Target, Others to Bid on Toys"R"Us Stores
Several Toys"R"Us stores are scheduled to be auctioned off later this week, according to court documents filed Tuesday that were reviewed by CNBC. Of the 58 "qualified bids" being considered, Target and Aldi both are looking at one location in Kendall, Florida, which is near a handful of college campuses. Big Lots is bidding on five stores — in Fresno, California; Exton, Pennsylvania; Durham, North Carolina; Woodbridge, Virginia; and Indianapolis. Furniture chain Raymour and Flanigan is looking to bid on three stores — two in New Jersey and one in New York. Golf & Tennis Pro Shop, which owns PGA Tour Superstore, will bid on the same Indianapolis store as Big Lots, along with a store in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Other names on the list of bidders include Ashley Furniture, Shoe Station, Food Bazaar and Fit Factory. Amazon.com has also reportedly been interested in buying some of the soon-to-be-abandoned stores.
Total Retail's Take: Many retailers are hoping to get these properties at bargain prices, and are carefully scouting the locations they believe best align with their brick-and-mortar strategy and target demographics. Due to the size of Toys"R"Us’ stores, the bidding figures only to attract those brands that already have stores with a similar footprint. It will be interesting to see if Amazon is indeed a player in the bidding process. The large footprint of the Toys"R"Us stores doesn't seem to be a good fit for its Amazon Go concept, and might be too large of a space for its physical bookstores, but a further expansion of Whole Foods could make sense.
