The banner above the Toys R Us store, located on an outparcel of Eagle Ridge Mall announces the store will be closing. It is making for some unhappy customers who say the only saving grace to the closing is that there are bargains to be had, as much as 50 percent off. However, if they had their way, several of the people who arrived Friday, Jan. 27, just before the store opened, said they would rather the store remained open.

“This is the only one we have here,” said Dana Smith, who brought her two sons, Chris, 4 and Jaden, 2, with her. “If I go to another (Toys R Us), it will be the one in Lakeland.” It is not a trip she would be willing to make as she would need to travel from Dundee. She said she probably would do her toy shopping at Walmart instead. For today, though, she figured her two sons will want to buy toy trucks.

“They love trucks,” she said, “that and games.”

Debra Woody of Lake Wales isn’t pleased either. She said she often frequents the store, and for good reason. She has three grandchildren (boys ages 3, 4 and 5), with another two on the way, a fourth grandson and a first granddaughter.

Woody said she was not planning on shopping Friday, but Saturday the reason she was in the store parking lot was because she was waiting for a friend. However, she had shopped the store since it announced its closing.

“We got onesies, baby blankets and diapers,” she said. Like Smith, Woody didn’t like the idea she would need to travel to Lakeland if she wished to continue patronizing the chain. “I’m upset. We do a lot of shopping here for Christmas and birthday parties.”

Woody also was sad for the store employees. She wondered whether they would be able to keep their jobs.

“I asked one lady and she told me they’re going to try to transfer everyone,” said Woody.

The reason Toys R Us is closing, scheduled for late February, is because corporate has decided not to renew the lease. Katelyn Leondi, manager of corporate communications for Toys R Us, based in Wayne, N.J., said in a released statement that the retailer “enjoyed serving the Lake Wales community for many years and will continue to look for nearby locations to provide consumers with the products and services that Toys R Us offers.”

Leondi refused to comment further on possible future plans, including whether it would revisit its decision to leave the Lake Wales market, or consider neighboring Winter Haven, saying the company did not divulge internal matters.