The coronavirus continues to impact industries with a strong presence in China from autoparts to technology. And the toy industry is no less vulnerable to the virus and its deleterious effect on global supply chains.
“We’re still getting over the loss of Toys R Us, your dedicated big box store, and the store that took its chances on inventors and little products that one day became big products,” Steve Pasierb, president of the Toy Industry Association, told Yahoo Finance during an interview at Toy Fair 2020. “It’s a gap in the industry that we’re still trying to fill.
Beyond the immediate fears related to the coronavirus, the toy industry is still grappling with the loss of Toys R Us, which filed for bankruptcy in 2017, before shuttering its stores in 2018. Last year, Tru Kids Brands, which bought the Toys R Us intellectual property after the bankruptcy filing, said it was reviving the brand with a small number of stores and an online business.
“The interesting drive has been that the video game industry, and gaming online has driven a lot of toys, everything from action figures to plush to game extensions,” he said.