Toys 'R' Us plans World's Largest Toy Store
Aug. 2 -- Toys ‘R’ Us has announced plans to build theworld’s largest toy store, a 101,000-square-foot emporium with alife-size dollhouse and a 60-foot-tall Ferris wheel in TimesSquare.
The three-story glass-enclosed store, which would become thecompany’s flagship, is scheduled to open next summer, said JohnEyler, the company’s chief executive officer.
“We expect it to draw over 20 million visitors a year — that’stwo and a half times more people than visit the Empire StateBuilding, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island combined,” Eylersaid Tuesday.
The store would join a host of family-oriented theme restaurantsand corporate stores that have opened in Times Square in recentyears. Its neighbors would include the WWF Store, the ESPNZonerestaurant and the Disney Store.
Court Rules Against Toys ‘R’ Us
Meanwhile, a federal appeals court onTuesday ruled against the nation’s largest toy retailer, findingToys ‘R’ Us had acted illegally to raise competitorsprices and reduce competition.
The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel in Chicago wasa major victory for the Federal Trade Commission which had firstbrought the charges in 1996.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejectedthe company’s challenge of the FTC’s findings and its order tohalt practices which the agency charged had led toy makers todeny their most popular products to discount shopping clubs.
“We conclude that the commission’s decision is supported bysubstantial evidence on the record, and that its remedial decreefalls within the broad discretion it has been granted under theFTC Act,” said Judge Diane Wood in the opinion.
The Paramus, N.J.-based company did not return calls seekingcomment.
FTC: Toy Chain Prevented Competition
FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky hailed the decision as animportant reaffirmation of antitrust law with broaderimplications for Internet retailing. “I think it restores someprinciples that people had begun to doubt,” he told Reuters.