type private industry retail founded 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 washington d.c. united states founder charles lazarus headquarters wayne new jersey united states number of locations 1500 1 area served worldwide key people dave brandon chairman & ceo products toys clothing baby products revenue us 12.4 billion 2014 2 owner kohlberg kravis roberts bain capital vornado realty trust number of employees 62 000 divisions toys r us babies r us fao schwarz website toysrus.com toysrusinc.com toys r us inc. is an american toy and juvenile products retailer founded in 1948 and headquartered in wayne new jersey in the new york city metropolitan area . contents 1 current operations 2 stores 3 company history 3.1 geoffrey the giraffe 4 other brands 4.1 kids r us 4.1.1 logos 4.2 babies r us 4.2.1 logos 4.3 toys r us international 4.4 fao schwarz 4.5 toys r us express 5 toys r us online 6 21st century initiatives 6.1 rooftop solar project 6.2 integrated store strategy 6.3 product safety 6.4 tru transformation 6.5 christmas season initiatives 7 logos 8 see also 9 references 10 external links current operations edit the company s brands include toys r us babies r us and fao schwarz . it also operates a portfolio of e commerce sites including toysrus.com babiesrus.com and fao.com . 3 stores edit the company owns or licenses 866 toys r us and babies r us stores in the united states and puerto rico more than 750 international stores and more than 245 licensed stores in 37 countries and jurisdictions . 4 africa south africa 67 egypt 4 namibia 1 americas united states 866 canada 82 5 asia japan 161 china 100 south korea 35 lotte mart malaysia 34 philippines 27 israel 26 taiwan 20 hong kong 15 thailand 14 singapore 8 united arab emirates 9 macau 2 bahrain 1 brunei 1 europe united kingdom 81 germany 66 spain 48 france 48 sweden 18 denmark 16 austria 15 norway 14 switzerland 10 poland 11 portugal 9 finland 6 iceland 3 oceania australia 35 company history edit charles p. lazarus born 1923 6 founded children s supermart which would evolve into toys r us in washington d.c. during the post war baby boom era in 1948 as a baby furniture retailer . its first location was at 2461 18th st. nw where the nightclub madam s organ blues bar is located . lazarus began receiving requests from customers for baby toys . after adding baby toys he got requests for toys for older children . the focus of the store changed in 1957 and toys r us was born in rockville maryland . citation needed toys r us was acquired in 1966 by interstate department stores inc. 7 owner of the white front topps chains and children s bargain town usa a sister toy store chain to toys r us in the american midwest that would later be re branded as part of the toys r us chain . the original toys r us store design from 1969 to 1989 consisted of vertical rainbow stripes and a brown roof with a front entrance and side exit . 8 at its peak toys r us was considered a classic example of a category killer a business that specializes so thoroughly and efficiently in one sector that it pushes out competition from both smaller specialty stores and larger general retailers . 9 since the rise of mass merchants like walmart target and amazon however toys r us has lost much of its share of the toy market and has fallen behind walmart in toy sales since 1998 . 10 flagship store in times square manhattan which operated from 2001 15 to improve the company the board of directors installed john eyler formerly of fao schwarz . eyler launched an unsuccessful expensive plan to remodel and re launch the chain . blaming market pressures primarily competition from wal mart and target toys r us considered splitting its toy and baby businesses . on july 21 2005 a consortium of bain capital partners llc kohlberg kravis roberts kkr and vornado realty trust invested 1.3 billion to complete a 6.6 billion leveraged buyout of the company . public stock closed for the last time at 26.74 pennies from the 68 week high but far short of its all time high of almost 45 in fourth quarter 1993 and its five year high of 31 in q2 2001 . toys r us is now a privately owned entity . however the company still files with the securities and exchange commission as required by its debt agreements . 11 geoffrey the giraffe edit the current iteration of geoffrey the giraffe formerly known as dr. g. raffe the company s mascot geoffrey the giraffe made his debut during 1957 in print advertisements for children s bargain town . during 1969 when children s bargain town became toys r us dr. g. raffe was renamed geoffrey and became the official toys r us spokesanimal . other brands edit kids r us edit kids r us was a children s clothing retailer . their first locations opened in 1983 in paramus new jersey and brooklyn new york . the chain folded in 2003 . 12 logos edit 1983 2003 original logo over the imaginarium logo 1986 2003 last logo babies r us edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message babies r us operates as a specialty baby products retailer and has grown to approximately 260 locations in the united states . the stores offers an assortment of products for newborns infants and toddlers . logos edit a babies r us store with the 1996 2006 logo . 2007 present next to the 1986 2006 toys r us logo toys r us international edit a toys r us store in vaughan mills toys r us store in angeles city philippines in addition to its expansion in the united states toys r us launched a worldwide presence in 1984 when the company opened its first international wholly owned store in canada 70 stores headquartered in concord ontario and licensed operation in singapore . toys r us international operates more than 600 international stores and over 140 licensed stores in 35 countries and jurisdictions outside the united states including australia canada france the netherlands germany 60 switzerland 7 austria 14 portugal spain and the united kingdom among others . the company continues to grow internationally and made its most recent entry into a new market in october 2011 when it opened its first licensed location in poland blue city . in 2006 toys r us purchased remaining shares of toys r us japan from mcdonald s holdings co. increasing its ownership from approximately 62 % to slightly over 90 % . fao schwarz edit in may 2006 toys r us inc. acquired toy retailer fao schwarz including the retailer s flagship store on fifth avenue in new york city as well as its e commerce site fao.com . 13 toys r us closed the fao schwarz flagship store in new york on july 15 2015 citing rising rental costs but continues to carry fao schwarz branded toys in its toys r us and babies r us stores . 14 a toys r us express store in the oaks mall in gainesville florida toys r us express edit for the 2009 holiday shopping season toys r us tried a smaller store concept to attract customers and 90 holiday express stores across the united states and canada were opened . 15 the holiday express stores are smaller than regular toys r us locations often located in malls and offer a more limited selection of merchandise than would be available at a stand alone toys r us store . most if not all of these 90 stores were opened in shopping center and mall spaces that had been vacated by store chains closing their doors during the recession including kb toys several of which were taken over by toys r us . 15 toys r us s plan was to keep the holiday express stores open until early january 2010 and close them shortly thereafter but the success of many prompted the company to reconsider and several were kept open . 16 these stores are known as toys r us express . beginning in june 2010 toys r us opened a total of 600 express locations . four more were converted to toys r us outlet stores . 17 toys r us online edit toys r us launched www.toysrus.com in june 1996 . following a disastrous christmas 1999 trading period where it failed to deliver gifts on time it entered into a ten year contract with amazon.com to be the exclusive supplier of toys on the website . amazon eventually reneged on the terms of the contract by allowing third party retailers to use its marketplace to sell toys citing toys r us s failure to carry a sufficiently large range of goods including the most popular lines . 18 in 2006 toys r us won a lawsuit against amazon and in 2009 were awarded 51 million just over half of the 93 million damages claimed for in their filing . 19 it placed at 29 in the internet retailer top 500 guide for 2012 . 20 toysrus.com is one of the most visited sites in the specialty toy and baby products retail category citation needed with an assortment of toys . in addition babiesrus.com offers a wide selection of baby products and supplies and access to the company s baby registry . looking to expand its web portfolio in february 2009 the company acquired online toy seller etoys.com from parent co. which filed for bankruptcy protection in december 2008 . financial terms were not disclosed . 21 around the same time it was reported that toys r us inc. bought toys.com for an estimated 5.1 million . today the company operates toys.com to list unadvertised and exclusive deals available on its portfolio of e commerce sites . 22 in 2010 toys r us inc. reported that its internet sales grew 29.9 % year over year to 782 million from 602 million and in april 2011 the company announced plans to open a dedicated e commerce fulfillment center in mccarran nevada . 23 the company later reported online sales of 1 billion for 2011 and 1.1 billion for 2012 24 21st century initiatives edit rooftop solar project edit on april 11 2011 toys r us announced that it plans to cover 70 percent of the roof of its distribution center located in flanders new jersey with a solar installation . the company claims this 5.38 megawatt solar project will be the largest rooftop solar installation in north america . 25 integrated store strategy edit on august 23 2011 toys r us inc. announced it would open 21 new stores before year s end as part of an overall strategy the company has been pursuing since 2006 to house toys r us and babies r us in the same building . the company says the stores provide more shopper convenience . the privately held toy company said this will include 11 r superstores which have full size toys r us and babies r us stores in one location and 10 stores that will have smaller toys r us and babies r us stores in the same location . the stores will be in 13 states including alabama california georgia new jersey and texas . it is also remodeling 23 existing stores so that the two stores will be in the same location . 26 product safety edit toys r us has reportedly implemented high safety standards and in 2007 vowed to take an aggressive approach towards holding vendors accountable for meeting those standards . 27 former chairman and ceo