Back from the dead: Babies R Us will open 3 Delaware stores

You can't keep a good baby store down.

A year after big-box tot store buybuy Baby came back from the dead in Delaware, another baby brand will also be making a return after closing all of its stores.

Babies R Us, which closed all its stores in 2018 alongside parent brand Toys R Us, will open three stores in Delaware this year, among hundreds all over the country to reopen.

But rather than open as stand-alone stores, most of these Babies R Us locations will return inside about 200 Kohl's department stores. The department store announced a partnership in March with WHP Global, the parent company of Babies R Us. The first Delaware Babies R Us may open as soon as the end of this month.

So where are the Delaware Babies R Us locations, and when will they open? Here's what to expect.

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Buybuy Baby re-opening:Here's where Buybuy Baby reopened in Delaware and New Jersey

When did Babies R Us close, and why are they now inside Kohl's stores?

It wasn't so long ago that customers thronged outside the Christiana locations of Toys R Us and Babies R Us in May 2018, waiting for steep discounts amid a companywide bankruptcy and liquidation. As of last year, that former hulking Toys R Us is now a Vietnamese-owned supermarket named Hung Vuong with locations in Philadelphia.

But Toys R Us didn't stay gone. Owners WHP Global plotted a return by opening Toys R Us departments inside more than 400 Macy's department stores all over the country, in a collaboration meant to prop up both brands. Toys R Us locations in Delaware include the Macy's stores at Christiana and Concord Mall.

In 2024, WHP announced they would also open as many as two dozen standalone Toys R Us flagship stores across the country, plus airport and cruise ship locations, following in the footsteps of a flagship store at New Jersey's American Dream Mall in 2022.

The Babies R Us revival appears to be using the same playbook. About 200 Kohl's locations will snag Babies R Us departments.

Kohl's has seen drastic stock losses this year, with low earnings in the first quarter. But Kohl's spokespeople said earlier this year they hope the well-known Babies R Us brand will "introduce more new customers to Kohl's, including younger customers who will be choosing Kohl's for the first time."

Kohl's struck a similar deal a few years back with makeup outlet Sephora, a partnership that has turned into a bright spot for the department store, pulling in $1.4 billion last year from what Kohl's spokespeople have called a "younger, more diverse customer."

In a former Toys R Us:This store sells frozen frog legs, oodles of noodles & fruit with a very distinctive smell

Where and when will Babies R Us open in Delaware in 2024?

Babies R Us will open in the following Kohl's locations this year in Delaware:

• Milltown - 4437 Kirkwood Highway
• Glasgow - 2800 Pulaski Highway
• Middletown - 601 S. Ridge Ave.

Babies R Us has projected most store openings by fall 2024, but the pace of progress has been swift. Staff at the Kirkwood Highway location of Kohl's in Delaware said the Babies R Us is now under construction and could be open by August.

Online shoppers can already shop for Babies R Us inventory on the Kohl's website, which includes high chairs, strollers, cribs, toys, baby chairs and a whole mess of other baby gear.

The full list:Babies R Us to open shops inside 200 Kohl's stores in the US: See full list of stores

These Kohl's stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland will receive Babies R Us locations

Pennsylvania

• Erie - 1906 Keystone Drive
• Springfield - 405 Baltimore Pike
• Havertown - 250 W. Chester Pike
• Bensalem - 2325 Street Road
• Mechanicsburg - 6444 Carlisle Pike
• Easton - 3768 Easton Nazareth Highway
• Trexlertown - 6900 Hamilton Blvd.
• Robinson Township - 6571 Steubenville Pike
• North Huntingdon - 88 Rocky Road

New Jersey

• Tom's River - 1 Route 37 west
• Hillsborough - 315 Route 206
• Woodland Park - 1710 U.S. Highway 46
• Secaucus - 3 Mill Creek Drive
• Clifton - 14 Main Ave.
• Ramsey - 1300 Route 17
• Wayne - 1800 Route 23
• Jersey City - 40 Mall Drive East
• Paramus - 200 Bergen Town Center
• Turnersville - 5851 Route 42
• Hamilton Township - 460 Marketplace Blvd.
• Mantua - 300 Bridgeton Pike
• Voorhees - 79 Route 73

Maryland

• Ellicott City - 4320 Montgomery Road

Matthew Korfhage is business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all things related to land and money: openings and closings, construction, and the many corporations that call the First State home. Send tips and insults to mkorfhage@gannett.com.