Toys ‘R’ Us has launched a massive firesale after announcing 44 Australian stores would close.
The firesale comes one day after Toys ‘R’ Us announced it was shutting down all of its 44 Australian stores after racking up billions in debt.
The sale, which kicks off on Friday, includes 30 per cent discounts on all stock, including items already discounted.
‘The Administrators have determined that everything in the stores, including well-known brand items, must be sold,’ Toys ‘R’ Us said in a statement.
Toys R US is set to shut down all of its 44 Australian stores after racking up billions in debt
Some 700 employees will lose their jobs after administrators failed to find a buyer.
All stock will be sold with the proceeds going towards paying workers’ entitlements, along with the sale of assets.
Customers can use gift cards until July 5 – but must spend double the price of the gift card, the chain said. Online orders will still be delivered if the item is in stock.
In March, Toys ‘R’ Us Australia went into voluntary administration months after the US and UK retail giant’s collapse.
Directors of the company resolved to appoint voluntary administrators McGrath Nicol after the withdrawal of the final bidder for the sale of the Australian business, a McGrathNicol spokesman said in a statement.
It followed the announcement in March that Toys ‘R’ Us in the US was preparing to sell or close all its 885 stores after it was weighed down by billions of dollars in debt accumulated since it was bought by a real estate investor and two private equity firms in 2005.
Administrators closed a quarter of the company’s 100 UK stores by mid-March with plans to close the remaining stores by the end of April.
Partners Jason Preston, Keith Crawford and Barry Kogan were appointed as the Australian retail giant’s voluntary administrators.
Online orders and lay-bys will be delivered or honoured where goods had been paid for in full and the stock was available.
Toys ‘R’ Us announced in March it would sell or close all of its U.S and UK stores
‘The administrators will continue to pay employees and expect that employee entitlements will be met either through a sale of the business, recoveries from the sale of stock, or through the Commonwealth Government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) Scheme,’ the statement said.
The retail chain filed for bankruptcy in the US in September and plunged into liquidation in the UK after failing to pay a AUD$26 million tax bill.
Toys ‘R’ Us Australia posted a $7.7 million loss in the financial year to January 2017 and a $9 million loss the previous year.
A financial report filed in 2016 warned that the future of the Australian arm of the business relied on the support of the U.S. company.
‘Should the support be withdrawn or not continue, there is significant uncertainty whether the company or consolidated entity will be able to continue as going concerns,’ the report read.
In March, Toys ‘R’ Us announced that it was putting its famous mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe and Babies R Us trademark on the auction block to raise money to repay its creditors.
A 2016 financial report warned that the future of the Australian arm of Toys ‘R’ Us relied on the support of the U.S. company (pictured)