Toys R Us announces UK come back - full list of stores

Toys R Us has announced grand plans for a return to the high street, years after shutting all of its UK stores. The entertainment retailer is partnering up with WHSmith in the coming months.

First opening in America in 1948, Toys R Us first expanded into Britain in 1985 and at its peak had over 105 stores across the country. However after filling for bankruptcy in 2017 in the United States it was announced that all stores in the UK would be closing.

The compnay’s last store in Britain closed on 24 April 2018. But six years later the retailer is set to make an improbable return to the British high street.

Toys R Us will be opening shops-in-shops inside WHSmith stores, following on from the success of the first site in York - which opened in June last year. It is a similar situation to Argos shops inside larger Sainsbury stores.

The full list of 17 new Toys R Us stores set to open include:

• Fosse Park, Leicester
• Guildford, Surrey
• Halifax, West Yorkshire
• Hastings, East Sussex
• Hereford, Herefordshire
• Lancaster, Lancashire
• Maidstone, Kent
• Newton Abbott, Devon
• Richmond, London
• Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
• Salisbury, Wiltshire
• Shrewsbury, Shropshire
• Sutton, London
• Taunton, Somerset
• Thurrock, Essex
• Victoria Centre, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
• Woking, Surrey

Retail Gazette reports that the first Toys R Us stores will open in WHSmith sites in Fosse Park, Hereford and Royal Lemington Spa in just under two weeks - on 25 May. The other 14 are due to open over the summer months.

WHSmith high street managing director Sean Toal said: “Not only is this an exceptionally exciting time for our colleagues and customers, but we’re also proud to be bucking the trend by continuing to invest in the UK high street. We’re known for being the ‘Hub of the High Street’ by providing customers with a range of great products and services, from books and stationery to Post Office services across 200 locations.

“With Toys R Us set to be in a further 30 stores by the end of August this gives customers even more reasons to shop with us.”