Amazon said to be weighing up Toys R Us store buys

Toys R Us has more than 700 stores in the US. - AP

Amazon is weighing up whether to buy sites from Toys R Us, reports suggested this evening, just days after the toy retailer announced plans to wind up its US business. 

According to Bloomberg, Amazon would not keep the Toys R Us branding if it did buy the locations, but instead would be looking to turn those sites into its own facilities.

It was not clear on Monday evening how many of the stores Amazon was considering buying. Toys R Us has more than 700 stores in the US. 

Amazon declined to comment on the reports, while Toys R Us did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Toys R Us, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, revealed last Thursday that it had failed to find a buyer or agree a restructuring deal, meaning it would now have to put "a 'For Sale' sign on everything". 

The group had taken measures to reduce its store estate as well as borrow funds to repay suppliers but had struggled to keep afloat after poor trading over the Christmas period. 

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Its demise came after years of shrinking footfall, with online toy sales having lifted more than 60pc since 2013, and less than two weeks after its UK business collapsed into administration. 

Reports last week suggested that around 40pc of the sales from Toys R Us's US toy store business would now flow to Amazon.

Amazon has been expanding its physical store presence in the US in recent years, buying grocer Whole Foods, which has around 470 stores, last year, and having opened up more than a dozen Amazon Books stores.