Toys R Us CEO sees biggest Christmas ever

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Toys R Us Inc TOY.UL, the world's largest dedicated toy retailer, is bullish on demand heading into the busiest selling season of the year, its chief executive said.

"This will be our biggest Christmas ever," Chief Executive Jerry Storch told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

Strong holiday sales will likely help the specialty toy retailer's efforts to go public.

But Storch declined to be drawn on the company's IPO plans, saying the focus was on the holiday sales season.

"We are very focused on Christmas right now," Storch said.

He said Toys R Us was "pleased" with early November sales trends and was preparing for its "biggest Black Friday ever."

Earlier on Monday, a top executive at U.S. consumer electronics chain Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) also told Reuters it anticipated higher sales on this week's "Black Friday," the kick-off to the important holiday selling season.

From offering early discounts to carrying more exclusive products, U.S. retailers are pulling out all the stops for the all-important holiday shopping season.

This year, Toys R Us has opened 600 Toys R Us Express "pop-up" or temporary stores in the U.S., more than six times what it opened in 2009. It already runs 587 full-size namesake stores. It has also opened 10 FAO Schwarz "pop-up" stores.

Toys R Us also is offering more exclusive items this year as it tries to steer bargain-hungry shoppers away from rivals Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Target Corp (TGT.N). The exclusive items range from a karaoke machine named after the popular TV show "Glee" to a board game from toymaker Lego.

The post-recession U.S. shoppers are "willing to spend if they are getting something great," Storch told Reuters on Monday.

Toys R Us also has announced plans to hire about 45,000 seasonal workers, 10,000 more than in the past three years.

In recent years, "Black Friday", the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving kickoff to the Christmas shopping season, has squeezed into Thanksgiving Day itself. Toys R Us stores will open at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving evening. Wal-Mart and Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O) said they will open on Thanksgiving Day.

(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Carol Bishopric)