Tomica Hypercity (UK) Product Launch

Ask and you shall recieve

A few pictures of the Chelmsford branch of Smyths; I got there with 5 minutes before closure so I had to hurry through, but to be honest, it's exactly what the pictures show; High-level rack shelves, large retail park location, and basically every concievable toyline currently avaliable that isn't exclusive to any other store chain.



As with Toys R Us, Smyths do have exclusive products sold only through their stores/online network, although occasionally I have seen these exclusives sold online at retailers like Amazon.








As you can see, the format/layout is very similar to Toys R Us, with similar arrangements like a dedicated bike/garden toy section, a dedicated gaming/technology section, a dedicated baby product section called 'The Baby Room', and of course the majority of the store, toys. The apperance and layout of all branches are more or less identical no matter which you visit, with the only differences being where certain sections are positioned; All stores, generally speaking, carry the same products & the same amounts of product, although some larger stores may have more selection.

The stores in footprint are generally somewhat smaller [compact, single retail units, usually inherited from another retailer instead of being custom built] than Toys R Us UK used to be [which always were extra-large, single floor superstores, built for the purpose], but generally make up for this by having a first floor where possible or nessecary, with the gaming section located upstairs normally in this case. Generally speaking, Smyths stores tend to be in out-of-town retail parks [the UK name for strip malls] as there are larger retail units to be found here, although a few are in more centralised locations as not all UK retail parks are out-of-town.

The Continental Europe branches, having inherited the former Toys R Us networks there, appear to use the original Toys R Us format with Smyths branding, making these distinct from the UK design which is similar to, but not the same as the Toys R Us format. It can be assumed this was done to save re-modelling costs as these branches were already set up to serve the right purpose, whereas many of the UK Smyths branches were new-builds, or moved into empty shop units [If I recall, the Chelmsford branch pictured used to be a garden furniture store], so therefore it was a given that a new design that could be adapted to whatever stores were purchased was needed.

So, that's Smyths, the UK and Europe's current equivalent to Toys R Us; As noted, it will be very curious to see exactly how Toys R Us proposes to move forwards in a market where Smyths has adapted and made their original model profitable and successful, when the original Toys R Us collapsed in the face of online competition, at least here in the UK.

Incidentally, I was there to get a Barbie 'Colour Reveal Mermaid' blind-box doll; Smyths have the most comprehensive Barbie, or indeed most comprehensive general doll selection on the UK retail market at the moment, and the idea of a Barbie that one has to immerse in water to reveal the design intrigued me - But that's a different story for a different post/site 

[EDIT - Genius here just discovered that Smyths actually bought some of the Toys R Us network here in the UK, because of course they did - Pictured is the branch in Harlow, which isn't even that far from me, and to be fair I didn't even know they had a Toys R Us, but it figures that Smyths bought some of the former Toys R Us network here as well - How many is anyone's guess, but it can be assumed to be several, as Toys R Us had 100-odd locations at their height]