Amazon is exploring possibilities of expanding its retail footprint by acquiring some locations from Toys R Us, just a few days after the toy retailer announced its plans to close its US operations.
It is reported that the online retailer may convert the acquired sites into its own facilities, rather than retain the Toys R Us branding.
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Toys R Us has more than 700 stores in the US, but it is not yet known how many stores Amazon is considering to acquire.
The toy retailer filed for bankruptcy protection in September. Last week, it revealed that it could not find a buyer or finalise a restructuring deal, indicating that it would have to put its locations up for sale.
The group had taken steps to cut down its store portfolio and borrow funds to pay back its suppliers, but after poor trading over the Christmas period, it struggled to remain operational.
While the US operations are shutting down, the Canadian unit is up for sale along with its operations around the world. The UK division is currently being closed .
The retailer expects to sell the Canadian unit as it is doing financially better than the US operations.
An investment group led by Isaac Larian, the founder of toymaker MGA Entertainment, had reportedly placed a bid to acquire the Canadian business.
Amazon has been expanding its offline presence in the US in the recent years. Last year, the online retailer bought grocer Whole Foods, which has around 470 stores, and opened more than dozen Amazon Books stores.
In 2015, Amazon held discussions about acquiring several stores of electronics retailer RadioShack when it filed for bankruptcy. However, nothing materialised from these talks.
