Америкалық ойыншық дүкендер желісі K·B Toys тарихы

American chain of toy stores

K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy wholesales two years later to emphasize its toy products. Retail sales began during the 1970s, using the name Kay Bee Toy & Hobby. In 1999, the company operated 1,324 stores across the United States and was the second largest toy retailer in the U. S., but it later declared bankruptcy in both 2004 and 2008 before going out of business on February 9, 2009. The company operated 461 stores at the time of its closure. International retailer Toys "R" Us acquired the remains of K·B Toys, consisting mainly of its website, trademarks, and intellectual property rights. Strategic Marks, a company that buys and revives defunct brands, purchased the brand in 2016, and planned to open new stores using the name beginning in 2019; plans for this revival, however, were cancelled due to a lack of funding. As of 2020, all trademarks for K·B Toys have been abandoned by Strategic Marks and is currently not used by any company as of 2023.

Brothers Harry and Joseph Kaufman originally opened a wholesale candy store, Kaufman Brothers, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on April 1, 1922. During the 1940s, the brothers acquired a wholesale toy company from a candy client who owed them money for outstanding debts. On September 21, 1946, Kaufman Brothers opened a wholesale toy store at 70 Columbus Avenue in Pittsfield, marking the company's entry into the wholesale toy industry. In 1948, Kaufman Brothers Inc. ended its involvement in the candy business to focus entirely on the toy business, which was thriving by that time. In 1977, the company name changed to Kay Bee Toy and Hobby Shops Inc. By 1979, the company was based in Lee, Massachusetts. The company opened 40 new stores during that year, and stated that it was the nation's fastest growing toy store chain, with 170 locations across the Midwestern and Eastern United States.

In 1981, the Melville Corporation purchased the company from the Kaufman family for $64.2 million (~$ in ). At the time, the company had 210 stores. As of 1990, the company advertised itself as "The Toy Store in the Mall." In 1991, Kay Bee Toys purchased K&K Toys' 136 stores, located in 18 states; the stores were converted to Kay Bee stores the following year. During 1993 and 1994, as part of a major restructuring plan, Kay Bee closed approximately 250 stores that had underperformed. KB Toy Works stores were larger than regular KB Toys stores, which averaged
In 1996, Kay Bee had sales of $1.1 billion, Company sales reached $1.6 billion in 1998, the same year that its merchandise website was launched. The store logo was also changed to "KB" that year. to operate KBToys. com. Through the deal, Consolidated Stores would invest $80 million and would own 80 percent of the new website, while BrainPlay would own the remainder. The new website would be based at BrainPlay's headquarters in Denver, and BrainPlay's website would become KB Toys' new website, which would compete against Toys "R" Us' website and eToys. com. KB Toys' website was revamped and relaunched in July 1999, as KBKids. com. At the time, KB Toys was the second largest toy retailer in the United States. To increase the online presence for KBKids, Consolidated Stores partnered with AOL, which was visible to 17 million potential customers online. Through the agreement, AOL would provide links to the KBKids website. In September 1999, Consolidated Stores announced plans to sell 20 percent of KBKids through shares in an upcoming public offering. In October 1999, KBKids. com launched a $43 million (~$ in ) advertising campaign, including television commercials, to promote the site ahead of the holiday shopping season. In January 2000, Consolidated Stores filed with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission to have KBKids listed on the NASDAQ as a separate and publicly traded company with the ticker symbol "KBKD". The initial public offering was valued at $210 million. and experienced financial losses during 1999 and 2000, partially caused by spending on KBKids. com; and announced plans to sell KB Toys. Bain Capital contributed $18.1 million to the sale, while the remainder was financed by banks that lent the money to KB Toys. The sale ended KB Toys' two decades as a subsidiary, turning it into a private company. Starting that year, KB Toys opened temporary "stores within a store" at select Sears department stores during the Christmas season. The stores were initially known as "KB Toys at Sears", and averaged During 2001, KB Toys agreed to pay approximately $5.4 million (~$ in ) to acquire several inventory lots from the bankrupt eToys.

In April 2002, through dividend recapitalization, Bain Capital received an $85 million payment from KB Toys, which financed the payment through $66 million in bank loans. Glazer received $18 million, while $16 million was divided among other executives. KB Toys suffered tough competition during the 2003 Christmas season, in addition to expensive store leases in malls with decreased customer visitation. With $300 million (~$ in ) in debt,

In February 2005, KB Toys' creditors, including Hasbro and Lego, accused the company's top executives and majority shareholders of improperly providing themselves with multimillion dollar payments prior to the bankruptcy. The creditors, referring to the April 2002 deal, alleged that the payments occurred during a decline in the economy and in KB Toys' business, and that the payments had a "devastating impact" on the company. During the same month, Big Lots (formerly Consolidated Stores) filed a lawsuit against Bain Capital, alleging it was owed $45 million (~$ in ) from the 2000 sale. KB Toys exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2005, with 90 percent of its ownership under PKBT Holdings, an affiliate of Prentice Capital Management. In August 2007, the company announced a business strategy that included layoffs at its headquarters in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. That November, the company had 566 stores and began closing 122 of them. Because of poor sales at its mall based locations, as well as competition, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 11, 2008. The chain began going out of business sales that month. It was the largest mall based toy retailer in the United States at the time, operating in 44 states, as well as Guam and Puerto Rico. The K·B Toys brand and related intangible assets were sold by Streambank LLC to Toys "R" Us on September 4, 2009, for a reported $2.1 million (~$ in ). Because K·B Toys' stores had been closed and liquidated, the sale applied mainly to the company's logo, website, trademarks, and other intellectual properties. Toys "R" Us was initially unsure of how to integrate the K·B name into its business plan. In March 2018, Strategic Marks founder Ellia Kassoff stated that due to Toys "R" Us going out of business in the United States, Strategic Marks planned to open 1,000 KB Toys pop up stores across America for Black Friday (November 2018). After the holiday season, Kassoff would decide which stores would then become permanent. In March 2019, Kasoff cited a lack of funding as the reason that the pop up stores did not open as planned. He stated, "The toy companies had lots of conflicts of interest that prevented them from investing in KB given that they sell to other retailers, and mall operators don't typically invest in prospective tenants. It is taking a while to get this done and build out a strategy. Once we get the money together we will be off and running." Strategic Marks sought an investment bank to finance the opening of 200 to 250 temporary KB Toys stores, which would determine whether permanent locations would be viable. As of 2023, the revival has yet to take place. Another possible reason why the revival never fully materialized is because Strategic Marks failed to renew the trademark for KB Toys in 2020. By March 2000, the lawsuit had been amended to include three additional black plaintiffs, and the suit sought damages as well as an end to the company's check writing policy. In January 2001, a U. S. District judge removed TERC from the case as it was not affected by KB Toys' check writing policy. The lawsuit continued into 2003. In 2001, the district attorney for Napa County, California filed a lawsuit alleging that KB Toys misrepresented sale prices and that it sold returned items as new. The case was settled in August 2003 for $1.2 million (~$ in ). In 2003, a class action lawsuit was filed in Chicago against KB Toys, alleging that the company's stores engaged in using deceptive price tags to manipulate consumers into believing that they were buying products at a discounted price. The lawsuit was settled with KB Toys providing a one week 30 percent discount on purchases of $30 or more.