A few days ago, it was announced that Toys R Us was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The internet flipped their shit over it.
Within an hour of the announcement, memes already started flooding twitter and facebook saying “RIP Toys R US”, “RIP Geoffrey” and general reactions of “oh no it’s closing” mostly from people who I’m certain haven’t gone in to a Toys R Us store to buy anything in probably a decade or more.
This was always accompanied with links to news articles discussing this, but clearly the people sharing them and reacting never bothered to actually read the articles: they clearly state the situation as it is.
The company, as mentioned above, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In very simple order, this will give them a set of protections against the debt increasing due to interest, among other benefits. The idea is that the company will work, under the varying protections offered, on successfully repaying the debts owed.
This isn’t like HHGregg filing Chapter 11 earlier this year and choosing to close down all the stores and liquidate its assets – Toys R Us is going to keep operating as best it can, while still trying to find ways to cut costs and earn more.
If the company was going, they would file Chapter 7 and cease all operations. This isn’t the case here.
https://twitter.com/DanDoubleYou/status/911166316500877312
The above is a fine example of someone missing the point. The above is pretty much wrong on each and every point.
Now, to that end, the articles posted explain this, in basic form, and beyond that they also discuss that the company has stated they will not be closing any stores – something some companies do to cut expenses; a technique which usually backfires. Still, that won’t be the case here, and going into the holiday season the company hopes to
Now, the future? Post holiday? Well, I have ideas as to how that will go, but I don’t want to discuss them here. What I do want to say is, again, how idiotic the internets reaction to this news was given that the very articles they were linking to and reacting to explained the above!
The company isn’t shutting down. Stores are, currently, not closing. The company simply filed for a legal protection due to debts. No, this isn’t the best situation for a company to be in, but it is far, and I mean far from ceasing business.
Some people, however, have paid attention to the news and actually understand what’s going on.
To everyone worrying about @ToysRUs – I don't think they're going anywhere just yet! 👍🙏🍀#ToysRUs #ToysRUsBankruptcy https://t.co/v5D1Wg09KN
— #ForTheMany #RejoinEU ✊🏻❄️ (@Amethystra80) September 22, 2017