Toys 'R' Us91st branch opens in bangkok
Toy industry sees dramatic revival after 2007 slump
Manit Lertsakornsiri, country manager of Toys Retailing (Thailand), poses with the Toys ‘R’ Us mascot at the toy store’s new Express format outlet during its official opening yesterday in The Esplanade.
Toys Li Fung (Asia), licensee of Toys "R" Us on this continent, has set an ambitious expansion plan for its toyretailing network in East and Southeast Asia.
CEO Pieter Schats said the com
pany would increase the number of Toys "R" Us stores in the region from 91 now to 150 over the next three years.He said Toys "R" Us was now oper
¬ating in eight major Asian markets - Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Macau and China - with growth of 1520 per cent per annum.He said the toy business encoun
tered serious difficulties last year in Thailand, with the market for imported toys declining a steep 50 per cent from 2006, due to serious political problems like the September 2006 coup and New Year's Eve bombs.However, the company has seen growth of 1520 per cent this year in local demand for imported toys.
Toys Li Fung (Asia) yesterday opened the 91st Toys "R" Us in The Esplanade shopping complex on Bangkok's Ratchadaphisek Road.
Schats said The Esplanade's Toys "R" Us was opened in the company's new compact Express format, with retail space of 400 square metres and 1,5002,000 types of toys, at least half of which were exclusive to Toys "R" Us and could not be found anywhere else.
He compared that with the Toys "R" Us flagship store in CentralWorld, which has 2,500 square metres of retail space and 6,0007,000 types of toys.
Schats said Toys "R" Us also used a "Satellite" format, which featured retail space of 1,0002,000 square metres and was intended for residen
tial malls like Central Bang Na."We created the Express format for the Toys R Us stores three years ago in Taiwan. This compact new format has been introduced in many markets within the region, including Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and Thailand. Express will afford the company greater flexibility to open in shopping malls but without a requirement of huge retail space," said Schats.
He said the new Express version that opened in The Esplanade came with a new logo and fashionable and more modern signs and materials.
"We've opened 15 Toys 'R' Us Express outlets in Asia, a dramatic increase from the first one twoandahalf years ago. And we expect that of the 150 stores expected in Asia with
¬in the next three years, about 20 per cent will be opened under the Express format," said Schats.OTHER BUSINESS
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