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Toys R Us stores are slashing prices on Apple products as the toy giant prepares to shutter or sell all 735 locations across the US

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By Kate Taylor

  • Toys R Us locations are slashing prices on Apple products as the retailer prepares to shutter or sell all its US locations, AppleInsider reported.
  • One person on Reddit said they got an Apple TV at Toys R Us for $75, while Apple is charging $149 for the device.
  • Toys R Us announced plans last week to close or sell all 735 of its remaining US locations.

Toys R Us is slashing prices on Apple products as it prepares to shutter or sell all its US stores.

Some Toys R Us locations have already started discounting Apple products, AppleInsider reported Friday. The trade publication said it called five stores and found that four of them were doing so.

One person on Reddit said they got an Apple TV from Toys R Us for $75, while Apple is charging $149 for the device. They also said they got a $54 iPod Nano, a product no longer sold by Applethat typically costs about $145 from third-party retailers.

Toys R Us told employees on Wednesday that it planned to close or sell all 735 of its remaining US stores, beginning an “orderly wind-down” of operations. Early the next day, it filed a motion to liquidate its US business.

The company recently started clearance sales at about 170 stores that it plans to close in April.

Experts told Business Insider that customers could expect to see blowout clearance sales across the country in the coming weeks.

“Toys R Us is not going to want to drag this out,” Corali Lopez-Castro, a bankruptcy lawyer and managing partner at Kozyak Tropin and Throckmorton, told Business Insider before Toys R Us filed its liquidation papers.

Toys R Us has struggled to compete with rivals such as Walmart, Target, and Amazon in recent years. And the company had been saddled with debt following a $6.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2005.

“These high payments prevented the chain from making the changes necessary to compete, like improving the in-store experience and beefing up e-commerce in the age of Amazon,” Business Insider’s Dennis Green reported, citing the company’s filing. “The debt also prevented the chain from keeping up the appearance of its stores and ensuring its employees were well-paid.”

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