One of Santa's suppliers is taking its last Christmas sleigh ride.
The Toys "R" Us store in Hixson plans to close at the end of January after a 20-year run at the Highway 153 site.
The toy giant's lease on its Hixson store is up and the company has decided to shut it down, leaving just the Toys "R" Us unit on Hamilton Place Boulevard in Chattanooga, said Alyssa Peera, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey-based business.
"We've enjoyed serving the Hixson community for many years," she said.
The store employs about 24 people, and the company is trying to place as many full- and part-time employees as possible from the Hixson store to its other locations in the area, Peera said. The company also has a Babies "R" Us off Gunbarrel Road in East Brainerd.
"As with all retailers, we regularly look at the performance of our physical locations to ensure they are meeting the needs of our business. The decision was made not to renew the lease for this particular location," Peera said.
The departure of the Toys "R" Us will leave the strip center with a Books-A-Million store and a Buffet King. A T-Mobile outlet and a Starbucks unit also are located nearby.
The company that owns the shopping center couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. But disappointment at the toy store closing wasn't hard to find.
Jesse and Kara Howard said they like the Hixson shop because it's the closest one to their Sale Creek home.
"It's convenient," Kara said. "It's better than fighting the traffic to go to Hamilton Place."
Andria Dobson, of Lakesite, said she's sorry to see the store go because of the wide selection of toys it offered. She blamed big-box general merchandise retailers with pressuring specialty stores such as Toys "R" Us.
Also at the end of January, Toys "R" Us is closing its Knoxville Center Mall store in Knoxville, according to the company. It will continue to operate its store on Kingston Pike in West Knoxville.
A shopper walks past the Toys R Us in Hixson on Tuesday. The store will be closing at the end of January.In addition, a Toys "R" Us in a Nashville suburb in Bellevue will shut its doors next month, according to The Tennessean.
Last Christmas season, Toys "R" Us experienced a 4.1 percent decline in its holiday quarter same-store sales, said MarketWatch. Last March, Toys "R" Us reported its sales last year declined 7.4 percent to $12.5 billion, the lowest level since at least 2009. That translated to a loss of $1.04 billion in the year ended Feb. 1 after profits declined in each of the prior three years.
The company has 893 Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, and it operates 730 international stores and over 205 licensed stores in 36 countries. In addition, it exclusively operates FAO Schwarz brand, including the its flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
The business employs about 70,000 people worldwide, according to its website.
Toys "R" Us Inc. operated as a public company from 1978 until July 2005. At that time, an investment group consisting of affiliates of Bain Capital Partners LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Vornado Realty Trust bought the business for $6.6 billion.
In August 2009, Toys "R" Us Inc. acquired the KB Toys brand.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.