Mastermind Toys stores could close down as chain goes into creditor protection

Mastermind Toys, the iconic toy and game store started in Toronto nearly 40 years ago, has just added itself to a growing list of large Canadian retailers that have found themselves in dire financial straits lately.

The chain revealed that it has filed for creditor protection in a news release on Friday — which is ironically the busiest shopping day in North America when most outlets are gearing up to sell a ton of merchandise.

The company attributes the difficult move to “a range of challenges” that it has been facing, among them “increasing competition, disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently a deteriorating macro-economic environment.”

“Despite implementing a series of operational improvements and cost reductions, and undertaking an extensive strategic review and conducting a robust sale process, the challenges facing the Company’s business have become too significant to overcome,” the specialty brand writes.

Canadian millennials in particular likely fondly remember Mastermind from their childhood, with stock ranging from grow-your-own sea monkey and science kits to books, board games, and stuffed toys. It stands as the largest independent store of its kind after its competitor Toys, Toys, Toys, which was also Toronto-founded, folded in 2020.

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While all of Mastermind’s 66 locations will remain open throughout the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings, the update does state that the business is looking to close down some outposts permanently.

This will start with an unnamed “initial group” of shops, after which executives will “explore certain strategic alternatives for the remainder of the company’s stores,” which does not sound very optimistic.

Its current Toronto locations include two on Yonge Street (south of St. Clair and north of Lawrence), one at Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton, and one at Dundas West and Royal York Road.

Despite this new development, the retailer will continue to run all of its forthcoming sales and holiday promotions, including its Black Friday event.

The news comes less than two weeks after Bad Boy Furniture, another iconic Canadian chain, abruptly filed for bankruptcy and announced a liquidation sale.