The company was purchased and operated by Rite Aid beginning in 1982, and was later bought by Melville Corporation in 1990, when some of its stores were converted to Kay-Bee Toys.
[3][2][5] Wanting to start a business in Detroit, Rubin realized that Michigan was ranked fourth in the United States in terms of youth population under 17 years of age.
Rubin chose to begin a toy store company and began securing locations, followed by financial backing.
[10] Despite the apparent turnaround and record sales, however, the operational improvements envisioned by Bernard Greenman did not come quickly enough, and in 1987 Circus World had lost $3 million for the fiscal year.
The money Greenman Brothers were forced to pay out to upgrade the Circus World stores after paying to purchase the chain, plus the money they lost liquidating[10] unsaleable merchandise, resulted in less operating capital to purchase merchandise for the 1986 Christmas selling season.