Seven commercial landlords claim Toys “R” Us Canada owes them $31.3 million in unpaid rent
The company closed at least 38 stores last year
Even Toys “R” Us Canada is feeling the cost of living crisis. According to the Canadian Press, the toy store chain is being sued by at least seven different landlords, who claim they’re owed $31.3 million in unpaid rent and damages.
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Court documents reviewed by CP accuse Toys “R” Us Canada of not paying rent for several of the stores it occupied throughout 2024 and 2025, including in Belleville and Oakville.
The company has closed many of its stores, reportedly due to financial hardship, and the CP story notes that some of its leases were terminated due to unpaid rent. Here in Toronto, it was announced late last year that the Dufferin Mall Toys “R” Us would close this month, though CP does not mention it as being among those named in recent lawsuits.
Once the world’s largest toy retailer, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2017. It survived, but it never returned to its pre–online shopping glory days. Kids today won’t know the euphoric core memory of being overstimulated by 25,000 square feet of polyester plush and plastic. Scrolling through links on your mom’s iPad just doesn’t hit the same.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
