limited company industry retailing founded 1760 ; 256 years ago 1760 headquarters london w1 united kingdom number of locations 11 in uk ; 46 international franchises area served worldwide products toys revenue 43 million 2011 owner c.banner website www.hamleys.com hamleys is the oldest and largest toy shop in the world and one of the world s best known retailers of toys . founded by william hamley as noahs ark in high holborn london in 1760 it moved to its current site on regent street in 1881 . this flagship store is set over seven floors with more than 50 000 toys on sale . it is considered one of the city s prominent tourist attractions receiving around five million visitors each year . the chain has ten other outlets in the united kingdom and nearly 50 franchises worldwide . hamleys was bought by the icelandic investment company baugur group in 2003 but was taken over by baugur s main investor landsbanki when the group defaulted . in 2012 the french toy retailer groupe ludendo bought the business for 60 million . 1 in 2015 it was reported that groupe ludendo was negotiating the sale of hamleys possibly to a hong kong company owned by a relative of the owner of department store house of fraser . 2 subsequently it was sold to the chinese footwear company c.banner for an estimated 154 million . 3 contents 1 history 2 united kingdom stores 2.1 regent street 2.2 other uk stores 3 stores 4 global stores 5 website 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit hamleys is the oldest and largest toy shop in the world . 4 5 it is named after william hamley who founded a toy shop called noah s ark at no. 231 high holborn london in 1760 . ownership of the shop passed through the family and by the time it was operated by hamley s grandsons in 1837 the store had become famous counting royalty and nobility among its customers . 6 a branch at no. 200 regent street was opened in 1881 ; the original high holborn shop was destroyed by fire in 1901 and was subsequently relocated to nos. 86 87 high holborn . 7 the regent street branch later expanded to nos. 188 196 . 6 in 1938 queen mary consort of king george v gave hamleys a royal warrant . 6 during the second world war the regent street store was bombed five times . in 1955 queen elizabeth ii gave the company a second royal warrant as a toys and sports merchant . hamleys was bought in june 2003 by the baugur group an icelandic investment company . when baugur collapsed its stake in the toy store was taken over by the icelandic bank landsbanki . in september 2012 groupe ludendo a toy retailer based in france with shops also located in belgium spain and switzerland bought hamleys for a reported 60 million . 1 in october 2015 it was reported that groupe ludendo was negotiating the sale of hamleys possibly to a hong kong company owned by a relative of the owner of department store house of fraser . 8 it was subsequently purchased by c.banner a large chinese footwear and fashion wear conglomerate based in nanjing . 9 united kingdom stores edit regent street edit hamleys expanded and moved its flagship store from no. 200 regent street to its current site at nos. 188 196 regent street in 1981 which is the largest toy shop in the world . hamleys flagship store has seven floors covering 54 000 square feet 5 000 m2 10 all devoted to playthings with different categories of toy on each floor . the ground floor is traditionally for stuffed toys including steiff and is decked out with a diverse array of stuffed animals from regular teddy bears to more exotic plushes such as turtles and dolphins and enormous life sized giraffes and elephants . other uk stores edit as of 2015 there are ten other stores across the uk including sites at the st. enoch centre in glasgow 11 at the trafford centre in greater manchester at lakeside shopping centre in essex in sheffield york and at airports including london heathrow london gatwick london stansted 12 and manchester . stores edit london glasgow manchester intu trafford centre formerly jjb sports orlando florida mall opening soon cardiff prague global stores edit a hamleys store at the shopping mall emporia in malm sweden . in 1987 hamleys second store was opened in new york city however it was closed less than 12 months later . 13 hamleys european footprint existed in denmark three small stores and since october 2008 the republic of ireland when it opened a 3 250 square metre 35 000 sq ft store in pembroke avenue located adjacent to the town square in dundrum dublin . 14 15 16 on 12 october 2012 a hamleys store opened at nacka in stockholm sweden . on 19 september 2013 a hamley store opened as part of steen og str m department store in oslo norway . in april 2014 the hamleys denmark toy chain closed all four of its danish locations when its nordic parent company kids retails filed for bankruptcy . 17 hamleys opened its first store outside europe in amman jordan on 18 june 2008 . the three storey store on mecca street is run by the group s franchisee jordan centre . 18 a dubai franchise opened with two stores on 4 november 2008 . 19 the first store in south asia was opened in mumbai india on 9 april 2010 . 10 the 22 000 square foot 2 000 m2 store is located in an upmarket shopping district in india s financial capital . a second store in india is located in the city of chennai at the express avenue mall . the 11 000 sq ft store has a london bus that customers can walk up through . it now has ten stores in india including two stores in delhi ahmedabad bangalore two stores in mumbai pune and chandigarh . 20 hamleys also opened its first store in the city of joy at quest mall kolkata . it is also the first store of hamleys in eastern india . with this addition the iconic brand is now present in 8 cities with 14 stores across india . hamleys opened a store in the saudi capital riyadh on 26 january 2012 . the 2 100 sq m shop is located in the panorama mall at takhassusi street s intersection with prince mohammed road . 21 in 2012 hamleys opened its first store in russia . it now operates two in moscow one in saint petersburg and one in krasnodar . 22 in 2013 hamleys announced plans to open 20 stores across india in collaboration with reliance brands ltd. . 23 the company also announced that a store would open in the one utama shopping mall in kuala lumpur in november 2013 the first in south east asia . malaysia is now a home for 3 hamleys stores with new outlets opened in the quill mall kuala lumpur and in the satellite terminal of kuala lumpur international airport . in 2014 hamleys opened its first store in the philippines . the store opened at noontime of december 21 in time for christmas in central square bonifacio highstreet bonifacio global city taguig city . 24 a second philippine hamleys store is also set to open the following year . 25 stores specialists inc. ssi group is the exclusive distributor of hamleys in the philippines . in 2015 an abu dhabi franchise opened with two stores in world trade centre mall wtc and yas mall yas island . on 20 august 2015 a store opened in greenstone mall johannesburg south africa . this is the first hamleys store to be opened in south africa . in november 2015 a store opened at antara polanco fashion mall in mexico city its first store in america . there s one store in nicosia cyprus . in november one is opening at eastgate south africa and also in malta . website edit in the 1990s hamleys had two websites one for the uk which did not sell anything and a us version 26 with a basic inventory . this changed in 1999 with the launch of hamleys.com . the site offered worldwide shipping and focused on user experience customer service and the sale of traditional products and collectables . 26 the chief executive of hamleys told marketing magazine i do not want to become embroiled with the likes of toys r us toyzone and etoys which are fighting on price alone and will end up making next to no margin . 27 in 2006 a glitch on the website allowed customers could claim a 60 % discount on any product . 28 29 econsultancy critiqued the site for its basic approach in 2013 and felt that it doesn t do a lot to represent the brand it fact it may even detract from it . 30 see also edit benjamin pollock s toy shop gamleys references edit a b hamleys toy chain sold to french firm groupe ludendo . bbc news online . 17 september 2012 . retrieved 17 september 2012 . http www.thesundaytimes.co.uk sto business retail and leisure article1620642.ece c.banner to buy iconic uk toy store hamleys . china daily . 24 october 2015 . retrieved 6 september 2016 . peter matthews michelle dunkley mccarthy 1994 . the guinness book of records 1994 . facts on file . p. 134 . donald mcfarlan norris mcwhirter 1990 . the guinness book of records 1991 . guinness . p. 135 . a b c http news.bbc.co.uk local london hi people and places history newsid 8510000 8510277 . stm history once upon a time a boy dreamed of owning a toy shop hamleys retrieved 2009 08 04 http www.thesundaytimes.co.uk sto business retail and leisure article1620642.ece official website c.banner international holdings . http www.cbanner.com.cn . c.banner international holdings . retrieved 6 september 2016 . external link in website help a b uk toy retailer hamleys opens first store in india . ndtv . 2010 04 08 . retrieved 2010 04 08 . garavelli dani . london toy shop hamleys opens its doors in the st enoch centre glasgow today . . the scotsman . 26 nov 2009 a new store at stansted airport is child s play for hamleys . herts and essex observer . hamleys returning to york after 17 years the press york newsquest media group 18 october 2005 retrieved 2009 04 08 hamleys toy store opens in dublin british embassy in ireland retrieved 2009 04 08 archived october 27 2008 at the wayback machine . http www.dundrum.ie pdf final 03 % 2006 % 202008 hamley % 27s % 20consumer % 20release.pdf fagan jack 4 june 2008 1 million rent for top toy store hamleys in dundrum the irish times retrieved 2009 04 08 hamleys denmark closes outlets following bankruptcy . cphpost . 2 april 2014 . retrieved 4 april 2014 . thompson james 18 june 2008 hamleys opens first store overseas the independent retrieved 2009 04 08 roberts katie 4 november 2008 hamleys dubai opens today toy news online retrieved 2009 04 08 our stores in india . 2013 07 17 . retrieved 2013 07 17 . http www.ameinfo.com 287948.html http www.hamleys.ru reliance retail aims to have 20 hamleys stores in next 3 yrs . 2013 02 03 . retrieved 2013 07 17 . ssi group brings in iconic toy brand philippine daily inquirer 22 december 2014 retrieved 2014 12 22 vila alixandra caole 22 december 2014 largest toy shop in the world opens branch in the philippines philippine star retrieved 2014 12 22 a b doward jamie 21 november 1999 . accountant s plan to make fun of hamleys once a virgin high flier simon burke now has a british institution as his play