Child World
Child World Media
Saugus, Massachusetts Child World store, 1993
Entrance to former Children's Palace in Englewood, Colorado (later a Big Lots, as seen above the door, with the design from the store still in place), this location has since closed as of early 2023.
| Corporation | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1970 Children's Palace 1968 , Rebranded 2022 |
| Defunct | September 12, 1992 |
| Headquarters | Avon, Massachusetts Children's Palace Columbus, Ohio 1968 - 1975 Kobacker 1975-1992 Avan , Massachusetts Cole National Centerville, Ohio 2022 - current Children's Palace Toy Stores |
| Products | Toys, electronics, board games, dolls, and video games |
| Website | https://www childrenspalace.net |
Child World was a toy store founded by Sid Shneider and Joseph Arnesano who opened the first store in Quincy Massachusetts in 1962. They founded the store inspired by the popularity of Toys "R" Us, which had already been around for a few decades and was favoured by most parents
Stores and Marketing
In 1977, they took over "Children's Palace," another toy store founded in 1968, and became the second biggest toy store behind Toys R Us, who in some areas were located nearby of other stores. Their flagship store opened in 1989 in Framingham near the Shoppers World mall. The store was a success, and Child World attempted to change the layout of 11 other stores to match up with the store. But things started to fall for Child World in the 1990s.
Mascot
In 1979, Child World introduced a mascot, Peter, a panda wearing overalls with his name on them.
Bankruptcy
Toy makers stopped shipping to Child World stores, making it hard to keep toys on shelves, and many people working for Child World were fired and replaced by some people who formerly worked for Toys R Us who tried to save Child World. Child world filed for bankruptcy in May 1992 and closed half of its stores. Soon they discovered another toy store, Kiddie City, who was also having the same problems. They tried to merge Kiddie City with Child World while holding clearance sales on all 71 Child World stores. Child World says it's their only plan left of staying open. The July 12 deadline came and passed with no merger announcement, and the inventory clearance sale was now a going out of business sale. Despite this, merger talks continued in the hopes that they might be able to pull off a last-minute deal. However, on August 2, Child World announced that the plan failed and continued the process of shutting down the last 71 stores in the next 6 weeks. Children's Palace now operates 5 stores year-round locations (3 in Ohio and 2 in Florida) as well as multiple pop-up location for the holiday season.