Toys‘R’Us Founder Charles Lazarus has passed away at the age of 94, just a week after the company he started announced they will be shutting down their U.S. operations.
Lazarus opened his first children’s furniture store in 1948 at just 25 years old, Children’s Bargain Town in Washington, D.C. He eventually started selling toys as well – he believed that the post-war baby boom would mean a greater demand for such things, and he was largely correct. He ended up shifting his business to become toy-oriented, leading to the creation of Toys‘R’Us as it was contemporarily known beginning in 1957.
The stores were designed in the model of a supermarket, with long isles featuring toys stacked high. The classic Toys‘R’Us logo, with the backwards ‘R’, was envisioned as though it was drawn by a young child, further emphasizing the kid-friendly environment the store sought to have. Geoffrey, the giraffe mascot for the store, originated in print advertisements for Lazarus’ original Children’s Bargain Town shop; he, too, became remarkably popular with kids in his own right.
At the store’s peak popularity, it was considered a “category killer” as it was so efficient in selling toys and specializing in doing so that it faced nearly no competition. However, this didn’t last, and rising competition from the likes of Target, Wal-Mart, and Amazon caused Toys‘R’Us to fall behind in market share by the end of the ’90s.
Lazarus remained the CEO of Toys‘R’Us until 1994.
“He was the father of the toy business,” said Michael Goldstein, who succeed him as CEO. “He knew the toys and loved the toys and loved the kids who would shop in the stores. His face lit up when he watched kids playing with toys.”