Toys'R'Us has a widely recognised brand name every mother knows. The earnings drop in the TRU Web site subsidiary hurt the parent company's second quarter bottom line. Without the dot com subsidiary's minus-contribution, earnings were up slightly. We may now be able to break even in this business in the fourth quarter of 2001 and be profitable in 2002. First quarter sales grew on the strength of international sales and the new Babies'R'Us business.
Partnerships continue to drive the TRU business plan.
As part of that promotion, TRU also gave away some two million child passenger safety tip brochures, in partnership with Daimler-Chrysler. During 2001, the company intends to step up its promotional campaigning. It will team up with Scholastic boutiques to feature arts and crafts, activity toys, puzzles, games, construction sets, role-playing toys, school supplies and electronic learning aids in its Toys'R'Us and Imaginarium stores. Boutiques will be built in 1,215 stand-alone Imaginarium stores, Imaginarium shops within Toys'R'Us stores and also in stores without Imaginarium departments. The company plans to support the Scholastic boutiques with advertising, marketing programmes, promotions and other initiatives.