While Toys R Us may not want to announce it publicly, all signs indicate the toy store is going to close it’s doors sooner rather than later.  When that happens, it is going to mean there is no real large scale toy shop in the United States.  This is just horrible news.

It really is even if I share many of the complains you have had about the toy giant.  The customer service has never been great.  Their entire business model pushes it’s brick and mortar stores instead of catering to online shopping.  Depending on what you are buying, the toys or other items are on the expensive side. All of these things and many more are true.  However, as parents, we need a Toys R Us in our lives.

There was a time I didn’t think that was the case, but I came to that realization last summer.

To this day, I remember getting the call at work my son was involved in an accident, and we needed to rush to pick him up and get him to the hospital.  It’s the call no parent wants to get.  We had to deal with the initial injury, the surgery, and the recovery.  Our son was devastated over it all.  As guilt ridden parents, we were doing all we could do to not only lift his spirits, but to also let him just feel like a regular kid again.

Much of that was accomplished with a trip to Toys R Us.  We walked in with our son and let him go pick out whatever toy he wanted in the entire store.  This once tired and sadden child’s eyes lit up.  Instead of moping around, he was his normal self again.  He happily went through aisle after aisle of toys.  Eventually, he settled on Mack’s Mobile Tool Center Playset.  Truth be told, he left that store with a lot more than just that Mack.

Yes, I mean more and more toys.  Between the accident, doctor visits, his birthday, and Christmas, I believe our family has everything sold for the movie Cars 3.  More than that, my son got a piece of himself back.  He wasn’t a patient.  He was just a kid literally let loose in a toy store.  In that moment, we saw our happy little boy come back, and fortunately, he never left.

Sure, we could have gone to Target, Walmart, or anyone retailer that sells toys.  My son would have been happy getting a toy.  We probably would have spent less that day.

However, I don’t believe the effect would have been the same.  Being limited to a few Target aisles is not the same as seeing aisle of toy after toy after toy.  There’s no magic for little kids in Target.  Even with all that is wrong with Toys R Us, the store still has that magic to it, and I am eternally grateful it did.

And I still hope there is magic left to help keep the store open because you never know when a parent is going to need to tap into that magic to help a kid feel like a kid again.