Closing down signs are seen outside the Toys R Us store in Liverpool, Britain, March 19, 2018.
Closing down signs are seen outside the Toys R Us store in Liverpool, Britain, March 19, 2018. Reuters/Phil Noble

Toys ‘R’ Us is selling its mascot as well as some of adult-oriented domain names. The embattled toy store chain is putting up for sale sex-toys-r-us.com, ihatetoysrus.com, toysrussucks.com, kinkytoysrus.com and adult-toys-r-us.com.

As Reuters reports, the bankrupt toy shop started the fire sale of its intellectual property to pay off creditors. Its IP includes its name, as well as its Geoffrey the Giraffe logo and the Babies ‘R’ Us brand.

As for the rather salacious website names, brand specialist and chief executive of the Retail Doctor consulting firm Bob Phibbs said it’s standard practice for big companies like Toys ‘R’ Us to register related domain names to guard against someone subverting their brand.

“They just went crazy,” he told Reuters, explaining why Toys ‘R’ Us bought a lot of interesting adult domain names. “I’m sure they were laughing and drinking Red Bull and then just came up with every iteration they could.”

The company also registered dozens of other domain names, like lodges-r-us.com, bistros-r-us.com, cigars-r-us.com, burgers-r-us.com and recipes-r-us.com. This, he said, shows “the power of the brand.”

He added, “The ‘R’ Us is the key to the brand, not the Toys.”

Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy in September. Chief executive David Brandon told the 33,000 employees that they were selling everything they have in the US. The company’s UK and Irish stores also closed down.

The company’s Chapter 11 filing did not include its Australian stores as they are separate entities.

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