Toys R Us/Babies R Us in North Brunswick to close

The North Brunswick Babies R Us/Toys R Us on Route 1 south  is one of up to 182 stores the company will close  as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan. Going-out-of-business sales are scheduled to begin next month and be completed in April.

Toys R Us on Route 1 south in Lawrence and the Babies R Us in West Windsor will remain open.

The following stores are slated to be closed in New Jersey:

Phillipsburg, 1280 Rt. 22 & St. James Ave.

Eatontown, 137 Route 35

Bridgewater, 100 Promenade Blvd.

Union, 2700 Route 22 East

North Brunswick, 909 US Hwy 1 South

Burlington, Rt. 541 & Cadillac Road

Cherry Hill, 2135 Route 38

Wayne, 7 Wayne Hills Mall

Paramus, 545 Route 17 South

East Hanover, 98 Route 10 West

Elizabeth-KidsWo, 900 Center Drive

Mt. Olive, 50 International Drive South

One Comment

  1. This region, collectively but with exceptions, is not being proactive to the degree necessary to “control its own destiny”.

    Where are the stories about local inventions, innovations, and non-franchise business start-ups? Well, there aren’t many of those to write about. The tax climate, resident flight to sunnier and less expensive climates, and bureaucratic bloat by the largest employment sector in the state — local, county and state administrators and non-volunteer elected “leaders” — has left a regional economy too dependent on the professional occupations that actually create new income versus redistribute income, property and sales taxes. The aforementioned inventions, innovations, and non-franchise business start-ups take root elsewhere.

    What has passed as a manifestation of “vibrancy” in the region has been confused with “dynamism”, which it is not. Bakeries, dry cleaners, bank branches, franchise storefronts, check cashing chains, and big box and club retail exist to SERVICE a sector that is rapidly diminishing here. The government and regional home construction sector, along with the large footprint niche of dotcom near-highway distribution center builders, have increasingly been a “last man standing”, but we have very likely come to an inflection point. Federal Tax Code Changes limit the deductability of the mortgages, which will push affluent homeowners to finally scoff at paying the highest property taxes in the nation, and they will scream loudly at the local level for tax relief. This will lead to reduction of services, as the administration and crony class prioritize sustaining pension vestiture, job preservation, and finally, the providing of essential local services, in that order (note; If retirement age can’t be attained, with full payout of all accumulated sick time, plus pension salaries that too typically equal the average of the last 3 overtime-embellished years of total pay, then life just isn’t worth living — because they can’t fly off to North Carolina or Florida at age 50 something, picking up a “second career” in the process while continuing to be paid by remaining New Jerseyans. Nice!).

    The state of public education in NJ bears special examination. Every two-bit town of a mile in diameter is incorporated here, seemingly with its own school boards, its own “superintendent” of schools, its own district staffers, and then its own overhead at each of several schools. What Elementary School today reaches to 8th grade, when there are opportunities to create “Elementary” and “Middle Schools”, replete with their own staffers, too — many of whom have little direct student contact during any given day (or parent contact, either. What are they doing? Ah. Meetings. And providing selective and/or partial data on school testing performance, so that ratings services like Niche.com can’t judge them “apples-to-apples” with other peer schools, unless the data says they should!). The same comments apply to local policing and public works departments. All of whom have generous pensions, compared to us in the “private sector” who have 401Ks, often self-funded, and have to pay $2,000/year to have our cars repaired as the unionized future public-pensioner slow processes the pothole repair; sits at a speed trap to fund the town’s budget by aggressive policing, typically at the end of each month; or makes himself or herself available as a teacher just once a year for one 15 minute meeting with a parent to discuss a child’s performance in the entire year’s worth of a grade level.

    What does this have to do with a decrepit Sam’s Club or Toys R Us outlet closing near Princeton? First, that’s Darwinism working — that Sam’s Club or TRU has been in the area for probably decades, long outliving the typical lifespan of any business. It had no special obligation to continue to operate indefinitely, especially as too many of its customers have “stepped out” to adjacent or nearby dollar stores, or taken their time and money online for the “convenience” of home delivery from Amazon.com, and oftentimes, they pay LESS even with shipping included for the privilege! While I feel badly for the employees, the commercial landlords who held the paper on these cavernous properties more than 20 years after Amazon was founded are fools for dedicating so much capital to useless real estate, flooding the region (and most other corners of the economy, to be sure) with unneeded capacity, pressuring even healthier operators through their negligence. Which is a good word for it, and more aptly also applies to LOCAL ZONING who took undeveloped space and authorized tens or hundreds of thousands of feet for “mixed-use” or “retail/commercial”, when it wasn’t necessary (well, it was necessary to the lobbyist who knows when the local two bit town has its zoning meetings).

    As for being angry at Walmart for closing a store, or Toys R Us for not getting out of bankruptcy fast enough (think about that for a second), depriving whoever it was who enjoyed shopping there from doing so conveniently (I noted that remaining locations are in Freehold and Langhorne, so Godspeed, loyal Walmart shoppers!), blame really goes ON THE COMMUNITY, who voted with their feet for the money saving or convenience of shopping elsewhere.

    Locals need to import a more ruthlessness and efficiency to their outlook on such matters, or be content to sit back and note with gnashed teeth the “loss” of a failed or changing business. Without a reduction in regional taxes, a reimagination of the social contract with local and state government, and an express and emphatic demand for BETTER OUTCOMES to justify the investment, expect MANY MORE TO LEAVE, and the pace of store closing announcements on news websites like this to continue or even accelerate. The region needs to become a magnet for dynamism. Right now, with the exceptions of certain pockets, the region is a repellent for dynamism.

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