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With Toys R Us gone, Amazon wants to send out a holiday toy catalog of its own

Amazon logo for liveblog

Now that Amazon has helped kill off Toys R Us, it wants to borrow the retailer’s iconic print holiday toy catalog. The online behemoth is interested in creating its own print catalog to mail out and also be handed out at Whole Foods (which it owns), according to Bloomberg.

Toys R Us was plagued with billions in debt when permanently closed last month — in part because of competition from online stores like Amazon. For many kids, its “Big Book” toy catalog was a staple of fall. The 100-page catalog would arrive near the end of October for kids to look through and create a wishlist before December.

Now that the retailer is done, various companies are trying to scoop up the customers that headed to their shelves every December. Party City, for example, will open 50 pop-up toy shops for the holidays. Target will have more store space for toys.

It’s just especially amusing that Amazon, having helped kill off these physical retailers, is trying to learn from them to make even more money. It bought Whole Foods last year and had even been interested in acquiring some Toys “R” Us locations before the store closed. Maybe next we’ll hear that Amazon has a special holiday mascot called Geremy the Giraffe.



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