Hamleys powers ahead under Chinese ownership
Update Date:2016-10-9 16:08:15 Source:BeiJing Tannet Views:1036
For decades, Hamleys in London's Regent Street battled it out with FAO Schwarz from New York to be known as the world's most prestigious toy store.
Now, just over a year after FAO Schwarz closed, a victim of soaring rents, Hamleys has gained a new lease of life under Chinese ownership with the launch of a massive superstore in the Chinese city of Nanjing that was timed to coincide with China's National Day holiday on Oct 1.
Plans were also announced for more than 100 new stores throughout China.
The Nanjing store offers shoppers the chance to visit four floors spread over 7,000 square meters at the Xinjiekou Sanpower Plaza.
Hamley's CEO Gudjohn Reynisson, clutching one of Hamleys' iconic teddy bears, said at the Nanjing opening: "We have been preparing to enter the Chinese market for the past 256 years in London."
Analysts said Hamleys was also looking to cash in on the easing of China's family planning policy.
Xinhua News Agency quoted the China General Administration of Customs as reporting that toy imports into China surged 38.27 percent in 2015.
Hong Kong-listed retailer C Banner International Holdings acquired Hamleys last October from French company Ludendo Groupe, which had owned it for two years. C Banner is a strategic partner of Sanpower, which has a major stake in House of Fraser, a British department store chain.
The article transsshipment from China Daily
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