US-based parent company Tru Kids Inc has announced Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us will return to Australia and debut in New Zealand under an exclusive licensing agreement with Hobby Warehouse Pty Ltd.
The new license agreement gives Hobby Warehouse the rights to sell through both brands' Australian and New Zealand websites.
Hobby Warehouse’s management team together with commercial advisor, Kevin Moore, negotiated with Tru Kids’ executives and advisors for the Australian and New Zealand licensing rights.
"Previously, the Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us business model in Australia was focused primarily on large, physical retail stores which had high fixed costs and extended periods of relatively low sales due to seasonal factors," Moore says.
"Going forward, the business model for Australia and New Zealand will be online focused, with smaller and fewer physical ‘experience centres’ that allow children and their families and friends to see and touch our products.”
Hobby Warehouse will launch the websites in June this year, featuring a wide range of toys and baby products.
It aims to launch physical ‘experience centres’ for Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us at the beginning of 2020.
“We are delighted to bring the much-loved brands of Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us back to Australia and to introduce them to New Zealand," Hobby Warehouse chief executive Louis Mittoni says.
“Our mission is to encourage children to engage with as many forms of play as we possibly can. Hobby Warehouse is a digital native with a keen understanding of how to accelerate and match the requirements of the modern shopper.”
Tru Kids’ license partners currently operate over 700 Toys“R”Us and Babies”R”Us branded stores and ecommerce sites in more than 25 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with over US$3 billion of retail sales attributable to the brands in these regions in 2018.
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