Toys R Us has finally folded

A child's dreamland, a parent's nightmare, Toys R Us has closed after attempts to save it failed.

What it means:  Toys R Us is going to have to sell its 885 US based stores, or they'll close, putting about 30,000 jobs at risk. All its UK stores will close by the end of April, putting 8,000 people out of work.

Toys R Us joins a lengthening list of high street faves pulling down the shutters in the UK. There are a couple of reasons for it. An increasing minimum wage What's this?  means suddenly running a store (which tend to have lots of minimum wage workers) becomes a lot more expensive. Consumers (that's the people who are buying the toys) don't have as much money – their wages aren't rising as fast as prices What's this?  – which means they are buying less toys. And a change in the way businesses are taxed – called business rates – will make properties much more expensive to run.

But it's also because people just don't shop in the way they used to. Kids are buying their toys online, or in supermarkets, and the prospect of making a special trip to an out of town superstore just doesn't appeal in the way it used to. Businesses have had to move with the times – it's called innovation What's this?  – to make sure they're one step ahead of consumer changes, and Toys R Us has failed to keep up.

Read the full story (BBC News)