Reliance Brands announced that it will take Hamleys toy stores to the US and Canada with a mission to capitalise on the vacuum created by liquidation of one of the world’s largest toy store chain Toys R Us.
After acquiring the British-origin toy store chain from Chinese fashion conglomerate C Banner International for around Rs. 620 crore, Reliance opened the 100th Hamleys store in India in Gurgaon.
Notably, the brand forayed into India in 2010 and had 50 stores till early last year.
“By March 2020, we will launch 150 stores. The Indian market has the potential to hold 500 Hamleys stores. The only challenge is mall infrastructure,” said Darshan Mehta, President and CEO of Reliance Brands.
This came amidst the slow or almost stagnant growth of other toy store chains. Reliance Brands in in talks with several largest toymakers in the world to double the Hamleys’ business in India in next two years.
“What worked for us is tweaking the mix of products at our stores according to their locations. For instance, in our store in Dwarka in the capital, the average unit value of toys is around Rs. 650, while in Khan Market, a tonier neigbourhood, we have kept the average unit price at Rs. 1,400,” asserted Darshan.
After the acquisition, Reliance changed the retail model of Hamleys too wherein instead of running only large stores measuring around 10,000 square feet which was the case earlier, it currently operates several formats. These include flagship stores, regular, express and airport outlets.
The size of the stores at airports is around 500 square feet.
