| James Kon |
THE iconic American toy chain Toys R Us relaunched its outlet at the Mabohai Shopping Complex in grand style yesterday after a period of redesigning and renovation works.
Queues of shoppers were seen streaming from the store’s entrance before the 10am grand opening, eager to catch the special deals on offer in conjunction with the relaunch.
Group Country Director (Southeast Asia) of Toys R Us (Singapore) Raymond Burt together with Toys R Us Brunei Deputy Store Manager Nur Syamsina binti Buang officated the store’s relaunch.
“We are here to stay. We have been in Brunei for around six years and we have re-signed our lease here at Mabohai Shopping Complex.
“We have also reinvested in the store and spent quite a bit of money to bring the latest design of the market to the store,” Burt said.
“We have renovated the store with a layout that is segmented by age for children, to make it easier for customers to shop. We have updated the design and signage as well as added elements of interactive play that we didn’t have before.”
Commenting on the international news coverage of Toy R Us’ problems, he said, “We are up for sale, hopefully this will be finalised in a few weeks’ time. We moved on and for us it is business as usual.”
He continued, “It’s amazing to see the support that we are getting, and we get this everywhere we have our stores. Currently, we have 67 stores in Asia and one more store will be opening in Bangkok on Thursday, another will be opening in Malaysia in two weeks’ time, and 16 stores in China will be opened by the end of the year.
“We have toys for everyone at Toys R Us. We are bringing in the toys as fast as possible to the Brunei market as soon as they are launched in Singapore… it will only take a few weeks to arrive, not months as before.”
Mabohai Shopping Complex Manager Yee Man Cheng was similarly delighted with the store reopening.
“We are very excited and honoured to be part of this historic relaunching of the Toys R Us store at Mabohai Shopping Complex. It’s great news that Toys R Us is here to stay,” she said. “It isn’t just a toy store, it is a venue where we see families shopping together, having fun and creating wonderful memories.”
Dr Habibah Sion, who was shopping for her son’s toy with her husband yesterday, expressed happiness at the store’s reopening and rebranding.
“Ever since my son was born, we have been shopping at Toys R Us. Today he is in school, so we are here to get some toys for him. We bought his favourite toy Heroes at half price, which is a good deal,” she said.
“The store feels more customer-friendly and cozy now. The new open concept is friendlier and easier for us to find the toys that we want. The toys are arranged according to age segments, it’s really nice.”