Toys R Us, headquartered in Paramus, N.J., is "looking into new retail locations" at Cape Girardeau and Paducah, Ky.

"I will confirm that we are looking at both locations," said Michael Miller of the Toys R Us real estate division. "But that's not saying that we will place operations at either or both places," he said.

A Toys R Us opened in 1991 at Marion, Ill., on the perimeter of the new Illinois Centre Mall near Interstate 57.

The firm also opened a 43,970-square-foot retail operation in Japan the week before Christmas. The Toys R Us operation in Japan is 80 percent owned by the U.S. parent, Toys R Us Inc., and 20 percent by the Japanese licensee of fast-food giant McDonald's Co., one of the few successful American retailers in Japan. McDonald's has 860 outlets in Japan and plans to open another 90 next year.

Toys R Us has plans to open two more stores in Japan by March, and to eventually open 100 stores there.

"Some people said it was folly to open such a huge store (in Japan), but we've had thousands of shoppers in our store," said Larry Bouts, president of Toys R Us' international division, who attended the Japanese opening.