UPDATE 14/3/18 12.10pm: All 105 UK Toys R Us stores will be closed, Sky News has reported, with the loss of around 3000 jobs.
Despite attempts to find a buyer, the news feels sadly inevitable following word last month the chain had fallen into administration.
PA sources: Toys R Us is to shut all 100 of its UK stores after administrators failed to find a buyer for the collapsed retailer resulting in the loss of 3,000 jobs
— Sky News Breaking (@SkyNewsBreak) March 14, 2018
ORIGINAL STORY 28/2/18 10.15am: Toys R Us, the UK’s biggest toys retailer, has gone into administration.
3000 UK jobs are at risk, BBC News reports, as corporate recovery specialist Moorfields begins “an orderly wind-down” of the company.
Whether any of the chain’s 105 UK stores will be saved is currently unknown.
At present, Toys R Us shops and its website remain open for business – including the latter’s sizable video games offering.
There’s hope some stores may stay – although these are likely to be smaller, cheaper-to-run shops rather than the chain’s larger warehouse-style outlets.
The US arm of Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy protection last autumn.
Regardless, it’s a bad day for UK business. Electronics retailer Maplin is teetering on the brink of administration, too.