Toys R Us is officially bankrupt, but what about your gift cards?
By Josh Hill
Toys R Us has filed for bankruptcy which you might think doesn’t effect you until you remember that gift card you have in a drawer somewhere.
The end of an era is finally upon is. Toy R Us is out of money and bankrupt.
There was a time when Lego wasn’t as widely available as it is now. Maybe that has something to do with how much Lego and pop culture has blended over the years, but everyone remembers the struggle.
Stores like Toys R Us have a special place in our hearts because of this, but all good things come to an end. Thanks to the boom in online retailing (ad prices that never ever matched up) Toys R Us is filing for bankruptcy. This doesn’t mean the store is going out of business, but it’s not good news. Right now things seem to be in flux, so the stores aren’t for sure going to be closing but the prospects of staying open aren’t something you should be betting on.
It seems a little morbid to beg the following question, since the body isn’t even cold yet, but we’re all wondering. What happens to the Toys R Us gift cards we have and will they still be honored?
The answer seems to be an easy yes, but think of the gift cards as savings bonds. You put money in and are now going to use it later. So it’s not insane to wonder what happens to money on a gift card to a store that just legally declared it doesn’t have any left?
Lucky for us, the gift cards and any other certificate will still be honored for the time being. Returns and exchanges will still work as well, so if you want to swap out a Lego set you just bought for a different one, you’re not stuck.
It sucks that Toys R Us is in this turmoil, as the store has a special place in the hearts of not only 90s kids but toy lovers everywhere. This could be seen as a case of what goes around comes around, but it still doesn’t mean we should be dancing on anyone’s grave.