Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Gender-specific toys mean more revenue for toy makers

Nov 26, 2018
One growing trend in toy-buying is so-called gender-neutral playthings – toys that don’t reinforce gender stereotypes like trucks for boys or dolls for girls. But those stereotypes appear hard to shake for both toy makers and consumers. Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 
A child rides a 'Morfboard Scoot & Skate' at a 'Dream Toys' event to unveil the top twelve toys this Christmas on November 14, 2018 in London, England. 
Jack Taylor/Getty Images

How Toys R Us workers got the retailer's private equity owners to pay severance

Nov 23, 2018
The private equity firms Bain and KKR announced this week that they will contribute $20 million to a compensation fund for former employees of Toys R Us. The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2017, laying off tens of thousands of workers without severance packages. And for months, those former employees have been […]
Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Toy manufacturers adjust to a post-Toys R Us world

Oct 23, 2018
The retail giant's bankruptcy has Hasbro and other toymakers scrambling to prepare for the holidays.
Shoppers crowd Toys R Us in Times Square on Nov. 23, Black Friday, in 2007 in New York City.
Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images

Toy manufacturers adjust to a post-Toys R Us world

Oct 23, 2018
The retail giant's bankruptcy has Hasbro and other toymakers scrambling to prepare for the holidays.
Shoppers crowd Toys R Us in Times Square on Nov. 23, Black Friday, in 2007 in New York City.
Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images

Toys R Us is gone, but fret not, retailers say

Oct 22, 2018
They see a chance to grab the defunct store's share of sales.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Toys R Us is gone, but fret not, retailers say

Oct 22, 2018
They see a chance to grab the defunct store's share of sales.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

With Toys R Us gone, Hasbro's finding new retail shelves

Jul 23, 2018
Toymaker Hasbro will report second-quarter earnings later this morning. Earlier in 2018, the company reported that first-quarter revenue had fallen by 16 percent compared with the same period last year. It’s been a tough couple of months as retailer Toys R Us went bankrupt and closed hundreds of stores. But Hasbro is finding new shelves […]
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

How to be a Lego designer

Jun 29, 2018
The company's vice president of design left fashion for his "ultimate childhood dream" of working with the plastic bricks.
Husband and wife Annie and Ed Diment put the final bricks in place on their 400,000-piece "Ice Age" display at a Lego exhibition in London in 2015. The woolly mammoth took nine weeks to build.
Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Toys R Us closing means toy makers need to find new outlets for sales

Mar 19, 2018
With Toys R Us closing its doors, what will happen to toy manufacturers that depended on the chain to display and sell everything from dolls to toy cars? What options do big toymakers like Mattel and Hasbro have, and what about smaller companies that looked to the retailer for shelf space? For companies in the […]