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Hilco to the rescue! or not.

sadly Toys R Us is not a long term business in the UK as the market has changed with many purchases going to online and discount houses such as Argos .

the vast rentals in out of town locations is no longer viable for the Toys market which is a difficult price sensitive low margin sector that can no longer survive in those kind of stores that also requires a vast investment in stock and staff.

unless Toys R Us fund Hilco , which given their problems in the USA is unlikely, they will not touch it as an investment but of course they will be delighted to operate the business under an insolvency process which is what they really do very profitably as opposed to being an regular investor which they are by default rather than deliberate strategy.

the best that can be hoped for is that Hilco take a license for the name and put together a Toys R Us department in their Staples business where the store network is struggling from similar issues where much of the inventory is available at discounted prices online.

what Hilco will not do is be able to tap in to a strong product and supply chain to stock future stores as it is very likely that Toys R Us will no longer exist in the USA and that would mean central costs to be able to operate independently that they will be less than happy to take on.

it is in short, sadly for the staff, pension stake holders, suppliers and landlords not a keeper and the only winners from now are the so called professional advisers such as Hilco, lawyers and financiers.