Toys R Us shuts UK stores after talks fail to find a buyer

Toys R Us is to close all of its stores in Britain and make 3,000 staff redundant after administrators failed to find a buyer for the collapsed retailer. Last night its US parent company warned that it may also go into liquidation. Administrators for the American toy company had imposed a deadline of midday yesterday to secure a buyer for its UK arm. It had received interest from a number of parties but said that the last of them backed out of the process on Tuesday. Toys R Us will begin shutting its stores in the UK as early as tomorrow and all will close over the next six weeks, during which time shoppers are being encouraged to “take advantage of special offers while stocks remain high”. The administrators said they “remain open to interest from potential buyers for parts of the business, but it has been necessary to make a total of 67 redundancies at the company’s head office in Maidenhead earlier today” according to the Telegraph. The Independent reports that Toys R Us reportedly plans to shutter or sell its remaining American stores, putting more than 30,000 jobs at risk. It cites the Washington Post which says the planned closures would affect 800 stores. Click here for the full Times article (£) Click here for the full Telegraph article Click here for the full Independent article Click here for the full Guardian article Click here for the full FT article (£)