You can't keep a good baby store down.
A year after big-box tot store buybuy Baby came back from the dead in Delaware, another baby brand will also be making a return after closing all of its stores.
Babies R Us, which closed all its stores in 2018 alongside parent brand Toys R Us, will open three stores in Delaware this year, among hundreds all over the country to reopen.
But rather than open as stand-alone stores, most of these Babies R Us locations will return inside about 200 Kohl's department stores. The department store announced a partnership in March with WHP Global, the parent company of Babies R Us. The first Delaware Babies R Us may open as soon as the end of this month.
So where are the Delaware Babies R Us locations, and when will they open? Here's what to expect.
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Buybuy Baby re-opening:Here's where Buybuy Baby reopened in Delaware and New Jersey
When did Babies R Us close, and why are they now inside Kohl's stores?
It wasn't so long ago that customers thronged outside the Christiana locations of Toys R Us and Babies R Us in May 2018, waiting for steep discounts amid a companywide bankruptcy and liquidation. As of last year, that former hulking Toys R Us is now a Vietnamese-owned supermarket named Hung Vuong with locations in Philadelphia.
But Toys R Us didn't stay gone. Owners WHP Global plotted a return by opening Toys R Us departments inside more than 400 Macy's department stores all over the country, in a collaboration meant to prop up both brands. Toys R Us locations in Delaware include the Macy's stores at Christiana and Concord Mall.
In 2024, WHP announced they would also open as many as two dozen standalone Toys R Us flagship stores across the country, plus airport and cruise ship locations, following in the footsteps of a flagship store at New Jersey's American Dream Mall in 2022.
The Babies R Us revival appears to be using the same playbook. About 200 Kohl's locations will snag Babies R Us departments.
Kohl's has seen drastic stock losses this year, with low earnings in the first quarter. But Kohl's spokespeople said earlier this year they hope the well-known Babies R Us brand will "introduce more new customers to Kohl's, including younger customers who will be choosing Kohl's for the first time."
Kohl's struck a similar deal a few years back with makeup outlet Sephora, a partnership that has turned into a bright spot for the department store, pulling in $1.4 billion last year from what Kohl's spokespeople have called a "younger, more diverse customer."
In a former Toys R Us:
Where and when will Babies R Us open in Delaware in 2024?
Babies R Us will open in the following Kohl's locations this year in Delaware:
- Milltown - 4437 Kirkwood Highway
- Glasgow - 2800 Pulaski Highway
- Middletown - 601 S. Ridge Ave.
What's Going There in Delaware | Kohl's on Kirkwood Highway had this posted. | Facebook
Babies R Us has projected most store openings by fall 2024, but the pace of progress has been swift. Staff at the Kirkwood Highway location of Kohl's in Delaware said the Babies R Us is now under construction and could be open by August.
Online shoppers can already shop for Babies R Us inventory on the Kohl's website, which includes high chairs, strollers, cribs, toys, baby chairs and a whole mess of other baby gear.
The full list:Babies R Us to open shops inside 200 Kohl's stores in the US: See full list of stores
These Kohl's stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland will receive Babies R Us locations
Pennsylvania
- Erie - 1906 Keystone Drive
- Springfield - 405 Baltimore Pike
- Havertown - 250 W. Chester Pike
- Bensalem - 2325 Street Road
- Mechanicsburg - 6444 Carlisle Pike
- Easton - 3768 Easton Nazareth Highway
- Trexlertown - 6900 Hamilton Blvd.
- Robinson Township - 6571 Steubenville Pike
- North Huntingdon - 88 Rocky Road
New Jersey
- Tom's River - 1 Route 37 west
- Hillsborough - 315 Route 206
- Woodland Park - 1710 U.S. Highway 46
- Secaucus - 3 Mill Creek Drive
- Clifton - 14 Main Ave.
- Ramsey - 1300 Route 17
- Wayne - 1800 Route 23
- Jersey City - 40 Mall Drive East
- Paramus - 200 Bergen Town Center
- Turnersville - 5851 Route 42
- Hamilton Township - 460 Marketplace Blvd.
- Mantua - 300 Bridgeton Pike
- Voorhees - 79 Route 73
Maryland
- Ellicott City - 4320 Montgomery Road
Matthew Korfhage is business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all things related to land and money: openings and closings, construction, and the many corporations that call the First State home.Send tips and insults tomkorfhage@gannett.com.
