TORONTO – An Ontario court is giving Toys “R” Us Canada permission to split up and sell the business to three buyers, including its current owner who wants to keep running the chain or rebrand it.
Judge Jane Dietrich said she will sign paperwork Monday approving the trio of deals that will help the beleaguered retailer pay off some of the millions in debt it accumulated in the run up to filing for creditor protection in February.
The first of the deals will sell the rights to the Toys “R” Us Canada and Babies “R” Us Canada names and logos along with 150 of their trademarks to Ad Populum.
U.S.-based Ad Populum and its affiliates own retailer Party City and manage the company behind the Chia Pet brand and another involved with Graceland, the Elvis Presley attraction in Tennessee.
The trove of trademarks it will acquire includes the rights to the Geoffrey the giraffe mascot, the Toys “R” Us Canada jingle and phrases like “wish book,” “gotta get it deals” and “play more … spend less.”
The second transaction will transfer 10 store leases, the brand’s inventory, equipment, logistics contracts and bank accounts and balances to a numbered company run by current Toys “R” Us Canada owner Doug Putman.
Lawyers representing Putman have said in court documents that he has a licence to use the Toys “R” Us name until Jan. 25, 2027 and hopes to extend that agreement or rebrand the business.
The final deal will sell the lease for a Toys “R” Us Canada store at Vaughan Mills, a mall just north of Toronto, to Fox Group Jumbo Canada, an Israeli retailer moving its discount home goods stores into the country.
Toys “R” Us Canada is already preparing to vacate the location with signs on the store window alerting customers to its impending closure.
The toy retailer has not publicized the value of any of the transactions but it owes at least $120 million to its vendors and “substantial” amounts to landlords.
Before filing for creditor protection, the retailer closed 53 stores across Canada within two years. It has since shuttered even more and is now down to 15 stores and 260 employees.
It’s unclear what shape Toys “R” Us Canada will take in the future.
Ad Populum hasn’t said if it intends to use the trademarks it is acquiring to run stores or whether it will license the Toys “R” Us name out to other companies who want to operate a retailer or manufacture merchandise.
If Putman can’t get his Toys “R” Us license extended, he hasn’t said what he is mulling rebranding the chain to.
Putman also owns HMV, Sunrise Records, Northern Reflections, Ricki’s and Cleo.
He previously launched a chain of home goods stores called Rooms + Spaces and took over T. Kettle’s tea shops. Both brands have closed all their stores since Putman took ownership.
He has also been an executive at Everest Toys, which was started by his father and forced into receivership last year by TD Bank, which according to court documents is owed $25 million.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2026.
