It's a no regrets take. There's a reason that the Toys R Us commercials never showed the inside of the store. It's because the stores were a tremendous let down.
Picture yourself as a 10-year old kid. You're walking from your parent's car to your first Toys R Us. It's a large, big box store, like a smaller early Walmart. Your expectations are through the roof with visions of endless toys and a potential Pleasure Island from Pinocchio experience. Then you walk in where you see barrenly stocked egg-shelled colored shelves on ugly white tiled floors illuminated by dull florescent light. The first aisle is full of baby toys. Pass. The second one is full of girl toys. Pass. Then you get to an aisle of boys toys in boxes. Can you play with them? No. But hey, at least we're getting somewhere. Next aisle contains the video games. We’re cooking with gas now! This is what I’m here for. Oh wait, all the good NES games are $45. Do I spend the $20 I have on Popeye? Well, I can rent the good ones for a weekend at Blockbuster for $3 and beat the game. Meh, pass. But hey, there are more aisles. Let’s go! Crap, next three aisles are full of baby furniture. What the hell? Half the store doesn’t even have toys. And where’s the giant piano like in Big? This place sucks.
So as you can see, it was overrated.
