Feb. 11, 2026 "Canadian jewelry company explores alternate metals to counter volatile prices": Today I found this article on BNN Bloomberg:
A Canadian company is changing how it makes jewelry by exploring alternate metals,
as the prices of precious metals go up, the CEO says.
Toronto-based Suetables says its “profits are down significantly”
after gold reached record highs.
It plans to use metals like brass and sterling silver to make jewelry.
“We’re trying to figure out ways to pivot to catch up,
and that’s looking at other materials,”
Sue Henderson told BNN Bloomberg in an interview.
The high price of gold is driven by central bank buying,
particularly in China and emerging markets.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in 20 years of selling jewelry,” says Henderson.
“I see on websites that prices are estimates only,
and they can’t display prices in real time because they’re just changing so much,
makes it very hard to run a business.”
Henderson says the brand is leaning into demi-fine jewelry like Vermeil instead of solid gold.
“We put real gold on top of everything,
and you dictate how much gold,
and you don’t want to compromise on quality,
so the prices are going to have to come up,”
says Henderson.
A “chunkier piece” will have brass under it while Vermeil will have a thick coating of gold, she says.
The business will continue to offer direct-to-consumer products through three Canadian stores to remain competitive, she says.
Henderson said the company performed well last year because they were cheaper than their competitors.
“We decided to just leave our prices and see what happens,” she says.
“People were finding us for real gold, and we’re known more for demi-fine. So that was super interesting. But now, we’re having to pivot this year, and we’re going to be increasing our prices again.”
Changes to supply chains
The company will purchase directly from manufacturers to receive sharper input prices, she says.
Manufacturers, however, charge the price of metals the day they’re delivered
rather than the day they order it.
“I feel very badly for the small businesses that are going direct to local wholesalers,
because every person that touches it the price increases,”
says Henderson.
“We’re in a good spot in that we go direct to manufacturers,
but those prices are increasing from when we placed the order a month ago.”
Sept. 17, 2026 "Toys ‘R’ Us to open 120 stores, biggest expansion in years — thanks to adults who ‘didn’t wanna grow up’": Today I found this article by Lisa Fickenscher on the New York Post:
Here’s some good news for adults who “didn’t wanna grow up,” as the old ad jingle had it.
Toys “R” Us is kicking off its biggest expansion in nearly a decade,
opening 120 stores amid surging demand from adult customers,
the company said Thursday.
The retailer — whose 2017 bankruptcy devastated the toy industry
— inked one-year leases across the country as toy sales notched their biggest spike since 2020,
according to Circana, which tracks consumer data.
The new locales include Woodbury Commons and the Westchester in White Plains, NY, and the Mall at Short Hills in Millburn, NJ.
Adults now account for 55% of all toy sales,
the researcher found.
Mall operators like having toy stores on premises,
“so shoppers don’t feel like they have to leave the mall
and go to Walmart or Target,”
observed former Toys “R” Us chief executive Gerald Storch.
The new stores will offer some of the biggest brands, including
LEGO,
Barbie,
Hot Wheels,
Pokémon
and KPop Demon Hunters
– and some will have cafes
and candy shops,
according to the company.
New York-based Toys “R” Us is owned by WHP Global, the brand licensing firm that also owns
Marc Jacobs,
Vera Wang
and Lands’ End.
The brick-and-mortar strategy is being led by Go! Retail Group,
which operates pop-up stores and quietly began the Toys “R” Us expansion last year.
There are currently about 40 stores,
including 20,000-square-foot flagships in American Dream mall in East Rutherford, NJ
and at Minnesota’s Mall of America.
“There are also 400 Toys ‘R’ Us shops inside Macy’s stores,
including the Herald Square flagship.”
The expansion push started last month when Go! Retail began opening
3,500- to 7,500-square-foot stores,
said a spokesperson for Toys “R” Us.
The number of stores is set to reach 160 in the coming weeks
– a fraction of the 750 outlets Toys “R” Us had when it filed for bankruptcy
and closed all of its US stores in 2017.
Its iconic Times Square store featured
a ferris wheel
and 20-foot-tall animatronic T-Rex
–generating sales of $75 to $100 million a year before closing in 2015,
according to Storch.
Founded by Charles Lazarus in 1948 as a baby furniture store
– which eventually became Babies “R” Us
– the company went belly up due to a $5 billion pile of debt.
Private equity firms Bain Capital, KKR and Vornado bought the chain in a $6.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2005.
Its demise crippled the industry, which depended on Toys “R” Us
to drive sales
and launch new products.
Many toy company owners were bitter about the filing,
which saddled them with millions in unpaid bills.
Since then, Walmart, Amazon and Target have largely stepped into the void.
“The toy industry is incredibly strong,” said former Toys “R” Us veteran Jamie Uitdenhowen, now WHP Global executive vice president.
The industry has “a growing consumer base that extends well beyond kids,” he added.
“’Kidults’ have become an important part of the category,” said Uitdenhowen,
using the newfangled word for grownups with tastes typically associated with younger people.
WHP controls the global license for Toys “R” Us, which includes
1,680 stores
in 37 countries
and some $2 billion in annual sales.
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