by Robin Fiedler
The Biggest Big Book of Toys Ever was mailed to most homes on Oct 28. It’s not the Black Friday sales for Toys R Us yet, but instead the pre-Black Friday sales available from Nov. 1 to Nov. 26. If you didn’t receive one in the mail, checkout the Toys R US homepage or Facebook online version. Be aware, however, that entering will pull your Facebook profile information and friends’ information. It’s also downloadable onto an iPod Touch or iPhone. 
The Black Friday Ads for Toys R Us will not officially be posted online until Nov. 25. However, here’s an excerpt from the Oct. 27 Toys R Us official press release.
“…the Biggest Big Book showcases hot new items like the Disney-Pixar Toy Story Interactive Buddies (Buzz and Woody) and Harumika Bridal Collection, as well as classic brands like Barbie®, LEGO®, Star Wars and Fisher-Price®. With more toys than kids can imagine, the 2009 Toys”R”Us Biggest Big Book offers customers 80 pages packed with savings. Specials are valid from Sunday, November 1 through Thursday, November 26, while supplies last (my emphasis). Highlights of the savings and deals include:
- FREE $10 Toys”R”Us gift card with any purchase of $75 or more (see back cover of the Biggest Big Book for details)
- FREE $10 Toys”R”Us gift card with the purchase of any iPod® valued at $100 or more
- FREE $10 Toys”R”Us gift card with the purchase of any Disney movies valued at $40 or more
- FREE Mini Alive Cub® with the purchase of any Alive Cub priced at $59.99 ($19.99 value)
- FREE Little Mommy® Doctor Set with the purchase of a Little Mommy Baby Ah-Choo doll ($14.99 value)
- FREE SpongeBob SquarePants® Ants in the Pants board game with the purchase of select SpongeBob SquarePants board games ($9.99 value)
- FREE Crayola® 50th Anniversary 64-count Crayon tin with any Crayola purchase of $19.99 or more ($9.99 value)
- FREE Cars® Backpack with any Cars purchase of $25 or more ($9.99 value)
- SAVE $100 on the Big Backyard® Crestwood Lodge Gym Set
- SAVE $100 on the Peg Perego® Polaris Ranger RZR
The circular is being marketed as a Wish List registry that can be taken to the store and scanned for friends and family to access, or a Wish List can be created online at Toysrus.com/WishList. After all, registries are convenient for those clueless grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.
Toys R Us is not competing with Wal*Mart on a price-war basis, but is instead positioning itself as a personalized one-stop way to shop for kids’ gifts. Also, Toys R Us-exclusive toys number in the thousands and include baby items as well as FAO Schwartz toys. Toy R Us offers Lay Away in-store for a service fee on big gift items only. Online free shipping is offered for orders over $49.
On the Hot Holiday Toys section, most items were in stock except for a few out-of-stock Barbies and the Zhu Zhu pets, which were all out of stock. To be fair, anything Zhu Zhu was out of stock at Wal*Mart and Target, online that is. Amazon.com has vendors taking advantage of the high demand and price-gouging the consumer for $30 and up for each pet hamster when it regularly sells for $8-10. Oh,’Tis the Season!
Resources
“Toys ‘R’Us Introduces Its Biggest Big Book of Toys Ever.” Toy R Us. 27 Oct. 2009. http://www3.toysrus.com/Investor/pr/102809.html
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