Shoppers can exchange KB Toys gift cards for discounts at Toys R Us

When bankrupt retailer KB Toys Inc. announced recently that it would no longer accept gift cards at its stores, rival Toys R Us Inc. sensed opportunity.

The toy giant said today that it was rolling out a "gift card exchange program" that would allow customers with KB Toys gift cards to exchange them for coupons valid for 15% off any toy item at Toys R Us through the end of the month.

Beyond helping customers who are left holding the gift cards, the company hopes "to familiarize KB Toys customers with the advantages of shopping at Toys R Us," said Greg Ahearn, a senior vice president.

KB Toys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month and quickly began liquidating its roughly 460 retail stores, including outlet locations.

However, if you purchased a gift card directly from KBtoys.com, you're not out of luck yet. According to KB Toys, you can fill out an online form here and the company will send you an electronic gift certificate that you can use to place an order on the retailer's website.

-- Andrea Chang

Photo: KB Toys customers can redeem their gift cards for 15% discount coupons at rival Toys R Us. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[nancy fields]

i have a store credit card in the amount of $13.39,,i was given an address to send the card to,but i called them first to see if i had all the info correct and now i cant get thru to anyone,i want the credit of the 13.39 for my grandson,,,,what do i do now?

[Former Employee]

Dear Nancy. I am a former Assistant Manager of KB Toys of Grand Island, NE. I hope you come back to this website to see this reply. Unfortunately, I do not bring very good news. If you want to try to get your money, you have to file a claim on http://chapter11.epiqsystems.com and click on KB Toys (2008). This website is the site setup for claims for gift cards and other such claims. You file a claim and they take the hundreds of thousands of other claims for gift cards and divvy up the money allotted for the claims. This is information told from our Gordon Brothers representative who had it happen to a relative of his. His relative only got a few dollars out of a $50 gift card he had bought from a company that was going out of business. I know this is grave news, but I also hope that it helps. Hopefully other people find this reply and find it helpful as well. I am very sad to see KB gone, but it was inevitable. Bad decision making from the corporate level, not just (or all) from the economy.