Defunctland: The History of Toys "R" Us Times Square

Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed the episode. If you're interested, we have a new Defunctland store with brand new shirts and pins! Check them out here: defunctland.com/store

“ confronted by Jeffrey giraffe” is the equivalent of “A powerful rat named Charles entertainment cheese “

"As guests entered the store, they were IMMEDIATELY confronted by Jeffrey the Giraffe." That sounds hilariously threatening.

The ending was so sweet. That guy seems like a genuinely amazing and kind human being who really wanted to see the store and everyone in it succeed. I hope he went somewhere great.

That guy's closing speech was so endearing, it could only have come from someone who worked in a store like that for years. He must've seen his fair share of awful shit in all that time. But something tells me he was having a lot of fun during those final moments.

But the manager at the end was like the most New Yorker that ever New Yorked, is really sweet and caring, but sounds and acts like an upset mob boss all the time

"in order to improve customer service, Eyler approved wage increases for Toys R us employees"....holy crap they had a CEO that actually understood how to get better quality work from their staff.

"In order to improve customer service, Eyler approved wage increases for Toys R us employees." Holy shit, somebody who actually understands that compensation has a huge correlation with job performance. Who would have thunk that people do a worse job when they're not being paid enough...

Fun fact: as they were gutting the building that housed Toys R Us times square, they discovered an old theater from the days of Vaudeville underneath the Foundation. I worked in Times Square (at another soulless big box store) at the time and remember being severely bummed they weren't going to preserve it in any capacity. Gap proceeded to pave over the theater and it sits beneath to this day.

“As guests enter they where immediately confronted by Geoffrey the giraffe” makes it sounds like Geoffrey was a boss fight

The anti war toy grandma squad incident sounds like a skit from Monty Python.

Riding the ferris wheel in the middle of this store was amazing. Visiting this store in the early 2000s was like something out of a movie.

A place so cute, pretty and colorful. To be turned into a bunch of generic clothing stores and a fast food joint. Doesn't time square have enough of that?

The use of the word “confronted” rather than “greeted” when talking about Geoffrey cracked me up

"Customers viewed Toys "R" Us as nothing more but dirty warehouses without character or charm." That is exactly what Walmart is.

I love Johnny Tammaro's thick New Yorker accent. Greatly enhances any comedic delivery

Blowing my mind to learn that this place only existed for 14 years. It was such a staple of my childhood and every visit to the city. I thought it was something that had been there forever.....or at least since the 80s or something. I have a lot of great memories of this store

The saddest fact about Toys "R" Us is that its founder, Charles Lazarus, died the day after the company he founded started closing all its stores.

Dinosaur: Brings smiles to millions of kids throughout the years Construction company: LETS BURN IT!

Its absolutely crazy to me to find out now as an adult, that this place never turned a profit. This was literally my favorite place in the world when I was little. I lived in Florida but we'd try to make a trip up to NYC every year or 2. Everyone knew we had to stop here for me and ride the ferris wheel. This place brought me so much happiness. I was allowed to get one thing every year and even if it was small souvenir, I was so proud to walk out of there with my toys r us bag. Definitely teared up watching this. Thank you for the great video!