TOYS'R'US
TOYS'R'USArutz Sheva

As many as 30,000 people stand to lose their jobs as retail giant Toys R Us moves towards the closure of all of its stores in the US.

The 70-year-old company filed for bankruptcy Monday, as competition from online stores such as Amazon and the proliferation of mobile phone games cut into its sales.

All of the 740 Toys R Us branches in the US will close in the coming months, AP reported.

Toys R' Us CEO David Brandon told employees of the liquidation plans Wednesday. Brandon stated that the company would attempt to sell its 200 Canadian stores and its online store.

The move follows the closure of all Toys R Us branches in the UK. The chain's branches in Australia, France, Poland, Portugal and Spain are also expected to be liquidated.

The stores in Canada, central Europe and Asia are expected to remain open and be sold off.

The closure of Toys R Us is expected to have a ripple effect, affecting toy manufacturers such as Mattel and Hasbro, which have supplied Toys R Us with a wide ride of toys and relied on the retailer for a large percentage of their sales for decades. Both large and small toy manufacturers are scrambling to diversify and find other places to sell their products.

The closure of hundreds of stores across the country is also expected to adversely affect many landlords, who will scramble to find new tenants for the large buildings left vacant when the retailer shutters its doors.

Toys R Us is over $5 billion in debt. Company CEO Brandon stated that poor sales over the last holiday season were the final nail in the company's coffin.