Britain’s toy shop, The Entertainer, has achieved another year of significant growth in the UK and internationally following investment across its stores, online innovation and ‘Toy-Box’ commercial partnerships.
In a year that saw the company transition to an Employee-Owned Trust, creating the second largest employee-owned retailer in the UK, The Entertainer strengthened its physical presence with a number of new store openings and refurbishments.
The toy shop opened new ‘Gen5’ stores in Bluewater (Retail Week ‘New Store of the Year’ Finalist), Cambridge, Rushden Lakes, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, alongside The Entertainer’s first outlet stores in Dalton Park, The O2 & Gunwharf Quays.
This ‘own-store’ growth was complemented by a rapid acceleration of The Entertainer’s ‘Toy-Box’ B2B2C business, adding 2,000 in-store concessions through Tesco Express and delivering the entire toy category in six pilot location for each of; British Garden Centres, TGJones and Hobbycraft. The Entertainer ends the year with its products present in over 3,000 locations across the UK.
Internationally, the retailer continued with the reset of its franchise business, focussing on prime malls across 18 countries and driving growth through concessions and wholesale. The UAE is at the forefront of this change and saw The Entertainer’s retail footprint expand through the delivery of the first toy category concessions in a new partnership with international grocery giant Carrefour, with rollout to over 100 stores anticipated during 2026.
The business significantly grew its online dropship range to over 4,000 lines, which is expected to deliver a three-fold increase in associated revenue for the year ahead. New categories include video games and consoles through Centresoft including PlayStation and Nintendo, and strong gifting lines and best sellers from The Source, such as Minecraft Arcade Basketball, interactive dance mats and drones.
Other new dropship categories include football lines from Hypro, including some of the biggest clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona, and a specialist range of collectables for major licences including One Piece, Harry Potter, Dungeons & Dragons and DC via new supplier, Fanattik.
Across brands, The Entertainer’s sourcing division, Addo, successfully relaunched the iconic Meccano brand in the UK and France ahead of a rollout across the USA and other global markets in the new year. From a standing start the much-loved construction range is already generating exceptional levels of customer demand.
Responding to market needs, The Entertainer significantly expanded its product range to serve customers with some of the hottest global trends and sought-after toys including POPMART, Pokémon, LEGO, Stranger Things, Wednesday and Monster High.
The new ranges have shot to the top of the ‘most-wanted’ toys for Christmas, with KPop Demon Hunters, Wicked and Harry Potter being the fastest selling toys of the season so far.
Noting the increasing customer trend of seeking guaranteed value and price transparency and growing cynicism across the retail market about ‘stunt’ prices, The Entertainer responded with a switch to focus on every-day low prices and launched a nation-wide ‘Price Promise’, guaranteeing ‘the best prices locally’ in all of its 159 stores.
Cementing its position as the UK’s most convenient toy retailer, The Entertainer added to its industry-leading 30-minute click & collect service by launching the UK’s first national toy retailer partnership with Deliveroo in December, offering even greater convenience through rapid delivery.
Andrew Murphy OBE, group chief executive officer of The Entertainer, said: “2025 has been a milestone year for The Entertainer. We’ve grown our UK retail sales by more than 20% for the second consecutive year while also advancing internationally through wholesale, concession and franchise channels. The business has delivered greater convenience for customers by investing in our purchase and delivery options and broadened our product range to appeal to an even wider audience, all whilst focusing on great quality toys at affordable prices.
“With renewed colleague energy and commitment following our transfer over to an Employee-Owned Trust, The Entertainer is in a strong position to build on this growth as we head into 2026.”
