Smyths

Smyths Toys Superstores is an Irish multinational chain provider of children's toys and entertainment products with over 200 shops throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France. The business is owned by the Smyth family.

Smyths Toys Superstores
TypePrivate
IndustryRetail
PredecessorToys "R" Us (Switzerland, Germany and Austria)
Founded23 December 1986 (1986-12-23)
Claremorris, County Mayo, Ireland
Founders
  • Tony Smyth
  • Padraig Smyth
  • Liam Smyth
  • Thomas "Tommy" Smyth
Headquarters
Galway
,
Ireland
Number of locations
c.272 stores
Area served
ProductsToys
Video games
Revenuec €2 billion
OwnerSmyth family[1]
Websitesmythstoys.com

The company is headquartered in Lyrr Building 1 in the Mervue Business Park, Galway, Ireland, and it has additional offices in Belfast and London in the United Kingdom.

Group turnover reached €1.465 billion in pandemic-hit 2020 with the majority of sales coming from the U.K. market.[2]

History

Before it became a toy store it was a newsagents, the newsagents is still in business.

The company is run by four brothers, Tony, Padraig, Liam and Thomas Smyth. The company was founded in Claremorris, County Mayo on 23 December 1986 (1986-12-23).[3] Smyths is Ireland's largest toy retailer.[4] The Globe Retail Park in Naas, Ireland was subject to a fire on 27 July 2016 that destroyed one of the shop's stockrooms, causing the shop to temporarily close, with operations being moved until repairs could be made.[5][6]

Expansion to central Europe

On 24 April 2018, Smyths acquired Toys "R" Us stores in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.[7] In 2019, all the stores in those countries were re-branded as such to Smyths.[8]

In July 2022, Smyths acquired French toy chain PicWicToys in France out of Receivership and taking over 41 stores, 2 warehouses and a head office.[9][10]

Licensed brands

Stores and subsidiaries
Smyths stores by country in 2022
Country Number
of stores
England, Scotland and Wales 108
Switzerland 11
Austria 17
Germany 67
France 41
Northern Ireland 7
Republic of Ireland 21
Totals 272

In total, Smyths operates over 272 stores across 6 countries: 21 stores in Ireland, 117 in the United Kingdom,[12] 68 in Germany,[13] 16 in Austria,[14] 10 in Switzerland[15] and 41 in France. Smyths Toys UK Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.[16][17]


References
  1. "Meet the Smyths, the Mayo family turning toy retailing into child's play".
  2. "Toy giant Smyths sees group turnover hit €1.46bn". The Irish Times. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  3. "Smyths Toys Unlimited Company | Irish Legal & Business Services Company & Director Check". Solocheck. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  4. "Toy mega store for Rayleigh Weir", Essex Echo, 13 September 2008
  5. Heneghan, Tomás (27 July 2016). "Smyths toy store evacuated after blaze". Irish Independent.
  6. Pownall, Sylvia (25 August 2016). "Shoppers queue outside Irish toy store from 1am for these MASSIVE bargains". Irish Mirror.
  7. "Smyths Toys to buy Toys R Us in Germany, Austria and Switzerland". Irish Times. 21 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  8. Kurth, Luke (12 January 2019). "ToysRUs wird zu Smyth Toys: Die ersten Filialen tragen neue Namen". Stone Wars (in German). Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  9. https://toyworldmag.co.uk/breaking-news-smyths-toys-acquires-picwic-toys/
  10. "Smyths acquires PicWic Toys as it expands into France". independent. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  11. Smyths official website
  12. "Smyths Toys sees UK profits soar 70pc - Independent.ie".
  13. "Marktsuche".
  14. "Marktsuche".
  15. "Marktsuche".
  16. Deegan, Gordon (17 September 2018). "Smyths Toys' UK sales top half-billion mark for first time". Irish Independent. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  17. "SMYTHS TOYS UK LIMITED - Overview". Companies House. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.