The article mentioned the Irish chain Smyths. This is a company that has grown from one store in a small Irish city to expanding in to and dominating the UK market in just over 30 years. Having shopped in both I can see the difference.

Toys 'R' Us felt like it wanted to be part of the toy experience with their whimsical logo, mascot, jingle and colourful in-store decoration.

Smyths on the other hand is just a toy warehouse. They forego the mascot, jingle and colorful stores instead focusing on making sure they always have what the children want. In other words Smyths knows that the toy is the experience, not the store.