# Attempting to Make Toys R Us Sell good cubes.



## MichaelP. (Dec 30, 2009)

Hi, I recently was talking to friend in Malaysia and he sent me pictures of a cube shop he went to while visiting China. This shop was so beautiful that I was inspired to write Toys R Us a letter pleading with them to open a line of good cubes. This is my letter exactly

Hi, my name is Michael Perkins, and I can solve a rubik cube in 20 seconds. I live in Dallas, Tx and I have started rubik cube trend at my school. 20 kids at my school alone have begun bringing in and playing with rubik cubes. I am significantly better and more involved in the community, but nonetheless my colleagues continue to buy and buy cubes of all sorts from various online stores. These stores are located in Asia. The reason they continue to buy from these stores is because they have various types of cubes and cubes that turn better. They turn better because of screws and springs that are in inside the center of each cube that let the cube turn more loosely or more tightly depending on how tightly you adjust the screw. Cubes that you sell don't have this mechanism, and are widely considered through out the rubik cube community as "store bought" cubes, or the worst cubes possible. I believe that if you were to open up a chain of rubik cubes that turn well as well as all the variations of rubik it would be an instant success. I have friends at other schools around Texas, who have created the same trend and these are all possible costumers. I would gladly help in the selection of the puzzles you would sell and here is a link to a VERY popular online store dedicated to rubik cubes as well as a link to some pictures of a rubik store in Guangzhou, China. 

Chinese Store - http://picasaweb.google.com/vingkit/CubeShop?authkey=Gv1sRgCLObv_mj7eu9bg#

Popular Cube Shop - http://www.cube4you.com/

Thank you - Email me at 
**********************(My email was here)


So what do you guys think?
If you think this is a good idea I urge you to send similar emails. I sent it here
http://www.toysrus.com/helpdesk/index.jsp?display=store&subdisplay=contact&stillHaveQuestion=yes 

Maybe we can make toys r us a cubing store! 


Edit : I'll post their response.


----------



## ~Phoenix Death~ (Dec 30, 2009)

Not bad. call it Cubes R Us!
Will this be in your local TRU or the world's?


----------



## MichaelP. (Dec 30, 2009)

It depends on if we can get more people to send them emails. If it's a success then they'll probably expand it.


----------



## ~Phoenix Death~ (Dec 30, 2009)

Yes!
How will you package the cubes?


----------



## MichaelP. (Dec 30, 2009)

I feel like were getting ahead of ourselves, let just see if they think it's a good idea.


----------



## CubeWoRm (Dec 30, 2009)

Good idea! Would be great to be able to get cubes in the US!


----------



## Catalyst (Dec 30, 2009)

I wouldn't mind having decent cubes at Toys R' Us considering I live in Fort Worth xD


----------



## Ryanrex116 (Dec 30, 2009)

It would be great to have cubes at Toys R Us, mostly for the cubers who have to ask their parents to use their credit cards every time they want a cube. 

(Also, I have a lot of credit at Toys R Us)


----------



## PhillipEspinoza (Dec 30, 2009)

Call me a pessimist but this thread just made me :fp. If you want them to take you seriously you should have at least proofread your letter. Or at the very least get the name "Rubik's Cube" right. And who says storeboughts are "the worst possible cube"? There are definitely worse cubes out there. Those are just some of my criticisms. Other than that, I wouldn't mind Toys R' Us selling DIY's but I think it's highly unlikely.


----------



## TheMachanga (Dec 30, 2009)

Wouldn't it be awkward for a 20+ man shopping at Toys R Us?


----------



## MichaelP. (Dec 30, 2009)

I just got off the phone with a costumer representative, and they said that right now they aren't accepting any new products. 

EDIT : I'm still waiting for an email response so don't give up hope, the representative didn't know much.


----------



## Ryanrex116 (Dec 30, 2009)

TheMachanga said:


> Wouldn't it be awkward for a 20+ man shopping at Toys R Us?



I don't think it would be that awkward for a man to shop at Toys R Us. Those stores are common places to find gifts for children.

What was awkward for me was getting sand for my storeboughts. I (a teenager) walked into a playground with a bunch of Kindergarten kids and scooped up about 7 pounds of sand. That got me some weird looks.


----------



## joey (Dec 30, 2009)

I just can't see it happening. They probably have too good a deal with Rubik's.


----------



## V-te (Dec 30, 2009)

Hmm.... I see this as a good idea, but we have to get every cuber to write to them. I mean if I were a big chain store, I would listen more to 2000 people than to just one person.


----------



## nlCuber22 (Dec 30, 2009)

joey said:


> I just can't see it happening. They probably have too good a deal with Rubik's.



aren't the cubes they sell produced by Milton Bradley?


----------



## joey (Dec 30, 2009)

Well, it depends on where you are. I actually they might be produced in china?


----------



## GermanCube (Dec 30, 2009)

I like the idea of Toys 'R' Us selling cubes very much, although I think they might won't do it, but lets see.


Too bad you don't live in Munich, Germany. There we have a real life puzzle store!


----------



## MichaelP. (Dec 30, 2009)

If your going to send them letters probably include : 
What you avg.
That in the past you always buy online.
What city/state you live in. 
that you know a lot of people who'd want it.


----------



## Dave Campbell (Dec 30, 2009)

PhillipEspinoza said:


> Call me a pessimist but this thread just made me :fp.



Oh, come on Phillip. I think it is adorable. It is like reading a letter to Santa. I am not positive of the situation in the US (though Toys R Us is apparently world wide), but i think they will run into legal issues in terms of selling these in a store. Remember, there are copyright laws around the Rubik's Cube. But this discussion has been had many times over, and i am still not completely clear on it all.

And I don't think they'd care what you average, only how much money you will give them.


----------



## MichaelP. (Dec 30, 2009)

I feel like the average would show just how large and intense are community is, and I don't like the condescending way you talk. I'm just trying to put an effort into helping every person on the forum who lives in the US.


----------



## joey (Dec 30, 2009)

Realistic != condescending


----------



## ISuckAtCubing (Dec 30, 2009)

Bad idea, how many people speed cube in your area? No much, 1 toy r us can't in stock a bunch of DIY for a few people


----------



## Jake Gouldon (Dec 30, 2009)

I think that even is they had a limited quantity of rubik's.com DIY's, they could do well and not get rid of their deal with the rubik's company.


----------



## ElderKingpin (Dec 30, 2009)

problem is, speedcubing isnt a household name yet, if you go up and ask, hey do you know SPEEDCUBING? they will probably laugh.


----------



## kprox1994 (Dec 30, 2009)

Even if we did somehow get TRS to sell cubes, they would probably jack up the price so much that it won't be worth it.


----------



## ElderKingpin (Dec 30, 2009)

that is true, retail stores stick their own prices onto another cube, its probably better to just buy a cube online on not pay retail price, even with shipping it will probably be cheaper then a storebought.


----------



## IamWEB (Dec 30, 2009)

ISuckAtCubing said:


> Bad idea, how *many people speed cube in your area? No much*, 1 toy r us can't in stock a bunch of DIY for a few people



Not true.


----------



## ElderKingpin (Dec 30, 2009)

texas is big on cubing?


----------



## Meep (Dec 30, 2009)

When I was in the Philippines, because Toys R' Us were selling Rubik's brand puzzles, Rubik's apparently told them they weren't allowed to sell other brands so they had to take all of their East Sheens off the shelves. So for this to work I think they'd have to cut off Rubik's or something (Unlikely).


----------



## Bryan (Dec 30, 2009)

PhillipEspinoza said:


> Call me a pessimist but this thread just made me :fp.


Agreed.



TheMachanga said:


> Wouldn't it be awkward for a 20+ man shopping at Toys R Us?


I shop there all the time for my kids.



joey said:


> I just can't see it happening. They probably have too good a deal with Rubik's.


It's not even that. When you're a multinational coroporation selling millions of products each year, you need to have a decent supply chain down. There's not some guy calling up Hasbro to order more cubes for the store down in Orlando. It's all automated.

You'd be better off going to a mom and pop shop and seeing if they would stock them.


----------



## Mike Hughey (Dec 30, 2009)

Bryan said:


> TheMachanga said:
> 
> 
> > Wouldn't it be awkward for a 20+ man shopping at Toys R Us?
> ...


Since I had kids, I've probably been in Toys R Us more often to buy something for myself than I have to buy something for my kids. Does that mean something's wrong with me?


----------



## ElderKingpin (Dec 30, 2009)

im not sure what Toys R Us has that other stores dont ._.


----------



## Hadley4000 (Dec 30, 2009)

It's not gonna happen y'all. Just deal with ordering online and using store cubes.

And store bought are not the worst cubes there are. My pb avg of 12(18.xx) was done on a store cube. I have 2 or 3 really good store cubes, all it takes is a little work.


----------



## ElderKingpin (Dec 30, 2009)

Hadley4000 said:


> It's not gonna happen y'all. Just deal with ordering online and using store cubes.
> 
> And store bought are not the worst cubes there are. My pb avg of 12(18.xx) was done on a store cube. I have 2 or 3 really good store cubes, all it takes is a little work.



i still dont understand how you can mess up a RUBIKS CUBE, i dont think its hard to make a good cube.


----------



## Edward (Dec 30, 2009)

ElderKingpin said:


> Hadley4000 said:
> 
> 
> > It's not gonna happen y'all. Just deal with ordering online and using store cubes.
> ...



All my storeboughts get really good, and then break ~2 weeks later :fp


----------



## ElderKingpin (Dec 30, 2009)

ive never seen a storebought "break" i punch myself in the face after trying to pop a cubie out :fp


----------



## dillonbladez (Dec 30, 2009)

my storebought is godly.  i modded the %&!* out of it.


----------



## ErikJ (Dec 30, 2009)

someone correct me if I'm wrong but aren't all cubes that don't have the rubik's name on them (type As, Cs, ect...) knockoffs?


----------



## ElderKingpin (Dec 30, 2009)

knock-offs arnt supposed to be better


----------



## ZamHalen (Dec 30, 2009)

If they have a deal with the rubik's company why not ask them to stock JSKs( i think those are rubik's brand).I've heard those are pretty good cubes, and that asian toys r us carry those.
(someone correct me if i'm wrong.)


----------



## iChanZer0 (Dec 30, 2009)

I think Toys Are Us should sell the jsk cubes because they're rubiks brand.


----------



## nlCuber22 (Dec 30, 2009)

ErikJ said:


> someone correct me if I'm wrong but aren't all cubes that don't have the rubik's name on them (type As, Cs, ect...) knockoffs?



the patent on Rubik's cubes expired.


----------



## ElderKingpin (Dec 30, 2009)

*gasp* someone, make a knock-off and patent it. instant cha-ching! 

on a side note, happy birthday (the song) is copyrighted, so.. you cant sing it unless you edit it in someway


----------



## nlCuber22 (Dec 30, 2009)

ElderKingpin said:


> *gasp* someone, make a knock-off and patent it. instant cha-ching!
> 
> on a side note, happy birthday (the song) is copyrighted, so.. you cant sing it unless you edit it in someway



:fp


----------



## qqwref (Dec 30, 2009)

As said in this topic it is very likely that Toys R Us has a big deal with the Rubik's company, so I doubt they would (or could!) sell cubes from other brands. A huge retailer like that doesn't care about whether a few people will buy from them or not, they care about money overall, so for them a cube is a cube and they're not going to switch brands unless there's a financial reason to do so.

If you want Toys R Us to sell better cubes, you will have to go to the source and get the Rubik's company to improve their design. That's not gonna be easy either, but it's at least plausible.


----------



## Swordsman Kirby (Dec 30, 2009)

Ryanrex116 said:


> I walked into a playground with a bunch of Kindergarten kids and scooped up about 7 pounds of sand.



Why would you need SEVEN POUNDS of sand?


----------



## rjohnson_8ball (Dec 30, 2009)

Your letter said "costumers" rather than "customers" in the second to last sentence.

The store cubes made by Rubik's are great for the far majority of consumers. They will not pop, they turn well, they have exciting colors, and the stickers do not peel off too quickly. The non-Rubik's store cubes are trouble -- they are so, so stiff and the stickers are lower quality so, for example, plastic lamination peels off the paper stickers.

Unlike speed cubes, you can drop most store cubes on the ground and not worry about pieces or center caps popping out. The non-popping aspect is why I bring Rubik's store cubes with me in public, for other people to scramble.


----------



## panyan (Dec 30, 2009)

CubeWoRm said:


> Good idea! Would be great to be able to get cubes in the US!



Would be great to be able to get cubes in the rest of the world as well!


----------



## Ryanrex116 (Dec 31, 2009)

Swordsman Kirby said:


> Ryanrex116 said:
> 
> 
> > I walked into a playground with a bunch of Kindergarten kids and scooped up about 7 pounds of sand.
> ...



I got a lot because I wanted it to be the first and last time I take sand from the park. I've used about one pound so far. Hopefully, I don't have to do that again.


----------



## Ranzha (Dec 31, 2009)

Ryanrex116 said:


> Swordsman Kirby said:
> 
> 
> > Ryanrex116 said:
> ...



You're in California. Go to the beach.
Oh yeah, I forgot. LITTER.

Yeah, I need sand.


----------

