Talk:KB Toys/Archives/2014

Untitled
I don't recall the exact facts, but I know that KB got sued for their "fake markdowns" -- almost all items in the store would have a pre-printed price sticker, with that price then crossed out in red and a new price marked. This made it seem as if the item was on discount, thereby making it more appealing to the customer. The problem with this, however, is that the item was never at the original price. Ironically, even with the fake discount, toys at KB are almost always more expensive than the SRP used at other locations. JPG-GR 03:34, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I have to disagree, the few KBs I've been to had ridiculously low prices, perpetually in a 'closeout sale' or something similar.
 * In addition, a new law suit was added in the previous week by SpinMaster for copying a little Air Hog helicopter, breaking patent laws, anything on that?


 * Here's the pricing lawsuit info. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news03/kb_toys.html

Class Action for Unpaid Overtime
I worked there for a year in 2001. As an 'assistant manager' (making minimum wage) they would give us about 1:30 to 1:45 closing work, but only 1 hour to finish it all. If we didn't finish the work we would get reprimanded, if we remained clocked in and finished it we would get fired. Most 'assistant managers' would do 30 to 45 minutes off the clock every shift. A year after I quit in 2002 they had a class action lawsuit for all this unpaid overtime, but I can't seem to find it online. It would be nice if someone could find that info, just so that other distressed companies don't think they can get away with doing this too.

In case anyone cares, the reason why they went out of business is Wal Mart, Target, and others. A year round toy store can't compete with a store that adds 10 isles of the most popular toys (for 20% less) in November, then switches those isles to Easter, then summer stuff, then holloween. KB made 70% of their profit in just November and December and every year the Wal Marts ate more and more of that until KB died. I'm sure someone can find an 'expert opinion' that says the exact same thing that all KB managers knew in 2001.GlowBee (talk) 19:33, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Complete Bias/ Non- Encyclopediatic Writing
Can someone do something about that large chunck of text talking about KB's finanical troubles? It's awful.

Can there be any expansion on the practices of KB Toys, recent financial matters, history, ect? Toys R Us is much bigger and better of an article than this...

From An Employee's Point of View
I've worked for KB as a sales associate for a couple of years now, and I have never seen these "Fake Markdowns". Sometimes an item's markdown may seem strange, if the price is changed many times, then the "was" price is always listed as the price of the item when it first entered the system.. ReaperRob 17:10, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Another employee's remarks- KB does a large amount of "close-out" transactions, purchasing items from wholesale retailers in quantity when that company decides to unload its stock. This is when you see the items at their price level at present (which may be in part derived from their original sales price). As with any retail chain, items that do not move will be marked down further at store and warehouse level, with new stickers replacing old prices. Some items may also increase in price, but reflect a change in venue in terms of a sale. For instance, a 3.99 USD item with no chance at being a sale item may be bumped up to 4.96 USD and grouped as a number sale. The last digit of the item becomes targeted for a sale, and for this example, the number 6 (The last digit of the price being a 6). A common technique is to make a Buy 1 Get 1 50% off sale off of numbered items, so now instead of it being 4.96 USD, the item now becomes 2.48 in price in conjunction another 4.96 USD item, representing a 25% reduction in total price. The technique increases increased UPT (Units Per Transaction) and ADT (Average Dollars per Transaction), signs of healthy, competitive, and interactive selling.

Fair use rationale for Image:Kblogo.PNG
Image:Kblogo.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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200 Million Dollar Loan from GE
I heard that KB Toys was given a massive loan, an overhaul of their executives, and a revamping of their business from General Electric. Is this true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.194.139.140 (talk) 07:00, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

article should be flagged as stub
history of store is very week. really only creation date is provided. how did it get to be large company? over what time frame? in nyc area, i've only become aware of their cluttered newspaper insert ads in last few years (not that they may not have been around earlier; just didn't notice the ads). company website at http://www.kbtoys.com/help/aboutus.html?style=default/place/ajrd&_e=49425&_v=494255D2OMYKa0506D0852A4 states that "the Kaufman Brothers opened the confectionery business that grew into the K•B Family of Stores." how did a confectionary evolved into a toy store? over what time frame? at largest how many stores? when? who are these "kaufman brothers"?

who is current owner? company website at http://www.kbtoys.com/help/aboutus.html?style=default/place/ajrd&_e=49425&_v=494255D2OMYKa0506D0852A4 states "The people of The Parent Company, based in Denver, operate KBtoys.com." http://investor.theparentcompany.com/index.cfm gives stock price suggesting KB is owned by a public company. thus, wiki article on kb toys stating "It is privately held in Pittsfield, Massachusetts" is not necessarily precise.

clearly stub class--98.116.115.220 (talk) 12:38, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Here is some data regarding KB Toys history, complete with sources the article cites.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/KB-Toys-Company-History.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.194.139.140 (talk) 17:49, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Don't get ahead of reality
until it finishes liquidation and everything else under (I assume) Chapter Seven proceedings, the entity should remain in present tense.

Some stores are still open (as of now). It can't be a "formerly" or "was" until all flickers of existence are extinguished.

This seems to be a continual problem with Wikipedia articles (Lehman Bros, et al.)--98.116.115.220 (talk) 05:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I agree that there is a continual problem in a large number of Wikipedia articles: Not getting the tenses of verbs correct, and other associated manure. Furthermore, too many articles contain speculations or "plans" about the future -- stuff written by those who have no conception that "plans" can change in five minutes. What a bunch a lame-brains.
 * Furthermore, we bring such things to the attention of the Wikipedia organization, and what do they do about it?? Well, not one damn thing!
 * Lazy, lazy, lazy...

98.67.168.17 (talk) 11:40, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your suggestion. When you believe an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the  link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills.  New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). With regards to material on future events, this is often added by new editors not familiar with Wikipedia policy, see WP:CRYSTAL. Siawase (talk) 12:06, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Financial Problems
Edited the financial problems section to correct some grammer and remove a biased line regarding dividends: "in a move that did not improve KB Toys's financial position." Dividends, as payments to shareholders, do not improve a company's financial position by definition. Inclusion was unnecessary. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mkultra14 (talk • contribs) 22:46, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

court-ordered sale
I find it odd that the page doesn't mention http://poststar.com/business/local/k-b-toys-holds-unannounced-sale-to-settle-lawsuit/article_aad56c33-e553-5c4f-8ffe-9302b6f3da99.html, which is one of the catalysts with the company's drop. --108.32.15.31 (talk) 01:09, 3 December 2014 (UTC)