The massive Toys R Us superstore in Times Square, which wowed shoppers with a 60-foot indoor Ferris wheel, a growling, 20-foot animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex, and a life-size Barbie dollhouse, had its last shopping day Wednesday.
"When they were little guys, this was the big thing," said Mike Packer, of Wayne, Pennsylvania, whose 18-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter decided, for nostalgia's sake, to take a final spin.
Toys R Us opened in Times Square in 2001, when the neighborhood was still only a few years removed from its bad-old-days as a center for adult entertainment and grime.
C. Bradley Mendelson, an agent for the building's owner, Bow Tie Partners, said that at roughly $2,000 per square foot, rental prices for ground-floor space in the area have become extraordinarily expensive — and with 21,000 square feet of it, Toys R Us simply had too much space to cover.
Two retailers, Gap and Old Navy, have signed leases to occupy some of the ground-floor space and other parts of the building and will move in by mid-2016, Mendelson said.
