Warmly lit toy shop with plush animals, wooden trains and shelves full of toys.

Charles Lazarus Biography: From Baby Furniture to Toys “R” Us

by

Charles Lazarus began selling products that families might buy only once or twice: cribs, carriages, and other nursery furnishings. But the customers who bought those products returned for toys. That difference helped change the direction of his Washington, D.C., business.

The business he established in 1948 became Toys “R” Us, a retailer known for vast toy selections, self-service shopping, and competitive prices. Lazarus guided its expansion through Interstate Stores’ bankruptcy and into international markets. Years after he stepped back from leadership, the chain faced a crisis of its own.

A Quick Look at the Life of Charles Lazarus

Biography Summary

Charles Philip Lazarus (1923–2018) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of the business that became Toys “R” Us. A World War II Army veteran, he developed a nationwide toy-superstore chain that expanded internationally. He served as chief executive until 1994 and remained chairman through 1998.

Profile

Full Name: Charles Philip Lazarus

Born: October 4, 1923

Birthplace: Washington, D.C., United States

Died: March 22, 2018, in New York City, aged 94

Best Known For: Founding the business that became Toys “R” Us and developing the large-format toy-specialty retail model

Major Roles: Toys “R” Us chief executive until January 31, 1994; board chairman until February 1998; chairman emeritus and later adviser

Notable Honor: Inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 1990

From a Family Bicycle Shop to a New Business

Lazarus grew up in Washington, D.C., where his father, Frank, was involved in bicycle sales and repairs. The family’s retail premises were associated with 2461 18th Street NW, in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. Charles helped in the family business before serving as a cryptographer in the U.S. Army during World War II.

After the war, Lazarus turned to a different kind of retailing. He later recalled that returning servicemen were planning to start families and that he expected a need for nursery furnishings. In 1948, he opened a baby-furniture business in the family’s former Washington retail space.

Company history identifies the original shop as Children’s Bargain Town. Other Washington storefronts associated with the growing operation appeared in advertisements under names including National Baby Shop and Children’s Supermart. The familiar Toys “R” Us identity developed out of these early retail formats.

The decisive shift was in what people bought. Customers seldom needed another crib or high chair, but they returned for toys. By about 1950, toys had their own space in the business. Lazarus gradually put more emphasis on those repeat purchases and less on nursery furniture.

Reflecting on that experience in a 2008 interview, Lazarus said, “Listening to the customer is probably the best thing in the world.”

Building a Toy Store That Worked Like a Supermarket

Lazarus’s next change concerned not just what he sold, but how toys were sold. Instead of presenting them chiefly as seasonal merchandise in traditional retail departments, the growing business offered broad selections in large, self-service stores. Shoppers could move through aisles with carts, compare products, and buy toys throughout the year.

Company history dates the appearance of the Toys “R” Us name to 1957. The business evolved through several stores and identities, and the precise date and location of its first Toys “R” Us-branded storefront are not firmly settled. What took hold was the toy-supermarket format.

As the format took shape, its selling points were assortment, availability, and price. Stores carried far more toy varieties than many conventional retailers, in a setting designed for volume. By the 1980s, a store could offer roughly 18,000 items. The model helped establish the kind of specialized, large-format retailer often described as a “category killer”: a store whose depth of selection and pricing could challenge businesses that sold the same products alongside many unrelated categories.

The brand developed its own identity as well. The reversed “R” became a childlike feature of Toys “R” Us signage. A giraffe character associated with an earlier business identity became Geoffrey the Giraffe around 1965, eventually a familiar company mascot. Lazarus built the retailer that used Geoffrey; the character’s original design and name were not solely his creations.

An Interstate Acquisition and a Bankruptcy-Era Turning Point

By the mid-1960s, Lazarus had developed roughly four Washington-area stores. He sold the business to the larger Interstate Stores but continued to direct the toy operation. Its ownership changed; his role in building the chain continued.

That arrangement faced a major test when Interstate filed for bankruptcy in 1974. The toy stores continued operating as the parent company struggled. Lazarus helped lead the reorganization, during which the toy business became central to the enterprise that survived.

In 1978, the reorganized company adopted the Toys “R” Us identity and completed an initial public offering. The toy subsidiary had become the core of a public company, putting the specialty-store model at the center of its future growth.

Using Computers, Video Games, and New Store Formats

By November 1982, Toys “R” Us operated 144 locations, according to a contemporaneous report that visited Lazarus at work. Stores were standardized at roughly 45,000 square feet, and the chain used computerized systems to track sales and inventory. Lazarus could examine store stock information from his desk, a capability that mattered in a business with thousands of individual products.

Electronic and video games were changing the chain’s merchandise mix, reaching a broader range of ages. “We strongly believe that electronic games are not a fad,” Lazarus said in the 1982 interview.

Another experiment moved beyond toys. Lazarus was discussing a children’s-clothing retail concept in 1982, and Kids “R” Us stores opened the following year. The apparel venture illustrated how the company attempted to apply its retail approach in an adjacent category. Babies “R” Us would become a company brand in 1996, after he had ceased serving as chief executive; it should not be confused with his original 1948 nursery-furniture business.

Taking Toys “R” Us Beyond the United States

International expansion extended the chain’s reach, including stores in Canada and Singapore. Toys “R” Us entered Japan in December 1991.

On January 7, 1992, President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush visited a Toys “R” Us location in Kashihara, Japan, during the president’s trade trip. The official presidential photographic record identifies Lazarus, then chairman and chief executive, at the store tour and ribbon-cutting. The ceremony marked a second Japanese store’s opening, not the country’s first Toys “R” Us.

The presidential visit showed how visible Toys “R” Us had become overseas. By the time Lazarus stepped down as chief executive in 1994, the company operated or licensed more than 1,000 stores in 17 countries and jurisdictions.

Stepping Back in Two Stages

After decades directing Toys “R” Us, Lazarus gave up day-to-day executive leadership at the end of January 1994. Michael Goldstein became chief executive on February 1, while Robert Nakasone became president and chief operating officer. Lazarus remained chairman and continued to lead the executive committee.

His departure from the board chairmanship came later. In February 1998, Goldstein moved into the chairman’s position, Nakasone became chief executive, and Lazarus took the title chairman emeritus.

Lazarus maintained a connection through consulting arrangements, including an agreement effective in 2004. His later role was advisory rather than the executive position he had held for decades.

Competitive Power and the FTC Antitrust Case

The large-store format that fueled Toys “R” Us also altered the competitive landscape. Traditional department stores and smaller retailers faced a specialist chain with enormous assortments and considerable purchasing power. The company’s relationships with manufacturers eventually drew federal antitrust scrutiny.

In 1998, the Federal Trade Commission found that Toys “R” Us, Inc. had induced agreements among toy manufacturers that restricted the supply of sought-after toys to warehouse clubs and reduced competition. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the commission’s decision in 2000.

The conduct at issue dated in part to the early 1990s, while Lazarus was still chief executive. The antitrust finding, however, was against Toys “R” Us, Inc.; it did not establish his personal liability or identify specific unlawful decisions by him. The case exposed the competitive concerns that accompanied the retailer’s purchasing power.

The Chain’s Later Collapse and the Founder’s Final Years

A different chapter unfolded long after Lazarus left the CEO’s office. In July 2005, an investor group associated with Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Vornado Realty Trust acquired Toys “R” Us in a leveraged buyout. Subsequent financial pressure included debt from the buyout, competition from large discounters, and the growth of online retail.

The company sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2017. In March 2018, it announced plans to liquidate its U.S. business. These were developments under later ownership and management, not decisions made by Lazarus as chief executive.

About a week after the U.S. liquidation announcement, Lazarus died in New York City on March 22, 2018, at the age of 94. His family named his wife, Joan, and daughters, Diane and Ruth, among his survivors.

The Legacy of a Toy-Specialty Retail Pioneer

Lazarus was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 1990, while he was still leading Toys “R” Us. The honor recognized a career that had helped change how toys were displayed, stocked, priced, and purchased. His approach combined the repeat business he noticed in his first Washington shop with the reach of standardized, high-volume specialty stores.

The 2018 U.S. liquidation did not end use of the Toys “R” Us brand. In February 2026, a WHP Global executive described continued branded retail through stores, partnerships, seasonal shops, online sales, and international licensing. This new chapter came well after Lazarus’s leadership.

Lazarus’s lasting contribution was the specialized, high-volume toy store: a place where families could find a broad assortment year-round, in a self-service format built around competitive prices. The company’s later difficulties are part of its history, but the model he developed had already changed toy retailing.

Timeline

These milestones trace the principal changes in Lazarus’s life and the business he founded.

Timeline.

1923

Charles Philip Lazarus is born in Washington, D.C., on October 4.

World War II

Serves in the U.S. Army as a cryptographer.

1948

Establishes a Washington baby-furniture business, the origin of the enterprise that becomes Toys “R” Us.

About 1950–1950s

Adds and increasingly emphasizes toys as customers return for repeat purchases. The early business operates under evolving store names.

1957

According to later company history, the Toys “R” Us name makes its appearance; the exact earliest use of the name remains disputed.

Mid-1960s

Sells the growing Washington-area toy operation to Interstate Stores and remains in charge of the toy business.

1974–1978

Interstate enters bankruptcy in 1974. Lazarus helps lead the reorganization, and Toys “R” Us emerges as the reorganized public company’s identity, completing an initial public offering in 1978.

1982–1983

A 1982 account documents 144 stores, computerized inventory systems, and Lazarus’s support for electronic games. Kids “R” Us opens in 1983.

1990

Inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame.

1991–1992

Toys “R” Us expands into Japan in December 1991. Lazarus joins President George H. W. Bush at a Japanese store ceremony in January 1992.

1994

Steps down as chief executive on January 31; Michael Goldstein succeeds him, and Lazarus remains chairman.

1998–2000

Becomes chairman emeritus in 1998. Separately, the FTC issues a company-level antitrust decision in 1998, upheld by a federal appeals court in 2000.

2005

Toys “R” Us is acquired by a new investor group in a leveraged buyout, after Lazarus’s executive leadership tenure.

2017–2018

Toys “R” Us files for Chapter 11 protection in 2017 and announces plans to liquidate its U.S. business in March 2018.

March 22, 2018

Lazarus dies in New York City at age 94.

FAQs

Was Toys “R” Us founded in 1948 or 1957?

The business began in 1948 as Charles Lazarus’s Washington baby-furniture operation. Later company history dates the appearance of the Toys “R” Us name to 1957, but surviving advertisements and other accounts complicate the precise date and location of the first store using that name.

Why did Charles Lazarus switch from baby furniture to toys?

Families typically bought durable nursery furniture infrequently but returned for toys. Lazarus said that observing shoppers and their repeat purchases encouraged him to change the store’s merchandise mix toward toys.

Did Charles Lazarus still run Toys “R” Us when it went bankrupt in 2017?

No. Lazarus stopped serving as chief executive in 1994 and became chairman emeritus in 1998. He retained an advisory connection after his CEO tenure, but the 2005 leveraged buyout and the 2017–2018 bankruptcy and liquidation took place under later owners and executives.

Did President George H. W. Bush open the first Toys “R” Us in Japan?

No. Japan’s first Toys “R” Us store opened in December 1991. Bush visited a location in Kashihara with Lazarus during a January 1992 ceremony associated with the second store.

Did Charles Lazarus personally create Geoffrey the Giraffe?

Lazarus built the company that adopted Geoffrey as its mascot, but the character developed from an earlier giraffe design. The Strong National Museum of Play describes an artist’s role in creating that original character and a store associate’s role in naming Geoffrey; sole personal authorship by Lazarus is not established.

Interviews

Charles Lazarus on Stores, Computers, and Electronic Games (1982)

This contemporary Washington Post feature includes reporting from Lazarus’s workplace as Toys “R” Us was expanding nationally. It describes how he used computerized sales and inventory information, regarded video games as a lasting category, and considered a children’s-clothing chain. It also captures his explanation of the company’s early growth while he was actively running the business.

Read the 1982 interview and profile

Charles Lazarus Looks Back on the First Customers (2008)

This 2008 retrospective profile lets Lazarus explain his move from nursery furniture to toys in his own words. He describes how repeat customers changed his thinking about merchandise. The account is especially useful for understanding how he later remembered the business’s beginnings.

Read the retrospective interview and profile

Sources