Toy story: 45,000 to be hired for holiday season

Toys R Us is about to double its nationwide workforce for the holiday season, adding 45,000 jobs - at least a few hundred of them on Long Island.

The chain will open at least 18 "pop-up," or temporary, toy stores in shopping centers on the Island, from Valley Stream's Green Acres Mall to West Main Street in Riverhead. Other stores will be at the Walt Whitman Mall in Melville and the Tanger Outlet Center in Deer Park.

It's looking for salespeople and managers for each holiday-season store.

Moreover, the Wayne, N.J., company is hiring tens of thousands of workers for its existing Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores, including more than a dozen locations on Long Island.

"This number is greater than the total workforce the company hired during each of the last three holiday shopping seasons due to the addition of 600 new Toys R Us Express stores," the company said Tuesday.

Of the new hires, 35,000 will be "toy-trained" to serve as roving advisers, or salespeople, helping shoppers buy "the right toy for the children on their lists this Christmas."

The company has 587 traditional Toys R Us stores in addition to the 600 pop-ups. It also has nine distribution centers, which are hiring, too. Applicants can visit ruscareers.com.

Jennifer Albano, a company representative, did not give specific hourly pay information for the jobs, but said, "We offer competitive pay by market."

No hiring goals were given for Long Island, but nationwide the company is hiring 10,000 workers for the 600 Express stores. On a proportional basis, that would make 300 new seasonal jobs on Long Island.