Toys 'R' Us closes Hyderabad store within 24 hours

Toys 'R' Us, a well-known American toy and clothing retailer, opened a new store in Hyderabad's Sarath City Capital mall on March 11 but had to shut it down within 24 hours due to legal issues. The store, which covered an area of over 4,000 square feet, was closed on March 12 as the mall owners invoked a no-compete clause with another global toy retailer that already had a store in the same mall.

Toys 'R' Us had recently launched its India operations through a joint venture between Ace Turtle, a Bengaluru-based firm, and Flipkart Group's wholesale entity. The joint venture had acquired the license for both Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us.

This is the second time the American toy and clothing retailer has attempted to enter the Indian market. In 2017, it had tied up with Tablez India, a division of Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Group International, for an exclusive master franchise agreement. Although the brand had plans to open more than 200 stores in India, it could only manage to open 14 stores, which had to shut down within three years of operations.