Toys 'R' Us makes landfall in Finland

Long lines in search of opening-day bargains

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The owners, suppliers, sales people, and customers were all taken by surprise when Finland’s first Toys 'R' Us outlet opened its doors in the central city of Jyväskylä at ten o’clock yesterday morning.
      What surprised everybody was the number of people who had turned out for the occasion. CEO Henrik Gjørup, retail manager Søren Blangsted, Scandinavian sales manager Robert Lexberg, and store manager Riika Snellman could only gape at the queue of anxious customers that extended hundreds of metres between the nearby buildings.
     
Jyväskylä was chosen as the location of the chain’s first Finnish store more by accident than design. Premises in an excellent spot became vacant when a Spar supermarket closed its doors as a result of a business transaction. The S-Group had bought the entire Spar chain in Finland.
      While Lexberg refuses to reveal any specific sales targets, he reveals that around EUR 1.5 million was spent to open the Toys 'R' Us store. “Better to wait for a while and see how business picks up”, he reckons.
     
The chain’s products are primarily manufactured in the Far East, in China in particular. Through written agreements Toys 'R' Us upholds its production requirements. The company’s inspectors monitor constantly that regulations for product quality and production ethics are met.
      Before the goods are placed for sale in the other Scandinavian outlets, the consumers’ reactions are observed in a pilot shop in Denmark.
     
In 1948, a man named Charles Lasarus opened a baby furniture shop called "Children's Supermart" in Washington DC. The business later expanded and became Toys 'R' Us. First baby toys and then older children’s toys were added in the range of products, and in 1957 the company became exchange-listed.
      Today there are over 1,400 Toys 'R' Us outlets in 30 different countries.
      The company’s flagship store in New York City's Times Square is the largest toy store in the world.
     
The Scandinavian Toys 'R' Us is an independent unit that operates under the Danish Top-Toy A/S chain.
      According to its owners Henrik and Bjarne Gjørup, the Danish chain can operate fairly independently, as long as the owners of the brand receive their substantial annual commission.
      In Denmark there are 13 outlets, in Sweden 11, and in Norway 6. In Finland, the plans are to open further outlets at least in the cities of Vantaa, Turku, Tampere, and Vaasa.


Links:
  Toys R Us International
  Top Toy

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