Toys R Us workers in Times Square to get pink slips for Christmas

Retail chain will lay off 373 employees when it closes its flagship store

Toys R Us Times Square
Toys R Us store in Times Square

The employees of the Toys R Us flagship in Times Square may want to hold off on splurging on gifts this holiday season.

The New Jersey-based toy store chain informed the New York State Department of Labor that it plans to lay off 373 employees when it closes its store at 1514 Broadway, between West 44th and 45th streets.

“We are working diligently to assist employees who express an interest in open positions at other locations once the store closes after the 2015 holiday season,” a spokesperson for the company told Crain’s.

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The company’s three-story, 110,000-square-foot flagship store is just one of about 20 Toys R Us and Kids R Us locations in the city. A spokesperson said the firm hadn’t yet decided on a new flagship site.

Toys R Us announced in March that it was that it was planning to close the store. Rent for its space, now $2,500 per square foot, has doubled over the last 15 years.

Gap Inc., operating under its Gap and Old Navy brands, is taking over the location. [Crain’s]Ariel Stulberg