Toys “R” Us could open its first stores in Costa Rica without a local franchise partner, according to the chief executive of the Panamanian company that holds the brand’s regional rights, who estimated that each store would cost about $300,000 to set up. Moisés Cohen, CEO of Cotton Candy International (CCI), said in an interview that several Costa Rican businesspeople have expressed interest in acquiring the franchise.
He said the company is evaluating two paths, granting the franchise to a commercial group with retail experience or operating the stores directly. Running the stores itself would allow CCI to draw on the distribution infrastructure and inventory it already maintains in Panama, Cohen said. The company supplies the region from a logistics hub in the Colón Free Trade Zone, which it says cuts restocking times from months to days.
Cohen put the investment for a store of roughly 500 square meters (5,380 square feet) at approximately $300,000. He said the final amount would depend on the size of the space and the type of shopping experience developed, and the figure was presented as a preliminary estimate rather than a set budget.
That estimate is higher than figures CCI has cited elsewhere in the region. The company’s regional announcement put the reference investment for the format at about $400 per square meter, and Cohen told Salvadoran media this month that the decorative capital expenditure for a 500-square-meter store in El Salvador would be around $200,000.
No opening date or location has been confirmed for Costa Rica. CCI launched a recruitment campaign in late September called “Geoffrey Busca Casa,” a reference to Geoffrey the giraffe, the brand’s longtime mascot, to find retail operators, business groups, investors and shopping center developers.
The campaign supports a plan to open 60 Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores over the next five years in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. CCI has described Costa Rica as a priority market, citing its sophisticated consumers, its growing number of modern commercial developments and demand for differentiated retail concepts.
The company is offering two partnership models. The first is a local master franchise aimed at business conglomerates and retail operators with a proven track record and financial backing. The second is a revenue-share arrangement for shopping center owners and developers with spaces larger than 500 square meters. Instead of collecting fixed rent, the property owner would receive a percentage of the store’s gross sales.
CCI secured the regional master franchise for both brands from WHP Global, the brand management firm that holds a majority stake in Toys “R” Us, in a deal announced in December 2024. Cohen said the company already operates a Toys “R” Us store in Panama and has franchised the brand in Ecuador, where its partner opened a store in July.
Cohen has said the Panama store, which opened this year at Soho Mall in Panama City, beat its sales expectations in its first 90 days despite operating in a shopping center that had limited foot traffic before its arrival. He has also said some families spend up to half a day inside.
The stores planned for the region are designed as family entertainment spaces rather than conventional toy shops. CCI says they will include interactive play zones, product personalization areas and digital “endless aisle” terminals that let shoppers order inventory not on the shelves.
The format also sets aside areas for so-called kidults, adult collectors and pop culture fans, stocked with special-edition and higher-value products. Toys “R” Us would enter a market where a long-established Costa Rican chain with a similar name already operates. JugueterÃas TOYS says on its website that it opened its first store in November 1970 and now has 49 locations across the country.
The strategy Cohen described for competing with established toy retailers and e-commerce platforms rests on turning physical stores into places where customers can test, discover and use products before they buy. The possible arrival comes as international brands move in different directions in Costa Rica. Starbucks opened its 33rd store in the country in August, while Pandora closed all five of its Costa Rican stores earlier this month.
Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in the United States in 2017 and closed its American stores in 2018. The brand has since been rebuilt through licensing and partnerships, and WHP Global says it now generates more than $2 billion in annual retail sales through more than 1,680 stores and e-commerce channels in 37 countries.
