Huntington Station Toys R Us closing?

The Toys R Us in Huntington Station, one of 16 toy and baby products stores operated on Long Island by the New Jersey-based corporation, will close Jan. 22, a store manager said Monday.

The manager, who gave only his first name because he is not authorized to speak to the media, referred further questions to corporate headquarters in Wayne, which was closed Monday.

Signs inside and outside the store, on Route 110 just south of the Walt Whitman Mall, indicate that everything in the store is on sale for up to 30 percent off, and that store fixtures are for sale.

Employees at the customer assistance desk also were telling shoppers that the store was not accepting returns because it is closing.

Toys R Us, which also owns Babies R Us stores, said it lost $194 million in the first nine months of the fiscal year that ended Oct. 29, a smaller loss than a year earlier on slightly increased net sales of $8 billion.

Howard Davidowitz, a retail analyst at Howard Davidowitz & Associates Inc. in Manhattan, said he thinks the company might be profitable for the year because so much of a toy store's revenue is generated in the year's final quarter.

"The big period for them, obviously, is now," he said.

Davidowitz said the company faces tough competition in the toy market from Walmart and Target, adding that all toy retailers were somewhat hampered this year by the lack of an outstanding new product.

"There haven't been any blockbuster toys this year and that is a problem for them," he said.

For last year's final fiscal quarter ended Jan. 29, Toys R Us Inc. reported a profit of $330 million on sales of $6 billion, both figures representing improvements from the final quarter of 2009. For the year, though, earnings were less than the year before, at $167 million on reduced sales of $13.8 billion.

The company has 873 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, according to its website, and more than 740 owned and licensed stores abroad.

It also owns the iconic FAO Schwarz store in Manhattan and has about 70,000 employees worldwide, its website says.