Adult Toys

Toys ‘R’ Us seems to be making a comeback as the company announced plans to have 160 standalone stores open in time for the holidays. This must be good news. It must mean that children have not had their attention spans completely usurped by screens. They still long for good, old-fashioned, tactile toys that, if things work out according to plan, they might even want to play with outdoors? Well, not exactly. It turns out that one of the big drivers in the Toys ‘R’ Us resuscitation is toy purchases coming from adults (I know, that’s not what you thought the headline adult toys referred to, but maybe Toys ‘R’ Us still sells Erector Sets…) “Toy sales among adult-only households have now outpaced households with children for toy sales, growing 16% through June, according to market research group Circana, equivalent to 55% of total toy industry receipts. Toy sales among all adults are growing 25%, only slightly behind the teen group at 33%. Together, teens and adults generated nearly 60% of the industry’s incremental dollar gains in the first half, Circana said.” Toys ‘R’ Us is opening new stores as grownup collectors fuel toy sales. Hey, I’m not judging. People do whatever they have to do to distract themselves from the headlines of 2026. My wife and I recently ran out of content. Like, we reached the end of our streaming video services. All of them. In a quest for new distractions, I hopped on my Big Wheel to pick up some Matchbox Cars, an Etch A Sketch, and a Magic 8 Ball. (My first question was, “Can AI really kill off humanity?” The Magic 8 Ball’s answer: “Better not tell you now.”)