Dive Brief:
- Babies R Us plans to expand to Mexico, parent company WHP Global said Monday. WHP Global is partnering with El Puerto de Liverpool, a Mexican omnichannel retailer, to open Babies R Us stores and an e-commerce site in the region.
- The first Mexican Babies R Us store is set to open in the second half of this year, followed by a flagship e-commerce platform and additional stores, WHP and Liverpool said. A WHP spokesperson said the location for the first Babies R Us store is currently being identified and more details will be shared when they’re available.
- WHP and Liverpool worked together to open Mexico’s first Toys R Us in October and that store “received an incredible response from customers,” the companies said.
Dive Insight:
Babies R Us is one of the few remaining national big-box baby-focused retailers in North America. It went out of business when parent company Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017.
“We are excited to build on the success of Toys R Us in Mexico and expand our partnership with Liverpool to introduce Babies R Us to the Mexican market,” said Jamie Uitdenhowen, WHP’s executive vice president of Toys R Us and Babies R Us at WHP Global.
Liverpool will operate Babies R Us under a royalty partnership, Maria Pia Medrano of Fitch Ratings told Retail Dive in an email. She specializes in corporate finance and credit risk of companies in Latin America. “The toys market is an underdeveloped retail segment in Mexico,” she said. “There are a few toy store chains in the market, so it will be interesting to see how the market responds to this new participant.”
WHP acquired a controlling stake in Toys R Us and Babies R Us in 2021. Since then, it’s steadily moved to reestablish the iconic brands and their physical store footprints. WHP and Macy’s launched a partnership in 2021 that sought to bring Toys R Us shop-in-shops to Macy’s stores.
WHP also opened flagship stores at American Dream near New York City and at the Mall of America near Minneapolis. In September, the company said it wanted to open up to 24 flagship U.S. Toys R Us stores. WHP also opened a flagship Babies R Us at American Dream in the summer.
Babies R Us currently operates in more than 20 countries with e-commerce sites and more than 100 branded and independent stores. Liverpool has 303 stores under its namesake and Suburbia banners, along with 112 specialty boutiques and 28 shopping centers in 18 Mexican states.
“One of the interesting things about this new entrant is the e-commerce offering they announced,” Medrano said. “Liverpool has a strong digital offering and logistics system, so this channel will likely be very competitive compared with others in this specialized segment.”
WHP’s brand portfolio, which includes Bonobos, Anne Klein and a majority interest in Express, generates over $7 billion in global retail sales.
