California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

Toy’s R Us after testing the waters the past year by converting a number of
smaller-sized toy stores into combination toy and baby stores, is now creating
much-larger superstores to sell its baby and toy products. The idea is to enhance
and maximize time for busy parents shopping for both baby goods and toys at one
location.

One of the two new superstores being opened this month will be in Redland’s. 
The stores will be 65,000 to 75,000 square feet in size. The baby and toy stores
will have separate entrances and signs. But once inside, consumers can shop both
stores freely and check out on either side.

The combo store strategy is a sharp change for a company that three years ago was
fending off questions about whether it was going to get rid of its toy business altogether
as it struggled to compete against big discount retailers. In July 2005, the company went
private selling for $6.6 billion. The next year, the company closed 87 Toys "R" Us stores
in the United States.  Although private, the company disclosed profits of $109 million last
year.

Company officials identified that this is a major shift in the company's direction from a
position of relative retreat ... into a position of growth,

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.