you will find that only one is open at a time, and that is normally not the disabled one. But never mind, just look at all the sweets and collector cards displayed at child height, so you can enjoy the entertainment of your child screaming while you wait. Once you get to the front of the queue, then it's time to pay, and I hope you haven't bought anything large or any video games, because if you have you'll become even more frustrated.
Why? Well because you will then be given a ticket and have to collect your goods from a separate section, which wouldn't be too bad if there was someone manning it for the whole of the store's opening hours. Sadly, there are great chunks of the day where there is nobody in sight, and although there's a bell to ring for service, it can sometimes take more than ten minutes for someone to appear. Which leads me nicely onto….
---The Giraffes---
Well not really giraffes, but sometimes they might as well be. Yes I'm talking about the staff, who are often rude, nearly always disinterested and completely on the scarce side. There is hardly ever anyone around when you need help, I've heard of pressurised selling tactics, but this is completely the opposite. This would be bad enough if it was just around the store in general, but when it comes to customer service, you'd expect at least one person to be manning the station.
---The Joke---
As an incentive to spend even more of your hard earned cash at ToysRUs, they offer you a gold card. Yep, it's one of those cash back cards, only in all honesty it isn't. They don't offer you cash back at all, instead you are sent a variety of vouchers (how many depends on what you've spent), which can be used to get money off certain products. The only trouble is, you can't choose which products, and I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart, that I'll never even used one of these vouchers. In fact the only good thing I can say about this card, is that they sometimes offer small goodies (such as a trial size of cereal or a sweet) if you use the card.
---The End---
In case you haven't guessed, I really don't like this shop. Even so I have to admit I do buy some toys from here, and have even been known to buy a bike or two. The trouble is that being part of a faceless multi-national chain, that sells such a vast range of products, it seems to have lost the personal touch that goes hand in hand with smaller shops. Add to this the fact that the shop is poorly organised with stock and bikes littering the aisles, and you can see why I visit as rarely as possible.
My advice therefore is instead of dragging yourself to the shop in person, check out their website at www.toysrus.co.uk and then have a look around the web to see if the price is better elsewhere. Only if ToysRUs is the cheapest and you don't fancy carrying out the transaction online, would I then go into the actual physical shop.
Advantages: Loads of toys to choose from Disadvantages: The returns policy
...spent over £1000 pounds in Toys R Us. Every Christmas, we trawl for hours around the Leicester or Northampton store, in an attempt to find everything in one go.
Birthday party invitations mean yet another trip, and our own children’s birthdays mean that yet more time is spent there. Where to find them.
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The two stores I use are:
Leicester
St. Georges Way, City Centre
St. Georges Retail Park,
St. Georges Way,
Leicester.
... ...For the choice of toys and cleanliness, I would have given this store 5 stars, but for their Returns Policy, and the wait this entails, I have to remove 2 stars. Also, the lack of staff on the tills deserves another -1 star, and the car park problems at peak times, remove another 1 star. The prices are average for toys, being much in line with other toy stores. I would certainly look around for computer games, computers, games consoles etc, as they ...
Testarossa 04.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Toys R Us (Shop)
Advantages: Normally an excellent range Disadvantages: Overcrowded, badly staffed, logistical probs at preston
...about three hours at the Toys R Us superstore in Preston, 90 minutes of which had us sat helplessly in our car while we waited in the vain hope of ever getting off the bloody car park. For rest assured when it's within eight weeks of Xmas AND Preston North End are playing at home, you'll end up very annoyed and frustrated when you visit the Preston branch of the Toys R Us empire.
Now I'll come back to the store itself shortly, but first let's just ... ...of Toys R Us was opened on the Deepdale Retail Park about four or five years ago. Deepdale Retail Park is situated on Blackpool Road about 400 yards from Preston North End's footie ground and that road, which leads onto the M6, has always been notoriously busy. I used to go down there on my way home from work when I was still living in Stafford and it ALWAYS took me 20 minutes to travel the 2 miles to the motorway. The problem was only exacerbated ...
dave27 03.11.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Toys R Us (Shop)
Advantages: Everything you can imagine under one roof Disadvantages: Hard to get out without a purchase, NO refunds without a receipt
Toys R Us must be the most well known Toy Shop bar Hamleys in London.
It is a child's paradise to enter a shop which is just full of toys! The one in Edinburgh is situated at Fort Kinnaird on the east side of the city. You enter on the right hand side of the building and go through a tiny entrance area, which is full of trolleys, to the customer service area. The customer service area has to be the most uncluttered area of the shop. You then enter ... ...be a variety of different toys which are on offer within the store and also seasonal toys such as in the summer, toys for the sandpit, and at christmas, there are decorations. Just round from both of these you get popular pre-school toys such as tweenies, fimbles and Andy Pandy. This is also where you find the large cuddly toys such as teddies, rabbits, dogs.
The first set of Aisles concentrate on Board games, jigsaws and Computer and Console games. ...
Groovee 09.11.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Toys R Us (Shop)
Advantages: huge variety of toys available, good price, all current fads catered for Disadvantages: extremely slow service
...make my annual trip to Toys R Us and this year is no exception.
With mum-in-law accompanying me and £200 restlessly trying to burst out of my purse, we set off for the whole shopping experience. Toys R Us is usually ideal for us, as the kids are aged 5, 8, 9 and 11, so it is handy to be able to buy everything in one place. I’m not sure how long this will be the place though, as it seemed quite hard to find enough for my 11 and 8 year old daughters, ... ...The parking at our local Toys R Us is spacious, although it does get full as you get nearer Christmas. The trolleys seemed to be only one size and variation, not all the wonderful versions they have at Asda – but I just needed a big one, so that was okay.
Entering the store, it is easy to see the place is huge with high ceilings and good heating and air-conditioning systems. Everything is fairly well organised, usually under themes such as ...
KarenUK 10.11.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Toys R Us (Shop)
Advantages: Wide selection of toys Disadvantages: Too expensive, horrible for the kids
...popping out to my local Toys R Us in Bristol but now I avoid it like the plague.
The first thing you see when you walk through the door is shelves and shelves of sweets, try getting your kids past that, to start with!
Then we have the piles of very expensive things like mobile phones, game consoles, console games, etc. Toys R Us also seem to have aspired to the theory of pile it high, sell it cheap. Except its not cheap, its one of the most expensive ... ...with the more reasonably priced toys right at the rear of the store where they are easily missed.
Some of the toys, especially the ride on trucks, scooters etc are on display and you are able to try it, hence lots of children on electric quads trying to run you down!
Then there are the screaming children, lots of them. Well you imagine going to a store where your very favourite things are on display and you can touch them and play with them. Then ...
Emma1973 29.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Toys R Us (Shop)
Value for Money
Layout & presentation
In store customer service
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There are about 40 shops in a horseshoe shaped arrangement around a 1000 space free car park. Also at one end of the shops is a very large ToysRUs store and at the other end a McDonalds restaurant, a Pizza Hut and a Beefeater Travelodge.
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