Whilst the majority of shoppers now go online to buy their presents, nothing beats the magic of visiting a toy shop during the run-up to Christmas. Here some of the best toy stores to visit across the UK, that your kids will love.
Hamleys of London
Located on the iconic London street Regent Street you will find the city’s most famous toy store Hamleys – it’s the closest thing we have to the iconic New York FAO Schwarz store here in the UK. Across its seven floors you will find more than 50,000 toys – basically nearly every toy you can think of! We love visiting Hamleys when in London especially on the lead up to Christmas. What makes visiting this huge toy store even more special is the great range of entertainment and exhibitions instore that bring a different level of interaction to your visit.
Address
188-196 Regent Street
London
London
W1B 5BT
My Small World, Bath
We came across this beautiful independent toy shop during our visit to Bath. Featuring a range of toys, books and gifts that you won’t typically find at the large chain toy stores. What makes this store stand out is it’s amazing interior decor, the way that the products are displayed and the fact that children are encouraged to play with the many cool products on display.
Address
19 – 21, St Lawrence Street, Southgate St, Bath BA1 1AN
Little Citizens Boutique, County Down
What makes this store so special is that they have cherry picked a wonderful selection of unique toys from around the world. What we love about Little Citizens Boutique is that their inspiring children’s toys are things that you won’t find in your typical Christmas catalogues and chain toy stores.
Address
120 High Street, Holywood
Co. Down, BT18 9HW
The Disney Store, London
As soon as you step out of Bond Street underground station you cannot miss the largest Disney store in Europe. This Disney store is different and more magical to any of the other Disney stores across the UK. My children love it here and what makes it so special are features such as a 267ft high princess castle, a magical mirror and every Disney toy you could possibly think of, some of which you can’t find at any of the other Disney store in the country.
Address
350 Oxford Street
London
London
W1C 1BY
Crocodile Toy Shop, Cirencester
On our visit to the Cotswolds we stumbled across a beautiful independent toy store called the Crocodile Toy Shop. Set over 2 floors the store has built a strong reputation for supplying quality traditional toys along with favourites such as LEGO, which has its own dedicated room. With lots of interactive areas for children to try out toys that you don’t tend to see in the major retailers, makes a visit to this toy store even more unique.
Address
4 The Wool Market
Cirencester
Gloucestershire
GL7 2PR
The Lego Store, London Leicester Square
The LEGO store in Leicester Square in London is huge, and I do really mean huge! It’s the largest LEGO store in the world and a must for all LEGO fans. Along with lots and lots of LEGO to buy what we love are the LEGO replica’s of a tube train from the London underground and a 21,000 ft replica of Big Ben.
Address
3 Swiss Court
W1D 6AP
Sylvanian Families Store, London
At the Sylvanian Families Shop in London you will find one of the largest ranges of Sylvanian families toys in the UK, with over 400 items on display including 50 different families. What makes this store such a special place to visit especially if you are a Sylvanian families fan is that there are also discontinued and hard to find items for sale.
Address
68 Mountgrove Road
Highbury
London
N5 2LT
Toy Kingdom Harrods, London
On the fourth floor of one of the world’s most famous department stores you will find its Toy Kingdom. At 26,000 square foot it is packed full of every toy you could think of across its six themed areas.
The atmosphere and theming is amazing and really gets you in the Christmas mood. If there is a toy you have been looking for there is a very good chance it will be here. We love the in-store product demonstrations which makes a visit even more exciting.
The reading room area is one of our favourites and something that shopping at the likes of Amazon will never be able to replicate.
Featuring a huge selection of books to choose from we love the little cubby holes that children can climb into to read their favourite books. When you are visiting Harrods it’s also well worth visiting their Christmas department and food hall, the latter of which boasts a room dedicated to chocolate!
Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Shop, Covent Garden
Tucked away in Covent Garden we loved visiting Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Shop. This is such a unique little shop and is famous for their paper theatres. Inside you will also find a large range of books, music boxes, puppets and traditional toys.
44 The Market, Covent Garden, London WC2
Toyville, Bristol
Toyville is a family-run independent toy shop that specialises in quality wooden toys from brands including Bajo, Hape, Janod, Melissa & Doug and Tegu. As well as a great range of wooden toys a great deal of care and attention has been taken to select a wide range of toys and games that you won’t find at the larger chain toy stores.
Address
20 North Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 1HW
Grasshopper Toys, Helensburgh
Grasshopper Toys is one of the biggest and best loved independent toy shops in Scotland. Featuring a wonderful range of toys including Brio, Playmobil, Lego, Meccano, Sylvanian Families, K’nex, Melissa & Doug, Le Toy Van and many other brands.
Address
112 West Princes Street
Helensburgh
G84 8XD
The Boy Wizard, Edinburgh
This charming shop is situated on Victoria Street, Edinburgh which was inspiration for JK Rowling when writing her books. Diagon House is such a magical shop filled with every sort of Harry Potter gift you could think of, Harry Potter fans will want to stay here for hours. The shop sells everything from toys, wands and chocolate frogs to unique Edinburgh inspired Potter gifts.
Address
Victoria St, Edinburgh
Eve’s Toy Shop, Llandeilo
In the picturesque market town of Llandeilo in West Wales you will find Eve’s Toy Shop. In this family run store you will find quality toys that have been sourced from brands such as Haba, Djeco, Le Toy Van, Ragtails, Schleich, Moulin Roty and Jelly Cat throughout Europe. What makes this store so special in Wales is that each toy has been carefully selected for its charm, educational and enjoyment value.
Address
1 King St, Llandeilo,
Camarthenshire
SA19 6AA
I better fill my wallet before taking them to these places. Great share and thanks for introducing these spots!