City toy store is set to close along with others around the country

A TOYS ‘R’ Us store in the county has been named as one of those facing the axe as the retail giant announced cutbacks.

The firm revealed plans to close 26 of its UK stores in the new year leaving 800 workers at risk of redundancy.

Announcing the full list of closures, Leicester’s store on St George’s retail park was named as one of the stores set to shut in the spring.

The firm’s newer, smaller store inside Highcross shopping centre will remain open.

Toys ‘R’ Us said all stores would remain open over Christmas and that customer returns, gift card and loyalty programmes are unaffected by the looming cuts.

The business, which employs 3,200 people nationally in 105 stores, said it needed to transform the way it worked to “meet the evolving needs of customers in today’s UK retail market”.

Managing director Steve Knights said: “Like many UK retailers in today’s market environment, we need to transform our business so that we have a platform that can better meet customers’ evolving needs.

“Our newer, smaller, more interactive stores are in the right shopping locations and are trading well, while our new website has generated significant growth in online and click-andcollect sales.

“But the warehouse style stores we opened in the 1980s and 1990s, while successful in the early days, are too big and expensive to run in the current retail environment.

“The business has been lossmaking in recent years and so we need to take strong and decisive action to acceler- ate the transformation.”

Creditors to the business have 17 days to approved the restructuring plans which would “substantially reduce the UK company’s rental obligations and allow the business to move to a new, viable business model”.

The company intends to commence store closures in the spring.

Mr Knights said: “We recognise this process will affect many of our team members and their families, so we are committed to keeping all of our staff informed throughout this process.

“Our teams will continue to play a key role around.” Which Toys R Us stores are closing? The full list of the 26 stores which are closing are:

Aberdeen, Basingstoke, Belfast, Newtownabbey, Birmingham, St Andrews, Bolton, Bradford, Brislington, Cambridge, Cardiff, Derry City, Doncaster, East Kilbride, Exeter, Hayes, Kirkcaldy, Leicester, Livingston, Manchester, Central Retail Park, Old Kent Road, Plymouth, Scunthorpe, Shrewsbury, Tamworth, Tunbridge Wells, Watford, York. in turning our business