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Dubai: Toys R Us, the US retailer operated in the Gulf and Egypt by the Al Futtaim Group, yesterday opened a 45,000 square foot store in Dubai Festival City (DFC).
The outlet is the company's biggest in the Middle East but half the size of its global flagship store in New York's Times Square.
The opening at DFC follows the recent launch of the toy store in Dubai's Times Square Centre mall and takes the number of outlets to 10 in the region and three in Dubai.
Wayne Cohen, general manager, Toys R Us, UAE, said the company will not expand further this year, but is planning ventures into untapped market in the next five years.
"We've got a number of new stores on the cards and are looking at around three or four more in the region - no more in Dubai, but certainly Kuwait," he said, without specifying the amount of money that will be invested into new openings.
"With the opening at Times Square, we significantly increased our business in Dubai and we are expecting to see the same sort of increase when we open this [the DFC] store."
He added: "This is a flagship store and we hope somewhere that the bands will come to launch their new ranges in the Middle East."
Cohen said the highly youthful population in the Middle East is driving "significant double digit growth" for Toys R Us.
He said the product mix for the DFC store is adapted from US outlets to suit local tastes, such as demand for popular Arab toy brands. He also highlighted various interactive features within the store and a large Babies R Us section. "We really do things very differently here. It's all about entertainment and theatre as well as having great ranges of toys," he said.
The store was designed by Evolution Design.
Toys R Us was launched in Deira City Centre, Dubai, by the Al Futtaim Group in 1995. The second and third stores opened in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain respectively, before the company expanded the brand into Qatar, Egypt, Sharjah and Oman.
Al Futtaim Group does not operate Toys R Us in Saudi Arabia.
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