Do I really want to be a Toys R Us Kid?

By now I’ve expressed how I was a bit of a Barbie freak in my youth. So it wouldn’t have been surprising if I went a little fangirly in the Toys R Us Barbie dream house. But my first step into the house was greeted by a disturbing display of Hunger Games and Twilight Barbies. Twilight Barbie? While I’m not a fan of either series, these Barbies upset me more because they represented the complete surrender of Barbie to mainstream culture. In my childhood, licensed Barbie characters were from movies such as The Wizard of Oz and Free Willy and TV shows such as Star Trek. Licensed Barbies shifted from cult classics and American favorites to teen fads.

A few interesting things I noticed in the store were the complete changes in atmosphere. The only sections of the store were the really loud and in-your-face ones, such as Jurassic park and Lego. Some sections were pretty deserted, such as the bicycles (after all, who goes to Times Square to buy a bike?) and the video game level. The video game section makes sense in the age of online shopping such as Amazon and reduced price stores like Best Buy. The “educational” sections such as Playmobil, Imaginarium, books and board games were fairly deserted as well. Then again, we did go to the store late in the day, so it was MUCH less crowded then normal, especially considering it was tourist season.

I also noticed how while the store was packed to the brims with licensed products, most consumers that I saw by the cashiers were buying the items they probably can’t find at their local Toys R Us, such as giant and novelty candy items, or touristy products such as I <3 NY Geoffrey the Toys R Us giraffe.