Toys "R" Us Memorabilia Collector Guide

A short history for collectors

Charles Lazarus opened Children’s Bargain Town, a baby furniture store in Washington, D.C., in 1948, and within a few years he was selling toys alongside cribs and strollers. In 1957 he opened his first store devoted only to toys and named it Toys "R" Us, turning the R around so the name looked as if a child had written it.

The chain built cavernous big-box stores across the American suburbs, competing on deep discounts and a huge selection, and grew into a global toy seller with stores from the United Kingdom to Asia. A 2005 leveraged buyout loaded the company with $5 billion in debt. It filed for bankruptcy in September 2017 and in March 2018 announced that it would liquidate its U.S. stores.

The brand outlived the U.S. stores. Tru Kids, which emerged from the bankruptcy holding the Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us and Geoffrey brands, opened two concept stores in New Jersey and Texas; both closed in January 2021. In March 2021 the brand management firm WHP Global acquired a controlling interest in Tru Kids, and in 2022 a partnership set out to put a Toys "R" Us shop inside every Macy’s in the country. As of 2021, licensing agreements gave the brands stores or e-commerce sites in more than 25 countries.

That leaves three groups of material: items from the original U.S. chain (1957 to 2018), items from stores outside the United States, some made after the U.S. closing, and new products sold under the revived brand.

Why Toys "R" Us items are collected

Toys "R" Us endeared itself to generations of children, and its memorabilia often carries a personal memory: a catalog someone marked up as a child, or a letter from the sign over a store they grew up visiting. The original U.S. chain no longer exists, so the supply of genuine store-era material is fixed.

It is also retail history. A former chief executive called Lazarus a pioneer of the big-box movement, and the chain’s signs, catalogs and advertising show how that format looked to shoppers over six decades.

Geoffrey the Giraffe through the years

Geoffrey began as Dr. G. Raffe, a giraffe created to represent Children’s Bargain Town. In 1965 he became the first Toys "R" Us mascot: the artist who drew the original made him more lifelike, and a store associate renamed him Geoffrey. He appeared in print ads through the 1960s and early 1970s and made his first TV commercial in 1973.

His look changed repeatedly, which makes him one of the most practical tools for dating a piece. Stars in place of spots point to 2007 or later, and a piece showing Gigi, Junior or Baby Gee most likely falls between 1975 and 1999.

• 1975: Geoffrey introduces his family, his wife Gigi, son Junior and daughter Baby Gee, and gets rounder eyes, a tuft of hair on his head, smaller horns and rounder spots.
• 1980s: the family makes appearances in stores and parades and travels in the Geoffreymobile, a double-decker bus; life-size versions of Geoffrey appear in TV commercials.
• 1999: Gigi, Junior and Baby Gee leave the spotlight, and Geoffrey gets a new image as a fun-loving mascot who is a bit of a kid himself.
• 2001: Stan Winston Studios creates a realistic animatronic Geoffrey, voiced by Jim Hanks.
• 2007: a revamp for the "We’re New Again!" message returns him to cartoon form with a big toothy grin and stars instead of spots.

What collectors find

Most Toys "R" Us memorabilia falls into a few groups, each with its own questions to ask.

• Holiday catalogs: in the 1980s and 1990s, children pored over the Toys "R" Us "big book" every Christmas, dog-earing pages and circling the toys they wanted. The catalog ended with the 2018 liquidation. Writing and worn corners are normal on copies that were used.
• Store signs and building pieces: some surface long after a store closes. During the demolition of a former Toys "R" Us on Roan Street in Johnson City, reported in February 2023, a local sign collector worked with the demolition contractor to save the "R" from its sign. The man tearing it down warned that the old sign might fall apart; it came off in one piece.
• Geoffrey pieces: check anything showing the giraffe against the design eras above, from spots or stars to his eyes, horns and family.
• Print advertising: Geoffrey appeared in print ads through the 1960s and early 1970s, so period ads are where the earliest Toys "R" Us version of the mascot turns up.

Store-era items versus revival merchandise

The revived brand sells new products under familiar names. The current Toys "R" Us website offers an exclusive line called Geoffrey’s Toy Box that includes plush, games and activity sets, some marked as Macy’s exclusives. These are current retail goods, not relics of the original stores.

Match a listing to the period it claims:

• Original U.S. chain, 1957 to 2018: period details, including Geoffrey’s design, should fit the claimed date.
• Stores outside the United States: licensed stores continued abroad after the U.S. closing, so foreign packaging or prices do not by themselves date an item before 2018.
• Revival era: the Tru Kids concept stores, the WHP Global period from March 2021, the Macy’s shops and current website lines such as Geoffrey’s Toy Box.
• Dates on the item: a copyright or production date after 2018 rules out the original U.S. stores. Be wary of a newer product described as vintage.

What to check before buying

A famous name proves nothing about a specific object. Look for listings that show the evidence.

• Markings: clear photographs of every tag, copyright line, printer’s mark and catalog date, plus enough artwork to compare Geoffrey with the era claimed.
• Provenance: for signs and fixtures, ask how the seller obtained the piece, such as a closing sale, an auction or a demolition, and whether receipts or photographs of it in place survive. Treat an unsupported story as unproven.
• Reproductions: logo apparel, posters and catalog pages can be reproduced. Ask for close-ups of the paper or fabric, the printing and the edges.
• Condition: expect markings on used catalogs, fading and brittleness on old signs, and wear on plush. Ask the seller to list flaws plainly.
• Size and shipping: get exact measurements and a freight quote before buying a large sign or building letter.
• Returns: prefer return terms that suit an item whose condition is hard to judge from photographs.

Where to find Toys "R" Us memorabilia now

The original U.S. stores are gone, so older pieces come from the secondary market. The Toys "R" Us company page on I ♥ Capitalism collects live, relevance-checked resale listings and links each item to the marketplace selling it. Inventory changes whenever sellers add or remove a listing.