Toys ‘R’ Us Australia says it is business as usual at its 39 stores despite the US retail giant’s apparent collapse at home and elsewhere, and threats it will move to liquidate more stores in other countries.

The bankrupt chain is reportedly selling or closing all 885 stores in the US, and the administrator of its UK business has confirmed it will have closed a quarter of its stores by the end of this week.

But a Toys ‘R’ Us Australia spokesman this morning said all local stores and services — including gift cards, loyalty programs, lay-by and returns — were unchanged.

“Toys ‘R’ Us Australia stores are open for business and continue to serve customers,” he said.

Toys ‘R’ Us has outlets in Joondalup, Morley, Cannington and Innaloo.

Shutting the US stores has put some 30,000 employees’ jobs in jeopardy while spelling the end for a chain known to generations of children and parents for its sprawling stores and Geoffrey the giraffe mascot.

Closing the stores will finalise the downfall of the chain that succumbed to heavy debt and relentless trends that undercut its business, from online shopping to mobile games.

Chief executive David Brandon told employees Wednesday the company’s plan was to liquidate all of its US stores, according to an audio recording of the meeting.

Mr Brandon said Toys ‘R’ Us would try to bundle its Canadian business, with about 200 stores, and find a buyer. The company’s US online store would still be running for the next couple of weeks in case there is a buyer for it.

It is likely to also liquidate its businesses in Australia, France, Poland, Portugal and Spain, according to the recording. It is already shuttering its business in the UK. That would leave it with stores in Canada, central Europe and Japan, where it could find buyers for those assets.

Toys ‘R’ Us had about 60,000 full-time and part-time employees worldwide last year.

Mr Brandon said on the recording that the company would be filing liquidation papers and there would be a bankruptcy court hearing Thursday.

“We worked as hard and as long as we could to turn over every rock,” Mr Brandon told employees. He put much of the blame on its woes on the media, saying negative stories about the company’s prospects scared customers and vendors.

The company declined to comment.

The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, saddled with $US5 billion in debt that hurt its attempts to compete as shoppers moved to Amazon and huge chains like Walmart.

It pledged then to stay open, but Mr Brandon told employees that it had a “devastating” sales performance during the critical holiday season as nervous customers and vendors shied away. That made its lenders more skittish about investing in the company.

In January, it announced plans to close about 180 stores over the next couple of months, leaving it with a little more than 700 stores.

The company’s troubles have affected toy makers Mattel and Hasbro, which are big suppliers to the chain. But the likely liquidation will have a bigger impact on smaller toy makers, who rely more on the chain for sales.

Toys ‘R’ Us was also hurt by the shift to mobile devices taking up more play time.

The chain dominated the toy store business in the 1980s and early 1990s, when it was one of the first of the “category killers” — a store totally devoted to one thing.

But the company lost ground to discounters like Target and Walmart, and then to Amazon, as even nostalgic parents sought deals elsewhere.