The 16-foot-tall Toys R Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe is coming out of retirement less than two weeks after the company shut down for good, USA Today reports.
Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy and liquidated its operations earlier this year. It set a June 30 deadline to clear out all its stores, but the giant fiberglass statue remained.
Liquidation adviser Joseph Malfitano, however, saw a future in Geoffrey. He purchased the giraffe and paid $10,000 to ship it nearly 50 miles to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J.
"I was a Toys R Us kid," Mr. Malifitano said. "This is an iconic piece of retail history. For it not to continue to bring smiles for years to come was a shame. This seemed like the right solution. I'm happy to see he has a good home."
RWJBarnabas Health board member Ken Rosen learned about Mr. Malifitano's plan, and chipped in an additional $6,000 to install Geoffrey in the lobby. John Gantner, president and CEO of RWJBarnabas, noted that because Geoffrey's original name was "Dr. G. Raffe," a children's hospital would be the giraffe's best new home.
"In our children's hospital, Geoffrey will continue to stimulate the minds and hearts of our littlest patients and briefly replace their fears and apprehension with happy thoughts and some fun," he told USA Today.