Hours after Shocking Death of 'Toys R Us' Founder, Rare Interview Reveals the Kind of Man He Really Was
Only a week after Toys R Us announced it was closing its doors across the country leaving nearly 33,000 Americans unemployed, another bomb was dropped.
Charles P. Lazarus, founder of Toys R Us, has died at the age of 94.
Today, to mourn the loss of the incredible man that was Charles P. Lazarus and the story that has been around for more than six decades, let’s take a trip down memory lane.
How it all began…
“Everybody I met in service said they were gonna go home and get married and have children,” said Lazarus in a 2016 interview published to YouTube.
That small realization was the spark that started the legacy thousands are mourning the loss of today.
Lazarus predicted the baby boom. He knew millions of children were about to enter the world. Parents would need cribs – and lots of them.
“I decided that was enough for me to go into the baby furniture business.”
Despite his accurate call on the amount of children that would be born – he was absolutely blown away with just how big the toy business ending up being and revealed that entering the toy industry was a complete and total fluke.
“Initially we just sold baby furniture; cribs, highchairs, bathing things, strollers, dressing tables… We got into the toy business by pure accident.”
Then that fateful day arrived. A customer entered the story and inquired about a toy for their baby.
Charles response? “What do you mean a toy?”
The customer went on to explain how it would be nice to have something for their baby to play with in the highchair or play pen.
And that was that. The first toys the store every sold were baby toys.
Fast forward a few years down the road. Charles learned a very valuable and expensive lesson. By the time baby number two arrived, parents had no need for new baby furniture. They reused it all. But there was something they didn’t reuse – something that children kept wanting more and more of. You guessed it. Toys.
Lazarus completely dedicated his business to giving children the best toys the market had to offer.
He often described the toy industry as a ‘happy business.’
“You’ve gotta be kinda a kid. When you look at the creativity that is the toy market, you have to have imagination. You have to think like a child.”
As the interview wrapped up, he was asked one final question. One that revealed the depths of who Charles really was and what he believed to be true.
“Is there anything you’d like to say to your grandchildren?”
A grin spread across his wrinkled face.
“Yeah,” he said. “Keep your eye on where you wanna go. You can’t do it unless you really want it and if you want it, don’t let anything stop you.”
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