Even though Toys R Us's financial woes were becoming more and more well known, yesterday's announcement made to all North American employees came as a shock.  According to CBR.com, the biggest corporate toy store chain in the world is closing every store in North America and the UK.  In effect, the toy giant will be nothing but a memory in very short order.

Geoffrey the giraffe and company have been lagging behind in sales for years now, and trail Wal-Mart as the nation's number one toy retailer. They are losing ground every year. The competition was too much, with online giant Amazon and Target and Wal-Mart pulling away with the lead, Toys R Us was more than $5 billion in debt, therefore the company decided to throw in the towel.  The closings will affect more than 700 stores and more than 33,000 employees.

Some stores have already started shutting down, and experts expect the official announcement concerning the rest of the closures inside of a week.

More From Highway 98.9