BURST
The closure of B.C.’s last Toys “R” Us outlet has been a long time coming.
David Ian Gray, a retail advisor and instructor at Capilano University’s school of business, said many of the factors contributing to the closure of the store at Willowbrook Shopping Centre in Langley — including the rise of online shopping, direct-to-consumer sales, and niche product stores — “weren’t adapted to, or addressed.”
“If you’re at Walmart, (shoppers are) doing other things, and they can get the kids’ stuff,” he said, adding that many “prestige toy brands or kids games started to sell direct.”
The Langley Toys “R” Us was suddenly closed on Tuesday due to nearly $100,000 in unpaid bills, according to a notice posted on the front door of the store.
The notice, posted by Willowbrook owners QuadReal Property Group, said the store had defaulted on its lease over unpaid rent, property taxes, GST and other costs totalling $98,337.59, according to reporting by the Surrey NOW-Leader .
Toys “R” Us was told to clear out the store by Jan. 16 and return keys, security cards and other possessions to QuadReal.
The store was closed and the notice had been taken down when Postmedia visited. In an email, QuadReal confirmed that the store had closed, but provided no other details.
The Langley store was the last Toys “R” Us store operating in B.C. Locations in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo and Victoria all closed in 2025.
“It’s been a tough business for toy stores, just in general, because there’s so much availability of supply,” Gray said.
The national chain, a landmark for generations of children, once had a sprawling footprint of 103 stores across the country after billionaire Doug Putman bought and expanded Canadian operations. At least 38 locations across the country closed in 2025, leaving just 40 stores remaining, according to reporting by the Edmonton Journal and Financial Post. Twelve of the remaining stores were looking for new owners last November.
The chain of was founded in 1957 by American entrepreneur Charles Lazarus in Washington, D.C., and first expanded into Canada in 1984 with a location in Brampton, Ont. Toys “R” Us was among the first chains of big-box retailers to scatter the Canadian landscape, but the company struggled to compete with the likes of Walmart and Amazon.
After the U.S. parent filed for bankruptcy in 2017, the Toronto-based investment firm Fairfax Financial Holdings bought the chain’s Canadian assets for about $300 million. Putman, then known as the entrepreneur who converted dozens of HMV music store locations into Sunrise Records and worked with his father at Everest Toys — one of North America’s largest toy distributors — bought 81 Toys “R” Us Canada shops in 2021 for an undisclosed amount.
In 2025, Everest defaulted on a $26 million loan from Toronto-Dominion Bank, signalling trouble for Putnam’s other retail properties, according to James Zahn, editor-in-chief of The Toy Book, a leading toy industry publication.
“Everest Toys, which in many ways was the foundation for Putman’s empire, is in receivership right now in Canada, and there is the residual side effects that are starting to impact the Toys “R” Us Canada business,” Zahn said.
Postmedia reached out to Toys “R” Us owner Putman Investments but didn’t receive a response before publication.
With a file from Zac Delaney, Edmonton Journal.