Toys R Us will open 120 standalone stores nationwide for the 2026 holidays, reviving a retail brand that once shut every remaining U.S. location.
The retailer announced the expansion Thursday through a partnership with Go! Retail Group. Parent company WHP Global expects the stores to open across the United States during the holiday season.
The rollout would raise the number of standalone Toys R Us stores in the United States to 160. That total does not include the hundreds of smaller Toys R Us shops operating inside Macy’s stores.
For a company that closed its remaining U.S. stores in 2018, adding 120 locations marks its largest move back into physical retail. The biggest expansion since bankruptcy also tests whether a familiar name can again draw shoppers through its own doors.
Jamie Uitdenhowen, executive vice president of Toys R Us at WHP Global, told Fox Business, “This is a major moment for Toys ‘R’ Us as we significantly expand our presence across the United States.”
The expansion arrives during a strong year for the toy business. U.S. toy sales rose 17% during the first half of 2026, their best first-half performance in six years, the New York Post reported, citing Circana.
Adults accounted for 55% of those sales. Trading cards and collectibles have helped turn toys into more than a children’s category, giving retailers another large group of customers to pursue.
The new stores will carry toys, collectibles and gifts connected to LEGO, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Pokémon and “KPop Demon Hunters.” Some locations will also add cafes and candy shops as part of the 120-store holiday rollout.
That product mix matters because today’s Toys R Us is much smaller than the chain Americans once knew. It had roughly 750 locations before its 2017 bankruptcy, compared with the planned total of about 160 standalone stores.
The new model is more selective. Toys R Us is combining standalone locations with shops inside other retailers, airport stores and Navy Exchanges that serve military members and their families.
Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2017 after years of falling sales and with $5 billion in debt. The company closed its remaining U.S. stores the following year.
The brand returned in 2019 under Tru Kids Brands. Smaller stores opened in Paramus, New Jersey, and Houston late that year, but both closed in January 2021.
WHP Global acquired a controlling stake in March 2021. Later that year, it opened a 20,000-square-foot flagship at the American Dream complex in New Jersey, another step in the brand’s comeback strategy.
Hundreds of Toys R Us shops then opened inside Macy’s stores nationwide in 2022. Macy’s said first-quarter toy sales were 15 times higher than during the comparable period before that partnership.
The Macy’s arrangement gave Toys R Us shelf space without requiring the brand to rebuild a full national chain at once. The new standalone rollout goes further by putting the company’s own name back over more store entrances.
WHP Global partnered with Go! Retail Group in 2023 on an “air, land and sea” expansion plan. Toys R Us later opened its first airport store at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
A shop inside another retailer opened at Orlando International Airport in August, though the year was not identified. Another Orlando airport location is scheduled for summer 2027.
Breitbart described the broader approach as one focused on experiences across standalone stores, Macy’s shops, airports and Navy Exchanges. That gives the company several ways to reach shoppers without relying on one store format.
The company’s global business now produces more than $2 billion in annual retail sales, Toys R Us said. It operates through more than 1,680 stores and online operations across 37 countries, while its U.S. comeback push continues.
Important details remain unanswered. Toys R Us has not disclosed the 120 store locations, individual opening dates or store sizes, and it has not said whether every location will remain open after the holidays.
A familiar name does not earn a comeback through nostalgia alone. It earns one by serving customers well and keeping the doors open.