Toys 'R' Us shuts Hyderabad store within 24 hours

Hyderabad, March 14"  Toys 'R' Us, a leading American toy and clothing retailer, shut its store at a shopping mall in Hyderabad within 24 hours of opening it due to some legal issues, sources said.

The over 4,000 square feet store was opened in Sarath City Capital mall on March 11 but closed the next day.

The mall owners reportedly pulled the plug on Toys 'R' Us due to a no-compete clause with another global toy retailer, which already had a store in the same mall.

Toys 'R' Us has been launched in India in two formats - Toys 'R' Us, which is the world's leading toy store, and Babies 'R' Us, a one-stop destination for baby essentials.

The retailer's India operations are run by a Bengaluru-based firm, Ace turtle, which entered into a joint venture with the Flipkart Group's wholesale entity in India in June 2021 to acquire the licence for Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us.

This is the second entry of the American toy and clothing retailer in India in six years. In 2017, it had tied up with Tablez India, a division of Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Group International, for an exclusive master franchise agreement.

The global toy brand was launched in India in October 2017. It had plans to open over 200 stores but it could manage to open only 14 stores which wound up within three years of operations.