Hamleys of London Limited,trading asHamleys, is a British multinationaltoy retailer, owned byReliance Retail. Listed in theGuinness Book of Records as the world's oldest toy store, it was founded by William Hamley as "Noah's Ark" inHigh Holborn,London, in 1760. It moved to its current site onRegent Street in London's West End in 1881. This flagship store is set over seven floors, with more than 50,000 lines of toys on sale. It receives around five million visitors each year.

Hamleys of London Limited

Official logo of Hamleys
Hamleys flagship store on Regent Street
Formerly	Hamleys Limited (1988–1994)[1]
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Retail
Founded	1760; 265 years ago (1760)
Founder	William Hamley
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Number of locations	11 in UK; 90 international franchises
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Toys Games Dolls
Revenue	GBP 5.5million[2] (2017)
Owner	Reliance Retail
Website	hamleys.com

Thechain has 11 outlets in the United Kingdom and also has more than 90 franchises worldwide.^[3] Hamleys became famous in the early Victorian era, with royalty among its customers. The store was granted its firstroyal warrant fromQueen Mary in 1938. It held a royal warrant fromElizabeth II from 1955 to 2022 (her death).

Hamleys is the oldest and in 1994 was the largest toy shop in the world.^[4][5] It is named after William Hamley, who founded a toy shop called "Noah's Ark" at No. 231High Holborn,London, in 1760. Ownership of the shop passed through the family, and by the time it was operated by Hamley's grandsons in 1837, the store had become famous, counting royalty and nobility among its customers.^[6]

A branch at 200Regent Street in theWest End of London was opened in 1881. The original High Holborn store was destroyed by fire in 1901 and subsequently relocated to 86–87 High Holborn.^[7]

Hamleys suffered a downturn through the 1920s and closed, entering receivership, in 1931.^[6] After ensuring that it would not alienate their suppliers,^[8] theLines Bros toy company, Hamleys' largest creditor, purchased the company and reopened the Regent Street store by the end of that year, keeping it largely independent.^[8] The High Holborn branch, opened in 1901, would not reopen under the new ownership.^[8]

In 1938,Queen Mary, consort of KingGeorge V, gave Hamleys aroyal warrant.^[6] During theSecond World War, the Regent Street store was bombed five times. In 1955, QueenElizabeth II gave the company a second royal warrant as a "toys and sports merchant".^[9]

In 1981, Hamleys would move to 188–196 Regent Street.^[6][8] The following year, it was purchased by the department store chainDebenhams.^[10] Debenhams itself was the subject of a takeover in August 1985 by theBurton Group.^[11] Burton Group divested Hamleys in August 1986 toHarris Queensway, a retail group led byPhilip Harris. At the time it was said that a strategic plan had been formulated to build on the strength of the brand to ensure the company lived up to its reputation.^[12] The Harris Queensway group, including Hamleys, was taken over in 1988 to become Lowdnes Queensway. Hamleys was sold by Lowndes Queensway in May 1989 to a group led by Duncan Chadwick^[13] for £22 million.^[14]

Hamleys was bought in June 2003 by theBaugur Group, an Icelandic investment company. When Baugur collapsed, its stake in the toy store was taken over by the Icelandic bankLandsbanki. In September 2012 Groupe Ludendo, a toy retailer based in France with shops also located in Belgium, Spain and Switzerland, bought Hamleys for a reported £60 million.^[15]

In October 2015 it was reported that Groupe Ludendo was negotiating the sale of Hamleys, possibly to a Hong Kong company owned by a relative of the owner of department storeHouse of Fraser.^[16] It was subsequently purchased by C.Banner, a large Chinese footwear and fashion wear conglomerate based inNanjing.^[17]

In May 2019, Indian retail company,Reliance Retail, part of theReliance Industries, announced that it has acquired Hamleys for £67.96 million (around ₹620crore) using international bank receipt.^[18]

Hamleys expanded and moved its flagship store in London from No. 200Regent Street to its current site at Nos. 188–196, Regent Street, in 1981, which in 1994 was the largest toy shop in the world.^[4]

Hamleys' flagship store has seven floors covering 54,000 square feet (5,000 m²),^[19] all devoted to toys, with different categories of toy on each floor. The ground floor is traditionally for stuffed toys (includingSteiff), and is decked out with a diverse array of stuffed animals, from regular teddy bears to more exotic plushes such as turtles and dolphins, and enormous life-sized giraffes and elephants.Public transit is available via theOxford Circus underground station.

In 1987 Hamleys' second store opened inYork. However, it closed less than 12 months later.^[20]

In 1987 Hamleys opened a new store in one of the richest shopping streets in theUnited Kingdom,Northumberland Street,Newcastle upon Tyne. Surprisingly, it operated for only 12 months, and closed in 1988. It had seemed a "perfect combination" (Hamleys and Northumberland Street), but it did not work out. Then on 15 June 1987, Hamleys opened a new store inMilsom Street, in the city ofBath, Somerset, and just like the other stores, it also closed within 12 months, on 10 June 1988.

At the start of 2022, there were thirty Hamleys stores across the United Kingdom, including sites at theSt Enoch Centre inGlasgow,^[21] at theTrafford Centre in Greater Manchester, atLakeside Shopping Centre in Essex,Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent,St James Quarter in Edinburgh,St David's Centre in Cardiff, theMerry Hill Centre in the West Midlands, York, and at airports includingLondon Heathrow,London Gatwick,London Luton andLondon Stansted,^[22] and also atMeadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield, Liverpool ONE, Cheshire Oaks Outlet, Gateshead Metrocentre andManchester.^[23]However, by 2023 Hamleys had closed all but 11 of their UK based stores.

Hamleys' European footprint existed in Denmark (three small stores) and, since October 2008, theRepublic of Ireland, when it opened a 3,250-square-metre (35,000 sq ft) store in Pembroke Avenue, located adjacent to the Town Square inDundrum, Dublin.^[24][25] On 12 October 2012, a Hamleys store opened atNacka inStockholm, Sweden. On 19 September 2013, a Hamley store opened as part ofSteen og Strøm department store inOslo, Norway. In April 2014 the Hamleys Denmark toy chain closed all four of its Danish locations when its Nordic parent company, Kids Retails, filed for bankruptcy.^[26]

Hamleys opened its first store outside Europe inAmman, Jordan, on 18 June 2008. The three-storey store on Mecca Street is run by the group'sfranchisee Jordan Centre.^[27] ADubai franchise opened with two stores on 4 November 2008.^[28]

The first store in South Asia was opened inMumbai, India, on 9 April 2010.^[19] The 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m²) store is located in an upmarket shopping district in India's financial capital. A second store in India is located in the city ofChennai at the Express Avenue Mall. The 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m²) store has aLondon bus that customers can walk up through. It now has 78 stores in India, including three stores inPunjab with a recently opened store in Amritsar on 1 February 2018. Hamleys also opened its first store inBhubaneswar atEsplanade One Mall On 10 January 2019. Hamleys also opened its first store in Lucknow at Fun Republic Mall. With this addition, the brand is now present in 26 cities with 50 stores across India. InGujarat, Hamleys opened its first store at Ahmedabad One mall with 11,000 square feet (1,000 m²) on 9 November 2014.

Hamleys' opened a store in the Saudi capitalRiyadh on 26 January 2012. The 2,100-square-metre (23,000 sq ft) shop is located in the Panorama mall at Takhassusi Street's intersection with Prince Mohammed Road.^[29]

In 2012 Hamleys opened its first store in Russia. It now operates two inMoscow, one inSaint-Petersburg and one inKrasnodar.^[30]

In 2013, Hamleys announced plans to open 20 stores across India in collaboration withReliance Brands Ltd.^[31] The company also announced that a store would open in the One Utama Shopping Mall inKuala Lumpur, in November 2013, the first inSoutheast Asia. Malaysia is now a home for three Hamleys stores, with new outlets opened in the Quill Mall, Kuala Lumpur and in the satellite terminal ofKuala Lumpur International Airport.

In 2014, Hamleys opened its first store in thePhilippines. The store opened in Central Square, Bonifacio Highstreet,Bonifacio Global City,Taguig City.^[32] A second Philippine Hamleys store is also set to open the following year.^[33] Stores Specialists Inc. (SSI) Group is the exclusive distributor of Hamleys in the Philippines.

In 2015, anAbu Dhabi franchise opened with two stores in World Trade Centre Mall (WTC) and Yas Mall,Yas Island.

In July 2015, a store opened inPlaza Singapura,Singapore. This is the first Hamleys store to be established in Singapore.^[34] Subsequently, a second store was introduced atMarina Bay Sands.^[35]

On 27 August 2015, a store opened inVictoria & Alfred Waterfront,Cape Town, South Africa. Six other stores have opened inSouth Africa: atMall of Africa,Sandton City,Gateway Mall,Fourways Mall,The Zone @ Rosebank andEastgate Mall.

In November 2015, a store opened atAntara Polanco Fashion Mall inMexico City, its first store inMexico. As of June 2018, there are four stores in Mexico: one inQuerétaro atAntea LifeStyle Center, one inVeracruz at Andamar Lifestyle Center and two in Mexico City at Antara Polanco Fashion Mall andArtz Pedregal.

A store is present inNicosia, Cyprus. There is also a store in Malta.

In 2016, Hamleys opened a store inPrague, Czech Republic, in Na Příkopě Street.

In 2017, a Hamleys store was opened inHull, England to celebrate the UK City of Culture, in the shopping centre, Princes Quay.

Also in 2017, a store was opened inWarsaw, Poland, at the Galeria Północna shopping mall.^[36]

In April 2018, it was confirmed that theDublin store would close after being open for 10 years.

In December 2018, it was also announced that the Trafford Centre branch would close after a short time in operation.

In 2018, a proposal was announced to open a store inNew York City nearHerald Square, though nothing has progressed as of 2023.^{[37][38][39][40][41][42]}

In April 2019 it was reported that an Indian CompanyReliance Retail was planning to buy out the British toy store chain.^[43]

In May 2019 it was confirmed that Reliance Retail, a subsidiary ofReliance Industries Limited on 9 May 2019 signed a definitive agreement for Reliance Retail to acquire 100 per cent shares of Hamleys Global Holdings Limited.^[44] Hamleys is planning to open a Hamleys in The Gate Mall in Kuwait.^[45]

In November 2022, Hamleys opened a store inAlbania. It is located in the heart ofTirana, inside the Emerald mall. It covers the entire second floor with toys, the third floor with Hamleys party rooms and attractions on both floors.^[46]

In 2023, Hamleys opened a store inRome.^[47]

In the 1990s Hamleys had two websites, one for the UK which did not sell anything, and a U.S. version^[48] with a basic inventory. This changed in 1999 with the launch of hamleys.com. The site offered worldwide shipping and focused on user experience, customer service and the sale of traditional products and collectables.^[48] The chief executive of Hamleys toldMarketing magazine "I do not want to become embroiled with the likes ofToys 'R' Us,Toyzone andeToys, which are fighting on price alone and will end up making next to no margin".^[49]

In 2006, a glitch on the website allowed customers to claim a 60% discount on any product.^[50][51]

Econsultancy critiqued the site for its basic approach in 2013, and felt that it "doesn't do a lot to represent the brand; in fact, it may even detract from it".^[52]

• Reliance Retail
• Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop
• Gamleys
• Nintendo

• Official website for United Kingdom

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