Britain’s biggest independent toy retailer has closed 14 branches since January 2025. Towns from Edinburgh to Kidderminster have lost their local shop, and the closing sale signs have left a lot of shoppers asking the same question: is the whole chain going under?
The short answer is no.
Table of Contents
At a Glance
- 14 confirmed UK branch closures from January 2025 to February 2026
- Most closures stem from lease decisions or location viability, not financial collapse
- CEO Andrew Murphy OBE says the chain will exit 2026 with more stores than it entered
- UK retail sales grew more than 20% for the second consecutive year in 2025
- The Entertainer’s products are now stocked in more than 3,000 UK locations
Every Confirmed The Entertainer Branch Closure
These are all 14 confirmed closures from January 2025 through to February 2026, with the latest alternatives for each area.
| Store Location | Closure Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cameron Toll, Edinburgh | 4 January 2025 | Replaced by new Gyle Shopping Centre store, December 2025 |
| Luton, Luton Point SC | 25 January 2025 | Online orders and local Tesco concessions available |
| Croydon, Whitgift Centre | 1 February 2025 | Online orders and local Tesco concessions available |
| Wandsworth, Southside SC | Mid-2025 | Exact date unconfirmed. Online orders and local Tesco concessions available |
| Barrow-in-Furness, Dalton Road | 3 May 2025 | Store donated toys to Furness General Hospital children’s ward each year |
| Hartlepool, Middleton Grange SC | 27 September 2025 | Closed due to landlord redevelopment |
| Sheffield, The Moor SC | 11 October 2025 | 25% off closing sale (LEGO, VTech and LeapFrog excluded) |
| Romford, Mercury SC | 2025 | Romford Brewery store remains open nearby |
| Wrexham, Eagles Meadow SC | 5 January 2026 | Tesco concessions and Broughton Park store nearby |
| Dundee, Wellgate Centre | 5 January 2026 | Nearest standalone branch now 41 miles away in Dunfermline |
| Preston, St George’s SC | 5 January 2026 | Online orders and local Tesco concessions available |
| Wakefield, Trinity Walk SC | January 2026 | Nearest stores: White Rose SC and Trinity Leeds |
| Poole, High Street | January 2026 | Three local Tesco concessions: Fleets Corner Extra, Poole Extra, Poole 4 Branksome |
| Kidderminster, Swan Centre | 7 February 2026 | 50% off all stock including already-reduced items. Nearest stores: Worcester and Merry Hill |
The Kidderminster closing sale drew considerable attention, with 50% taken off every item on the shelves, including lines that already carried markdown stickers, right up until the final day on 7 February 2026.
Why Are These Branches Closing?
The explanation behind almost every closure is the same: the lease for that location came up for renewal and staying was no longer commercially viable.
The Entertainer’s store count peaked at 165 locations in 2023. CEO Andrew Murphy OBE confirmed in his October 2025 interview with Toy World Magazine that the business had faced 70 lease events across its estate since that peak. In some cases landlords wanted higher rents. In others, town centre footfall had dropped enough that a full standalone unit could no longer pay its way. Murphy has used consistent language across every announcement:
“Sadly, it is a fact of retail life that shops sometimes have to close, as shopping patterns shift and cost growth outstrips sales increases.”
These closures sit within a much wider pattern across British retail. According to the Centre for Retail Research, 13,479 stores closed across the UK in 2024, a 28% rise on the previous year, with a further 17,350 closures predicted for 2025.
The Budget added pressure
The October 2024 Autumn Budget hit the chain’s expansion plans hard. Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that employer National Insurance Contributions would rise from 13.8% to 15% from April 2025, while the threshold at which businesses start paying dropped from £9,100 to £5,000.
For The Entertainer, that announcement took two planned new stores off the table straight away. Murphy told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme at the time:
“We were just about to initiate the work and unfortunately the changes to National Insurance in particular just tipped that balance so those stores will now not be opening.”
Head office hiring was frozen at the same point. The British Retail Consortium estimated the NI changes would cost the UK retail sector £2.3 billion a year. Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts publicly warned the rise would “feed through into higher inflation.” For a business employing around 1,900 people, the shift in staffing costs was felt quickly.
Is The Entertainer Actually in Trouble?
According to the company’s own sales results, not at all.
The same year that saw 14 branches shut, The Entertainer posted UK retail sales growth of more than 20% for the second consecutive year, confirmed in year-end figures published in December 2025.
Key trading figures:
- In-store sales up 15% year on year in January 2026, running five times ahead of online growth
- Products stocked in more than 3,000 UK locations, more than at any point in the chain’s history
The chain’s Tesco partnership puts its products within reach of more than 90% of UK shoppers, according to The Entertainer. Each closure was a separate lease decision. A business growing its sales by more than 20% a year is not in trouble.
New Stores That Opened in 2025
In 2025, The Entertainer opened:
- Five Generation 5 concept stores at Bluewater in Kent, Cambridge, Rushden Lakes, Aberdeen and Edinburgh’s Gyle Shopping Centre
- Three first-ever outlet stores at Dalton Park, The O2 and Gunwharf Quays
The outlet stores are a new format for the chain, placed at destination and outlet retail sites rather than traditional high street and shopping centre locations.
The Bluewater store replaced a smaller location the chain had run at the same shopping centre since 2011. The new format includes a sensory play wall and one of only 10 Pop Mart vending machines in the UK. It was shortlisted for Retail Week’s New Store of the Year 2026.
The Edinburgh Gyle opening in December 2025 fulfilled a promise the company made when Cameron Toll shut at the start of the year. When that branch closed in January 2025, The Entertainer told shoppers to expect a new Edinburgh location within months. It took 11 months, but the branch opened.
Will More The Entertainer Stores Close in 2026?
Murphy addressed this directly in a Toy World Magazine interview published in October 2025. He confirmed the estate had consolidated to around 150 branches entering 2026, with those 70 lease events since 2023 accounting for the net reduction. His forecast for what comes next:
“My expectation is that we’ll exit 2026 with more shops than we enter with; this is the only year where we will be in a net deficit.”
Four new The Entertainer toy shop locations were already confirmed at the time of that interview. All four have since opened. No further closures have been announced since Kidderminster shut on 7 February 2026.
A 44-Year Family Business Changes Hands
September 2025 brought the biggest change in The Entertainer’s history. Gary and Catherine Grant formally transferred 100% ownership of parent company TEAL Group Holdings to an Employee Ownership Trust, making The Entertainer the second largest employee-owned retailer in Britain, behind John Lewis.
The ownership change came as the chain worked through its wave of shop closures and new openings. Gary Grant, who first opened The Entertainer in Amersham in 1981 at the age of 22, said on the day the transfer was signed:
“Today marks a momentous day for the Grant family. It feels like only yesterday that my wife Catherine and I opened our first store in Amersham, and we could only have dreamed what heights the business would reach.”
Under the new structure, the chain’s 1,900 staff receive tax-free bonuses tied to future profits. A Colleague Advisory Board gives workers a direct say in company decisions. Andrew Murphy OBE leads the business day-to-day. He joined from John Lewis Partnership in 2023 and received his OBE in the King’s 2024 New Year Honours for services to retail.
If Your Local Branch Has Closed
Current options for shoppers:
- Tesco concessions: The Entertainer runs toy sections in more than 2,000 Tesco Express stores and 861 large Tesco superstores. Use the store finder at thetoyshop.com to locate the nearest one
- 30-minute click and collect: Available at all remaining standalone branches via thetoyshop.com
- Deliveroo same-day delivery: Launched December 2025, covering a growing number of areas
- Matalan and M&S: Both carry a selection of The Entertainer and Early Learning Centre products
- Online at thetoyshop.com: Full product range with home delivery
Your Questions Answered
Is The Entertainer closing down?
No. Fourteen branches have closed since January 2025 but the chain still operates around 150 standalone stores and has products in more than 3,000 UK locations through Tesco and other retail partners. New standalone stores are confirmed for later in 2026.
Why did so many branches close at the same time?
Most of the January 2026 closures fell together because multiple lease renewals came up in the same window. Each location was assessed on its own commercial case, not as part of a planned mass closure programme.
Where can I find The Entertainer near me?
The store finder at thetoyshop.com shows every open standalone branch and nearby Tesco concession. The full range is also available online with home delivery.
With 14 closures behind it and new locations already confirmed for later this year, The Entertainer has reached the bottom of its store count. The question is not whether the chain recovers. It is where the next branch opens.
Sources: Retail Gazette, 2025 Growth Report | Toy World Magazine, Growth Announcement | Retail Gazette, EOT Transfer | Retail Gazette, NI Impact | Toy World Magazine, CEO Interview October 2025
