a lot of people blame the 2005 leveraged buyout more than Amazon honestly, the debt load alone was crushing before online competition even fully hit.
buried under debt from a 2005 buyout, then just couldn't compete with Amazon and Walmart on price. closed all US stores in 2018. it did come back in a smaller form though, through partnerships with Macy's.
the mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe still shows up sometimes in Macy's stores now that they run mini Toys R Us sections inside.
there was a genuinely wild bidding war among private equity firms before the 2005 buyout that ended up sinking the company
Geoffrey the Giraffe mascot actually predates a lot of people's childhoods, dude's been around since the 60s