Hamleys is one of the world's largest toy shops. It is currently located at 188-196 Regent Street in London.

History

Hamleys is named after William Hamley, who founded a toy shop called "Noah's Ark" at High Holborn in London in 1760. A branch in Regent Street was opened in 1881, and the Holburn branch was destroyed by fire in 1901 and was relocated from 231 to 86-87 High Holborn. The business has survived in various forms to the present day, and at one time was the largest toy shop in the world. Hamleys moved to its current Regent Street premises in 1981.

The store is considered one of London's major tourist attractions, and receives about five million visitors a year.

Hamleys is also a holding company for several other toy companies in the United Kingdom. Most notably, Hamleys purchased The English Teddy Bear Company in 2004. The English Teddy Bear Company, originally established by Dominic Richards, quickly failed to prove a success for Hamleys and all eight stores were closed down within two years at a cost of millions to the toy empire.

Description

Hamleys has seven floors, all devoted to playthings, with different categories of toy on each floor.

The ground floor is traditionally for soft toys, and decked out with a remarkably diverse array of stuffed animals, from regular teddy bears to more exotic plushes such as turtles or dolphins, even to enormous life-sized giraffes or elephants.

Floor guide

• 5th floor: Boys - Action figures, vehicles, etc.
• 4th floor: Models - Model kits, remote-controlled vehicles, model railways, Scalextric, etc.
• 3rd floor: Girls - Dolls, art materials, fancy dress, etc.
• 2nd floor: Preschool - Toys for young children
• 1st floor: Games - Board games, jigsaws, science - also the Bear Factory and Sweet Machine.
• Ground floor: Soft toys - a wide variety of stuffed animals, and also a Marvin's Magic section.
• Basement: - novelties, gadgets, Lego, computer games, and an arcade.

External links

• Hamleys web site

Shops in London | Retailers of the United Kingdom | Westminster | Hamleys