N. Division Toys ‘R’ Us will close

The mother of baby superstores is moving into the Spokane area.

Babies “R” Us — a store with tens of thousands of square feet of furniture, toys and other products for infants through age three — is expected to open in the north Division Toys “R” Us building before the 2006 holiday season.

“We try to find areas that are really up and coming with newborn babies,” said corporate spokeswoman Susan McLaughlin.

Toys “R” Us in Spokane Valley will continue operating as a children’s toy store while Toys “R” Us at 6104 N. Division will close and be converted into Babies “R” Us, she said.

Toys “R” Us Inc., headquartered in Wayne, N.J., opened its first Babies “R” Us store in 1996 and now operates 229 of the baby mega-stores throughout the country.

Additionally, the company has 1,500 Toys “R” Us stores worldwide, with Internet and retail sales from the two chains totaling about $11 billion annually, the company’s Web site says.

Shoppers will find everything from high chairs and diapers to glider chairs and specialty clothing for premature babies. Where Toys “R” Us offers choices of about five different models of baby strollers, Babies “R” Us will carry about seven times as many.

Over 20 separate bedroom displays will showcase the latest baby furniture and bedding.

“It literally has the baby nursery laid out in the store,” McLaughlin said.

The Division store, which opened in the mid-1980s, started liquidating merchandise this past weekend. The company plans to clear out the 45,000-square-foot building by early spring and begin remodeling soon after, said McLaughlin, who is unsure which contractor will handle the construction work.