• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, September 10, 2010

In a move some experts believe is a sign of an iffy season ahead, Toys"R"Us says it will open 600 tiny temporary stores--more than doubling its size for the holidays.

The chain is taking advantage of widespread mall vacancies, rolling out the Toys"R"Us Express concept it used on a much smaller scale last year, when it opened 90 pop-ups. Adding 600 of the 4,000-square-foot stores to its current 587 full-size units means it will increase its selling space by 2.4 million square feet, adding10,000 temp employees.

"It's an opportunity, and they are capitalizing on the 9% vacancy rate in shopping malls," Doug Stephens, president of Retail Prophet Consulting, tells Marketing Daily. "It will get low rent rates, and very short term deals, so it can take advantage of the traffic we all hope will be in the malls this holiday season. But more important, this shows the way big retail is beginning to fragment. For 25 to 30 years, we've lived with the idea that we need toy stores that are 125,000 square feet. There is just an absolute recalibration of consumer demand happening right now."