The Toys "R" Us store on Broadway, home to one of the most unusual heritage sites in Vancouver, is closing soon.
Signs are up at the 1154 W Broadway retail space announcing the store's closure. An exact date has not been given, Toys "R" Us staff are telling customers.
"Everything must go," announces a sign. "All stock reduced."
The Toys "R" Us store also houses a Babies 'R' Us and an HMV store. All three are owned by Putman Investments, which also owns Sunrise Records. Recently the company bought Northern Reflections.
In 2023, Putman launched Rooms+Space, which replaced many former Bed, Bath, and Beyond locations. A Rooms + Space location on West Broadway not far from Toys "R" Us was only open four months before legal notices were posted on the door and it was locked up.
More than a year later, the signs for the shuttered home furnishings store remain.
Famous Bowmac sign
While the building Toys "R" Us is in has only been around since 1997, the sign out front is decades older.
The Bowmac sign, which is partially covered by a Toys "R" Us sign, was built in 1958 for a car dealership at the location: Bowell-McLean. The gigantic neon sign was part of Vancouver's famed neon sign phase.
"It was the tallest structure outside of downtown and briefly, it was the largest freestanding sign in North America," reads a city report on the sign.
It also played a role in one of the most famous attempted murders in Vancouver's history.
Now the subject of a special Heritage Revitalization Agreement, the sign is protected by the city while Toys "R" Us is the leaseholder for the site. Given they will likely relinquish the lease with the closure of the store, the future of the sign is uncertain.
At the same time, Broadway has become a hotbed for new developments as the new SkyTrain extension is built.
V.I.A. has reached out to Toys "R" Us for more details and will update the story when new information is available.
With files from Lindsay William-Ross.
