TOY SHOP FACES AXE
TOYS R US SET TO SHUT FLAGSHIP CARDIFF BAY STORE AS PART OF CLOSURE OF 26 SHOPS THAT WILL PUT 800 JOBS AT RISK
STRUGGLING retail giant Toys R Us is set to close its Cardiff Bay store as part of nationwide plans to shut up to a third of its UK outlets.
But its store in the capital’s Queen Street – which is deemed a pop-up and has been trading since September last year – will remain open.
The plan to close dozens of shops across the UK would put up to 800 jobs at risk.
The retailer yesterday said it is working on a company voluntary agreement (CVA), which would allow it to jettison 26 loss-making stores.
A spokesman for the company confirmed the store in Olympian Drive at Cardiff’s Sports Village would be closing in the spring. Staff were told the news yesterday morning.
In September 2016, a pop-up store of the chain opened at 10-11 Queen Street in the capital and has remained open ever since.
It will continue to trade as it is, the spokesman said.
The firm said the transformation plan is needed to “meet the evolving needs of customers in today’s UK retail market”.
It is understood that 500 to 800 jobs could be lost as part of the CVA process, as the company expects that it will be required to make redundancies. The retailer said that all efforts will be made to redeploy team members where possible.
Toys R Us, which trades from 84 stores in the UK and has 21 concessions, employs a total of 3,200 people, but the company said there would be “no disruption for customers” throughout the Christmas and New Year shopping period, with the business set to start closing stores in spring 2018.
Steve Knights, managing director of Toys R Us UK, said the warehousestyle stores opened by the retailer in the 1980s and 1990s have proven “too big and expensive to run”, adding that “newer, smaller, more interactive stores in the right shopping locations” were trading well.
He also pointed to a “significant growth” in online sales and its clickand-collect offering.
“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.
“The decision to propose this CVA was a difficult one, but we determined it is the best path forward to make essential changes to the business,” Mr Knights said.
As part of the CVA process, Toys R Us UK has submitted its restructuring plan to creditors, with hopes of gaining approval within the next 17 days.