Toys R Us Closing 2 Rochester-Area Stores

ROCHESTER, NY — Two Rochester-area Toys "R" Us stores are among the 180 the retailer will close as it attempts to emerge from bankruptcy protection. The Toys "R" Us location at 1530 Ridge Road in Greece and the Babies "R" Us at 2335 Marketplace Dr. in Henrietta are among the roughly 20 percent of the chain’s locations to be shuttered. The closings will begin early next month and run through mid-April.

This means that the Toys "R" Us at 654 Hylan Drive in Rochester will stay open — for at least now.

"The reinvention of our brands requires that we make tough decisions about our priorities and focus," Toys R Us chairman and CEO David Brandon said in a release. "The actions we are taking are necessary to give us the best chance to emerge from our bankruptcy proceedings as a more viable and competitive company."

A court still has to sign off on the mass closures. In addition to the closures, Brandon said an undisclosed number of surviving locations will be co-branded as Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores.

The moves come four months after Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid declining sales and climbing debt. Savvy shoppers can take advantage of going-out-of-business sales, which are slated to to begin in February.

In California alone, 27 stores are planned to be shuttered. Florida has 11 locations due for closure, New Jersey has 12 and New York has 15. The toy store chain has faced stiffening competition from Amazon, Walmart and Target.

Last year was a disaster for brick-and-mortar retailers that announced plans to close more than 7,000 stores — a whopping 224 percent increase in announced store closures compared to 2016.

Chains that already have confirmed they will be shuttering locations in 2018 include Bon-Ton, Gap, Sears-Kmart, Tevana and Walgreens.

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Patch Editors Eric Heyl, Dan Hampton and Michael Woyton contributed to this story.

Photo: Getty Images.