A toy store or toy shop is a type of

retail Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...

business specializing in selling

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

Notable examples

Hamleys Hamleys is a British multinational toy retailer, owned by Reliance Retail. The world's oldest toy store, it was founded by William Hamley as "Noah's Ark" in High Holborn, London, in 1760. It moved to its current site on Regent Street in London's ...

, the world's oldest toy shop *

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loca ...

, international company now

Tru Kids Tru Kids, Inc. (; doing business as Tru Kids Brands) Is an American retail and licensing company that operates the Toys "R" Us locations in the United States. Although they only operate locations in the United States, they own the Toys R Us brand ...

FAO Schwarz FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and store. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, interactive experiences, brand integrations, and games. FAO Schwarz claims to be the oldest toy store in the United States ...

, famous American brand and store * The LEGO Store, official store for Legos *

Build-A-Bear Workshop Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is an American retailer headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri that sells teddy bears and other stuffed animals and characters. Customers go through an interactive process in which the stuffed animal of their choice ...

has the concept of making your own stuffed toy *

Learning Express Toys Learning Express Toys, incorporated in 1987 as Learning Express, Inc., is a Specialty store, specialty toy, game and book retailer and franchisor headquartered in Devens, Massachusetts, United States. The company franchises specialty toy stores in ...

, franchise of specialty toys *

Smyths Toys Superstores Smyths Toys Superstores is an Irish multinational chain provider of children's toys and entertainment products with over 200 shops throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France. The business is owned by the Sm ...

History

The first toy store was founded in 1760 by William Hamley in London, under the name of "Noah's Ark", later renamed to Hamleys. Set over seven floors, a Hamleys branch at 200

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Plac ...

in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government build ...

opened in 1881. The famous toy store in New York City, FAO Schwarz, was founded under the name Schwarz Toy Bazaar. It was founded in 1862 by the German immigrant, Frederick August Otto Schwarz. The former largest toy retailer in the United States, Toys "R" Us, started business in 1948 by

Charles Lazarus Charles Philip Lazarus (October 4, 1923 – March 22, 2018) was an American entrepreneur, executive, and pioneer within the retail toy industry. Lazarus founded the Toys "R" Us retail chain, which evolved from a children's furniture store he orig ...

, a veteran of World War II. In 2015, FAO Schwarz closed, and did not reopen until after Toys "R" Us went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in 2018.

Economics

Today, toy stores face competition from the online toy market. As a result, many large toy retailers have been rendered bankrupt. These competing websites include

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

. Toys "R" Us cut prices in an attempt to compete, but it ultimately ended in failure. As Jeff P. Bezos explained, "For a toy store to survive, they've got to create the kind of fun that Amazon can't." Toy Stores that adopt this model by increasing in-store interactivity have been more successful in maintaining business. Another model many stores have adopted is an online alternative, specifically for the individual retailer.

Controversies

There can be a large gender bias for the marketing of certain products. This includes using color to market products to a certain gender, or only showing one gender to market to that specific demographic. On the U.S.

Disney Store The Disney Store is a chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It was a business unit of Disney Consumer Products with the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products s ...

website, the toys for boys are predominantly red, black, brown, or grey, while the toys for girls are mostly pink or purple. However, the toys meant for both boys and girls were mostly of the same color palette as the toys for boys.

References

External links

''Inside Toyland: Working, Shopping, and Social Inequality,''
by Christine L. Williams, University of California Press, 2008. Retailers by type of merchandise sold Toy retailers {{Toy-stub