Sales of giant jigsaw puzzles soar in lockdown

TOY shops have seen a massive demand for 1,000-piece jigsaws, with one leading chain selling the equivalent of ten years’ stock in just one week.

It seems households will be spending the festive period hunched over a fiendishly difficult puzzle rather than playing party games. The jigsaw’s revival is part of a wider increase in sales of classic board games and chess sets, as well as building sets, such as Lego. Other traditional toys have also staged a comeback, with John Lewis bringing back Hornby train sets and Scalextric racing games to its shelves.

Gary Grant, founder of The Entertainer toy shop chain, which has 170 outlets and an online store, said: ‘We have seen huge demand for 1,000 piece jigsaws,’ he said. ‘We have sold as many of these in the last week as we would normally do over ten years.’

The popularity of jigsaw puzzles and board games was confirmed by market expert, Frederique Tutt, of analysts The NPD Group. She said: ‘British families have been buying more toys and games than in previous years in order to entertain themselves during the lockdown periods or to make up for cancelled extra-curriculum activities or missed holidays, but also sometimes to support the education of their children.’

Assistant buyer for toys at John Lewis, Nicolette Kelleher said: ‘This has been the year that we’ve seen customers opting for the “classics”. We sought new ways to keep the kids entertained and introduced them to the toys of our childhood.’