KB Toys - #20

KB Toys was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store.Kaufman Brothers opened a wholesale toy store in 1946. The toy business was an acquisition from a candy client who could not pay its outstanding debts. The retailer ended its candy wholesale business two years later to to focus on toys. 

Retail sales began in 1973 as the company moved away from wholesaling to become a mall-based toy retailer, using the name Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby.

In 1981, Melville Corporation purchased the 210 store Kay-Bee chain from the Kaufman family for $64.2M. The retailer and Melville Corporation went through a series of acquisitions in the 1980s and early 1990s causing a major restructuring and closing of 250 underperforming stores in the new portfolio.

In 1996, Kay-Bee was sold to Consolidated Stores Corporation (now known as Big Lots) for $315M. By 1999, the company operated 1,324 stores and was the second-largest toy retailer in the U.S.. It also changed its name to KB Toys that same year.

In 2000, Bain Capital entered the picture after Consolidated Stores could not create a profitable company and purchased KB Toys for $305M (notice we are going in the wrong direction!)

KB Toys declared bankruptcy in both 2004 and 2008 due to competition, expensive mall rent structures and poor sales. It officially threw in the towel in February, 2009. closing all 461 stores (this from a peak of over 1,300 stores). 

Toys "R" Us acquired the remains of K·B Toys (website, trademarks, and intellectual property rights). "Strategic Marks, a company that buys and revives defunct brands, purchased the brand in 2016, and planned to open new stores using the name beginning in 2019; plans for this revival, however, were cancelled due to a lack of funding. As of 2020, all trademarks for K·B Toys have been abandoned by Strategic Marks and is currently not used by any company." [Wikipedia]