TORONTO — Two months after putting itself up for sale to help pay off its millions in debt, Toys “R” Us Canada has reached several deals to sell assets including its name, trademarks, inventory and leases to three different buyers — one of whom is its current owner.
Court records show the retailer, which has been in creditor protection since February and up for sale since April, wants to sell the rights to the Toys “R” Us Canada and Babies “R” Us Canada names to Ad Populum.
Ad Populum has also been selected to purchase about 150 of the brand’s trademarks, including the rights to its Geoffrey the giraffe mascot and a slew of its website domains and social media accounts.
Ad Populum is a U.S. firm that manages several toy companies, including one behind the Chia Pet and another involved with Graceland, the Elvis Presley attraction in Tennessee.
The court documents also reveal a numbered company owned by current Toys “R” Us Canada owner Doug Putman has been chosen to buy 10 store leases, the brand’s inventory, equipment, logistics contracts and bank accounts.
Rounding out the deals is a proposed transaction for the brand’s 48,000-square-foot store at Vaughan Mills, a mall just north of Toronto. The court records show Fox Group Jumbo Canada, an Israel-based company opening massive discount stores in Canada, wants to buy that lease.
Court records do not put a value on any of the transactions.
Each needs court approval to proceed because Toys “R” Us Canada entered creditor protection earlier this year. At the time, it owed more than $160 million to unsecured creditors.
The beleaguered company will ask for that approval on June 22, according to court records.
In the run-up to the February filing, the retailer closed 53 stores across Canada within two years and faced at least a dozen lawsuits from suppliers and landlords owed money.
Once it wound up in creditor protection, those lawsuits were put on hold by the court and Toys “R” Us shuttered several more stores, leaving the chain with 18 sites in April.
On Friday, court documents showed the company will shed another three stores. Its locations at Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon, in St-Bruno, Que., and in Kingston, Ont., are closing.
The moves mean the chain has 260 employees left, down from 562 when the creditor protection process began.
To try to recoup the money it owes creditors and find a means of survival, Toys “R” Us Canada put itself up for sale in the spring in April, with offers to buy the company or invest in the business accepted in May.
The retailer has never outlined what was up for grabs but has said in court records that its assets are valued at $126.8 million.
Friday’s court records say 90 companies were approached to participate in the sales process. Eleven gave the company non-binding letters of intent to make an offer.
The company eventually whittled down the process to two bids for all its assets, two just for its intellectual property and one for a single unspecified lease.
The successful Ad Populum and Jumbo deals are expected to close in July.
Putman has not said what he will do with the assets he wants to acquire and no precise closing date has been outlined for his deal. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Putman owns Toys “R” Us Canada through an Ancaster, Ont.-based numbered company. Putman also owns HMV, Sunrise Records, Northern Reflections, Ricki’s and Cleo.
He previously launched a chain of home goods stores called Rooms + Spaces and took over T. Kettle’s tea shops. Both brands have closed all their stores since Putman took ownership.
Sister company Everest Toys, at which Putman was an executive and which was started by his father, was forced into receivership last year by TD Bank, which according to court documents is owed $25 million.
Putman has owned Toys “R” Us Canada since 2021, when he purchased up the company from Fairfax Financial.
Fairfax had paid $300 million to rescue the company and Babies “R” Us Canada in 2018, when it filed for creditor protection after the separately run American arm of Toys “R” Us sought bankruptcy protection.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2026.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Two months after putting itself up for sale to help pay off its millions in debt, Toys “R” Us Canada has reached several deals to sell assets including its name, trademarks, inventory and leases to three different buyers — one of whom is its current owner. Court records show the retailer, which has Business
TORONTO — Two months after putting itself up for sale to help pay off its millions in debt, Toys “R” Us Canada has reached several deals to sell assets including its name, trademarks, inventory and leases to three different buyers — one of whom is its current owner.
Court records show the retailer, which has been in creditor protection since February and up for sale since April, wants to sell the rights to the Toys “R” Us Canada and Babies “R” Us Canada names to Ad Populum.
Ad Populum has also been selected to purchase about 150 of the brand’s trademarks, including the rights to its Geoffrey the giraffe mascot and a slew of its website domains and social media accounts.
Ad Populum is a U.S. firm that manages several toy companies, including one behind the Chia Pet and another involved with Graceland, the Elvis Presley attraction in Tennessee.
The court documents also reveal a numbered company owned by current Toys “R” Us Canada owner Doug Putman has been chosen to buy 10 store leases, the brand’s inventory, equipment, logistics contracts and bank accounts.
Rounding out the deals is a proposed transaction for the brand’s 48,000-square-foot store at Vaughan Mills, a mall just north of Toronto. The court records show Fox Group Jumbo Canada, an Israel-based company opening massive discount stores in Canada, wants to buy that lease.
Court records do not put a value on any of the transactions.
Each needs court approval to proceed because Toys “R” Us Canada entered creditor protection earlier this year. At the time, it owed more than $160 million to unsecured creditors.
The beleaguered company will ask for that approval on June 22, according to court records.
In the run-up to the February filing, the retailer closed 53 stores across Canada within two years and faced at least a dozen lawsuits from suppliers and landlords owed money.
Once it wound up in creditor protection, those lawsuits were put on hold by the court and Toys “R” Us shuttered several more stores, leaving the chain with 18 sites in April.
On Friday, court documents showed the company will shed another three stores. Its locations at Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon, in St-Bruno, Que., and in Kingston, Ont., are closing.
The moves mean the chain has 260 employees left, down from 562 when the creditor protection process began.
To try to recoup the money it owes creditors and find a means of survival, Toys “R” Us Canada put itself up for sale in the spring in April, with offers to buy the company or invest in the business accepted in May.
The retailer has never outlined what was up for grabs but has said in court records that its assets are valued at $126.8 million.
Friday’s court records say 90 companies were approached to participate in the sales process. Eleven gave the company non-binding letters of intent to make an offer.
The company eventually whittled down the process to two bids for all its assets, two just for its intellectual property and one for a single unspecified lease.
The successful Ad Populum and Jumbo deals are expected to close in July.
Putman has not said what he will do with the assets he wants to acquire and no precise closing date has been outlined for his deal. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Putman owns Toys “R” Us Canada through an Ancaster, Ont.-based numbered company. Putman also owns HMV, Sunrise Records, Northern Reflections, Ricki’s and Cleo.
He previously launched a chain of home goods stores called Rooms + Spaces and took over T. Kettle’s tea shops. Both brands have closed all their stores since Putman took ownership.
Sister company Everest Toys, at which Putman was an executive and which was started by his father, was forced into receivership last year by TD Bank, which according to court documents is owed $25 million.
Putman has owned Toys “R” Us Canada since 2021, when he purchased up the company from Fairfax Financial.
Fairfax had paid $300 million to rescue the company and Babies “R” Us Canada in 2018, when it filed for creditor protection after the separately run American arm of Toys “R” Us sought bankruptcy protection.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2026.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press