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KB Toys, Inc. |
| Type | Private/Toy Store |
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| Founded | 1922 |
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| Headquarters | Pittsfield, Massachusetts |
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| Industry | Retail |
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| Products | Toys, electronics, board games, dolls, and video games. |
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| Website | http://www.kbtoys.com/ http://www.kbclubhouse.com/ |
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KB Toys (previously known as Kay Bee Toys) is a chain of mall-based retail toy stores in the United States. It was founded in 1922 by the Kaufman brothers. It currently operates 605 stores in 44 U.S. states, Puerto Rico as well as Guam. KB Toys operates three distinct store formats: KB Toys, KB Toy Works, and KB Toy Outlets (aka Toy Liquidators). It is privately held in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. KB Toys was owned by Big Lots and Melville Corporation at one time.
Financial trouble
Due to increasing competition from national discount chains such as Wal-Mart, on January 14, 2004, KB Toys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed 365 stores.
In 2005, Big Lots and a group of creditors, including toy makers Hasbro and Lego filed a lawsuit against top KB Toys executives, which claimed that KB Toys executives improperly paid themselves over $121 million, while ignoring debts and closing stores. The executives responded that they had done nothing wrong, and the store closings, layoffs and debts were the product of intense competition with big box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. The lawsuit was later settled for pennies on the dollar.
In 2007, KB closed 156 stores on November 8th. The Gordon Brothers Group handled the liquidation of these stores. Managers were promised a minimum of four weeks severance pay upon completing their service through liquidation.
