Toys 'R' Us to close three store locations in Metro Vancouver

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The 2023-opened Toys ‘R’ Us at Station Square in Burnaby’s Metrotown district is among the stores set to shut down. It replaced a previous Bed Bath & Beyond store.

The store at Station Square was initially established as a future replacement for the longtime Toys ‘R’ Us location inside the nearby Metropolis at Metrotown mall. That indoor mall store closed in September 2024 in anticipation of the forthcoming demolition and high-rise redevelopment of the mall’s former Sears wing by Concord Pacific. The Toys ‘R’ Us location was situated in the basement level of the now-shuttered department store.

Up until 2012, before the redevelopment of Station Square began, the upper retail level — where Toys ‘R’ Us is currently located — was home to a Famous Players theatre with seven auditoriums.

The Toys ‘R’ Us at Lansdowne Centre mall in Richmond City Centre, another longtime location, is also undergoing liquidation. This location was already on borrowed time, as the entire indoor mall and its surface parking lots are slated for demolition and redevelopment into a high-density, mixed-use community, known as Lansdowne District.

With that said, the toy store, within the northeast corner of Lansdowne’s indoor mall complex, would have been demolished in a latter phase of the long-term redevelopment. This project is a partnership between Vanprop Investment and Bosa Properties.

As for the third store closure, as previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized earlier this month, this will be the closure of the Toys ‘R’ Us at 1154-1174 West Broadway in Vancouver. When the Vancouver location was built in the late 1990s, this was a purpose-designed store building for the retailer.

The future of the iconic 1958-built, 80-ft-tall BowMac sign from the site’s car dealership past is up in the air, as the municipal government’s legal heritage protections for the sign are directly tied to the lifespan of the Toys ‘R’ Us lease. Over the decades, the design choice of layering the contemporary Toys ‘R’ Us logo sign over the artifact sign has stirred debate.

The retailer’s lease for the property had an initial term of 20 years, plus renewal options of two additional five-year periods. The store is now operating at the location in the middle of its last five-year term.

In order for the BowMac sign to be saved, a new heritage agreement would need to be created for the property’s future tenant/use. A high-density, mixed-use redevelopment is likely, based on the City of Vancouver’s prescriptions and stipulations for the site under the Broadway Plan.

Once these three store closures are complete, Metro Vancouver will be left with just one remaining Toys ‘R’ Us location — at Willowbrook Shopping Centre in Langley Township, at least for now. If shifting consumer trends or leasing agreements don’t lead to its closure over the short- and medium-term, the mall’s potential long-term redevelopment might, as the store sits right next to SkyTrain’s future Willowbrook Station. The mall’s White Spot restaurant recently closed to make way for the future station.

Other Toys ‘R’ Us closures in recent years include the January 2024 shutdown of the Lougheed Highway store at Maillardville in South Coquitlam, and the November 2020 closure of the Surrey City Centre store to make way for Anthem Properties’ Georgetown high-density, mixed-use development.

The past decade has been highly turbulent for Toys ‘R’ Us, leading the U.S.-based chain to declare bankruptcy in 2017 and 2018, and selling its international markets, including the Canadian division, to various ownership groups.

In 2024, Toys ‘R’ Us Canada announced it would be bringing back HMV as a store-within-store concept, as a home media merchandise department within its toy stores. In the U.S., following the sweeping closure of standalone Toys ‘R’ Us locations in 2017/2018, the American division has opened hundreds of store-within-store locations inside Macy’s in more recent years.

This adds to the growing number of major retail vacancies, further compounded by the upcoming closures of all Hudson’s Bay locations in Metro Vancouver, along with the lingering effects of previous Nordstrom, Sears Canada, and Target Canada closures.

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• Concord Pacific sets sights on Metrotown Sears and Toys "R" Us redevelopment