Photos by Retiring Guy
5/30/2021 update, "Despite 'get back to fun' promo, customers still in short supply in Madison WI", starts here
Photo by Retiring Guy
Running into the arms of Fox News for free publicity
Photos taken 2 hours before 11 a.m. opening time
Photos by Retiring Guy
Working overtime, offering irresistible deals to put folks at risk.
Good corporate citizen?
Or desperate money-grubbing business enterprise?
Reopening germnasiums in Florida and Texas? Yikes!!
3/26/2020 update "Pandemic rains on its parade", starts here
Photos by Retiring Guy
Trading teddy bears for trampolines: Former Toys R Us opens as Urban Air Adventure Park. (Wisconsin State Journal, 11/22/2019)
A germnasium, in other words. Walking through the automatic sliding doors, visitors are welcomed by flashing lights, bright colors and a variety of play options. Instead of paying based on time spent at Urban Air, customers are charged based on the amount and types of attractions they would like to use, starting at $15.99 for trampolines up to $29.99 for all-access. Parents who come with children can also get access to the same attractions for $5.99.
10/4/2019 update, "Still workin' on it", starts here.
Photo by Retiring Guy
Wisconsin locations still "coming soon"!!!
Other West Towne Mall posts:
Von Maur to the rescue at West Towne Mall, (10/4/2019)
Not so Forever 21. (10/4/2019)
Boston Store UPDATE. While management wonders what to do with 140,000 square feet of empty space, they invite young white women to hang out. (8/19/2019)
Can't hide the emptiness at the former Payless Shoe Source store. (8/12/2019)
UPDATE. Space formerly occupied by Sears remains vacant. (7/9/2019)
Wind-driven signage. (5/1/2019)
It was 19 months ago when the Apple Store moved from West Towne to Hilldale. (5/1/2019)
Then and Now: North and south of the Beltline and east of West Towne Mall. (4/30/2019)
Then and Now: North and south of the Beltline in the West Towne Mall area. (4/2/2019)
Food court directory. (9/24/2018)
UPDATE. West Towne Mall Management now prefers traffic cones to pothole repair. (4/30/2018)
Total Wine UPDATE: Now open for business. (4/22/2018)
Original 5/1/2019 post, "Another West Towne Toys R Us reboot: Make way for Urban Air Adventure Park", starts here.
Trampoline and adventure park planned for former Toys R Us at West Towne Mall. (Wisconsin State Journal, 5/1/2019)
The national chain based in Dallas, Texas, features trampolines, rock walls, dodge ball, an "urban warrior" course and other activities. The 48,000-square-foot business also will include a cafe and rooms for birthday parties. It's another step in the mall's evolution, where more experiential businesses are becoming more common place.
Closest locations? (Only one of which is open.)
Remember Discovery Zone?
Related reading:
Discovery zones out. (CNN Money, 6/30/1999)
In a move that caught many parents by surprise, the Elmsford, N.Y.-based Discovery Zone Inc. (DVZN), which has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since April 20, abruptly closed 106 of its 200-plus Fun Centers over the weekend.
Parents, many of whom did not find out about the closings until they arrived at the centers with carloads of children, were reportedly sent scrambling to find other locations for their childrens' parties.
9/17/2018 update, "Party City reboots empty buidling as Halloween and holiday toy pop-up stores", starts here.
Photo by Retiring Guy
The 55,000-square-foot facility will be home to a Halloween City and Toy City, both pop-up concept stores from Party City Holdco, the parent company of Party City.
1a, the narrowly focused, original sense, is defined as to shut down and restart (a computer or program).
- 800 number
- automatic teller
- fajita
- jug wine
- pay-cable
- subdirectory
- username
5/15/2018 update, "Store closing and a carnival sets up next door", starts here.
Do I hear 60?
How low can you go?
4/21/2018 update, " Toys R Us sweetens the pot: Up to 40% off (though it seems like they're not all that excited about it)", starts here.
Photos by Retiring Guy
One of the window signs notes that merchandise is 'up to 40% off', but you'll need to be within 50 feet of the entrance. Otherwise, it's like reading the bottom line of an eye chart.
4/5/2018 update, "Still plenty of merchandise available at GOING OUT OF BUSINESS sale", starts here.
The store will remain open "until around mid-May", according to one of the employees.
EVERYTHING UP TO 30% OFF
But probably not anything in the Star Wars section. (Sorry, folks, I didn't check up close.)
The main reason for my visit? I hoped to find mega-bargains on garden kitsch menagerie additions, but these pricey collectibles are only 10% off. Will anything be left by mid-May? Will prices be slashed by then just to get rid of stuff?
All photos by Retiring Guy
Stay tuned!
3/15/2018 update, "R.I.P. Madison West Towne Toys R Us (1989?-2018)", starts here.
Photo by Retiring Guy
West Towne Mall store among 740 in U.S. to close with demise of Toys R Us. (Wisconsin State Journal, 3/15/2018)
Toys R Us had dominated the toy store business in the 1980s and early 1990s, when it was one of the first of the "category killers"— a store totally devoted to one thing. Its scale gave it leverage with toy sellers and it disrupted general merchandise stores and mom-and-pop shops. Children sang along with commercials about "the biggest toy store there is."
But the company lost ground to discounters like Target and Walmart, and then to Amazon, as even nostalgic parents sought deals elsewhere.
Development timeline of the site:.
- 1972. Opens as General Cinema twin theater.
- 1981. One theater split to form a triplex. Total seats: 1,094.
- 1987. Marcus Theaters takes ownership.
- 1988. Theaters closed and building demolished.
- 1989? Toys R Us opens 55,000-square-foot store
Original 1/24/2018 post, "Pop Quiz. In Madison Wisconsin, Toys R Us is closing (a) East Towne store (b) West Towne store (c) both (d) neither", starts here.
An email sez West Towne
Click.
Click.
Click.
Oops! Shoppers leave Toys 'R' Us on Madison's Far West Side on as the store prepared to open on Thanksgiving 2017. The 55,000-square-foot store will remain open while the Toy's R Us-owned Babies R Us at East Towne will be among 182 stores scheduled to close, according to the company, which filed for bankruptcy in September. [emphasis added]
See if your Toys R Us store is on the closure list. (USA Today, 1/24/2018)
Zeier Road runs along the eastern edge of East Towne Mall.
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