Mixed reactions as Toys R Us confirms open date for Havant store

The chain has confirmed that it will be opening a shop-in-shop Toys R Us store at the Havant WHSmith site in the Meridian Centre - and there have been mixed reactions.

The new Toys R Us site will officially open on Saturday, October 19 with a grand opening which will welcome Geoffrey the Giraffe. The first 50 children visiting the store will also receive a free Toys“R”Us goody bag worth over £15 and people are being advised to head down there early as it is anticipated to be extremely busy.

The news of the opening date has gone down a treat with some locals but not so much with others.

Kelly Shephard wrote on The News’ Facebook: “Seems a good idea to put a failed toy shop into a failing stationers,what could possibly go wrong.”

Janet Elliot wrote: “There are plenty of empty shops in Havant why can't you open one of those and make it a bigger store.”

Jenny Wootton wrote: “Not like it used to be a stand alone store with carpark. Stuck in that old boring shopping center inside a new agents where are they coming from.”

Sage Sam wrote: “Shame it isn't in the old Wilko's site.”

Susan Doxat wrote: “The shop in shop approach seems to be great to create a bigger choice in shopping and keep rental costs down for both parties.”

Havant is one of 37 WHSmith High Street stores set to open a new shop-in-shop from Toys R Us with further openings including WHSmith stores in Carlisle, Newbury, Scarborough and Fareham. The opening date for the Fareham store has not been confirmed.

Ian Sanders, group commercial development director at WHSmith, said: “We’re really excited to be opening Toys“R”Us in Havant. WHSmith is known for being the Hub of the High Street by providing customers with a range of great products and services.

“Partnering with Toys R Us gives us a leading toys and games range in our stores and means customers have even more reasons to shop with us. We look forward to welcoming many more customers into our store.”

For more information about the new Toys R Us store, click here.