High Street mainstay set to expand offer with nine UK store-in-store concessions
Stationery, greeting card and varietal giant WHSmith is expanding its offer with a trial of nine Toys R Us store-in-store concessions in the UK, scheduled to open in early 2023.
In a deal between 230-year-old WHS, which is a mainstay of the British High Street with stores in over 540 locations, and Toys R Us Anz, which holds the rights to operate the brand in the UK, the concessions will include toys and games and, if successful, will be rolled out across the retailer’s wider estate.
American-based superstore Toys R Us vanished from Britain in 2018 after plunging into administration, but reappeared here with a new website announced last month in time for the Christmas trading season.
Since WHS was founded in 1792 by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna, the company has blazed a trail, opening the first travel retail store at London’s Euston Station in 1848, and expanded into a leading global retailer with more than 1,700 outlets in over 30 countries where greeting cards are a major feature.
Now led by Carl Cowling, appointed WHS group chief executive on 1 November 2019, the Toys R Us deal is the UK retailer’s latest tie-up to secure its place in the High Street, with over 200 post offices located within British stores. The new concessions are expected to open in the first half of the new year.
As outlined on the Australian Stock Exchange, the trial period commences upon the opening of the first store-in-store installation for at least 12 months and will include the sale of toys, games and family/children-related products typically sold by Toys R Us.
Costs associated with operating the installations will be borne by WHS, which will pay the toy retailer a fixed percentage royalty fee based on sales revenue generated within the concessions.
Upon successful completion of the trial period and achievement of mutually agreed key performance indicators, there may be a Stage 2 roll-out of further installations over the initial term of the agreement of approximately 10 years with the ability to grant a further term of five years subject to certain conditions being met. The agreement is subject to customary termination agreement clauses and events, including loss of exclusivity if certain key performance indicators are not satisfied.
Top: Toys R Us is joining with WHSmith
