“The closure of all Toys ‘R’ Us stores in the United States could be beneficial for people looking to save money on Apple merchandise, as some of the chain’s shuttering retail outlets are discounting the Apple TV, iPod touch, iPads, and other items in the clearance sale,” Malcolm Owen reports for AppleInsider.
“Reddit users are reporting the appearance of discounted Apple goods in the clearance sales, including instances of the fourth-generation Apple TV priced at $75, and an iPod nano for $54,” Owen reports. “Other users have reported the Apple products are not part of the clearance for their nearby stores, so it appears to be on a store-by-store basis. ”
Owen reports, “AppleInsider staff confirmed some stores are electing to discount Apple products, with four out of five closing outlets questioned advising the devices and accessories were part of current clearance sales.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Amazoned. Not the first. Won’t be the last.
And/or, this:
https://twitter.com/SteveMartinToGo/status/974056235938058241
The problems with Toys R Us began well before Amazon really got going. They were saddled with billions in debt that they never managed to get out from under.
Yes, no company could be expected to handle the kind of debt they were saddled with. These leveraged buyouts do nothing but enrich a few people, at the expense of thousands of employees in this case. Bain capital (et al) strikes again.
That’s predator Capitalist Mitt Romney, you know, the supreme job creator. Bain Capital.
Who also saved the Olympics from disaster. You apparently prefer a negative view. Job creation is going pretty well right now. Surely you have something good to say about that!
Drive past it all the time. We raised kids, but shopped there never. There was just no reason to go there. This was before Amazon made them completely irrelevant.
Retail is pretty much a waste of time nowadays. You run around the store, trying to find something, only to find out if they actually have it, it is overpriced, and most likely they wont have it, then wait in line while the cashier is telling her life story to another lady, thereby wasting more time. The solution is Amazon. Search, add to cart, checkout, done. Retail is flipping DEAD.
Apple retail stores would disagree with that assessment. Box box electronics/department retailers are having issues, and poorly run companies are as well. Specialty retailers aren’t suffering, and stores like Tiffany, Saks, Apple, Coach, etc… that really can’t be “amazoned” or have positive balance sheets aren’t suffering the same fate.
Amazon is just a little less predatory than Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital and similar extreme Capitalists.
I think Toys R Us failed to keep up with ecommerce. They had the advantage of being in many locations and could have offered same day pick-up for online orders made in their respective neighborhoods. Having kids actually see and feel, and in many case play with some of the toys is a big sell.
Uhhh – Amazon IS retail.
Suggested terminology for your point: “bricks and mortor retail” or “offline retail”.
But then – what Emporer said.
Not to nitpick, but Amazon’s profit mostly comes from web services.
Its retail is chopped up into all different kinds of sales, wholesale and retail, brick & mortar, B2B, etc. Amazon has a membership club, several channels of digital media distribution, and a platform for independent retailers and manufacturers. Massive diversification and leadership willing to try and fail at anything. They are pushing hard while Apple is slowing its development pace and getting lazier by the year.
Of course, the Apple press will spin the recent acquisitions into a narrative of innovation as if Beats is the future but the core Apple tech is rotting. Apple is surrendering its position in leading personal computer software and hardware.
No longer anywhere near the cutting edge, Apple is following Amazon’s lead in many areas, with unimpressive results outside its closed garden iOS app distribution — from which Amazon takes its cut since Amazon hosts a significant portion of Apples online services.
It’s plainly obvious why Wll Street keeps backing Amazon. Even a company as rich as Apple can’t run its services without Amazon. It also doesn’t look like Timmy and is friends are willing to work hard enough to be first and best in any product it sells, nor work hard to keep a good idea fresh. Like the Mac.
It’s a strange irony that Toys “R” Us, dependent upon ongoing generations of children whose parents would buy their products, gave millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood. Somehow I don’t think that this enhanced their future customer base at all; quite the opposite.
Doesn’t that line of thought also imply that there are fewer toy sales overall in the industry than when Toys R Us started supporting Planned Parenthood?