Hamleys expanded and moved its flagship store in London from No. 200 Regent Street to its current site at Nos. 188–196, Regent Street, in 1981, which in 1994 was the largest toy shop in the world.
Hamleys' flagship store has seven floors covering 54,000 square feet (5,000 m2), all devoted to toys, with different categories of toy on each floor. The ground floor is traditionally for stuffed toys (including Steiff), and is decked out with a diverse array of stuffed animals, from regular teddy bears to more exotic plushes such as turtles and dolphins, and enormous life-sized giraffes and elephants.
Public transit is available via the Oxford Circus underground station.
The final scene of the 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut was filmed in the store.
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Other UK stores
In 1987 Hamleys' second store opened in York. However, it closed less than 12 months later.
In October 1987 Hamleys opened a new store in one of the richest shopping streets in the United Kingdom, Northumberland Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. Surprisingly, it operated for only 12 months, and closed in October 1988. It had seemed a "perfect combination" (Hamleys and Northumberland Street), but it did not work out. Then on 15 June 1987, Hamleys opened a new store in Milsom Street, in the city of Bath, Somerset, and just like the other stores, it also closed within 12 months, on 10 June 1988.
At the start of January 2022, there were 30 Hamleys stores across the United Kingdom, including sites at the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow, at the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester, at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex, Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, St James Quarter in Edinburgh, St David's Centre in Cardiff, the Merry Hill Centre in the West Midlands, York, and at airports including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Luton and London Stansted, and also at Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield, Liverpool ONE, Cheshire Oaks Outlet, Gateshead Metrocentre and Manchester.
However, by December 2023 Hamleys had closed all but 11 of their stores in the United Kingdom.
Global stores
Hamleys' European footprint existed in Denmark (three small stores) and, since October 2008, the Republic of Ireland, when it opened a 3,250-square-metre (35,000 sq ft) store in Pembroke Avenue, located adjacent to the Town Square in Dundrum, Dublin. On 12 October 2012, a Hamleys store opened at Nacka in Stockholm, Sweden. On 19 September 2013, a Hamley store opened as part of Steen og Strøm department store in Oslo, Norway. In April 2014 the Hamleys Denmark toy chain closed all four of its Danish locations when its Nordic parent company, Kids Retails, filed for bankruptcy.
Hamleys opened its first store outside Europe in Amman, Jordan, on 18 June 2008. The three-storey store on Mecca Street is run by the group's franchisee Jordan Centre. A Dubai franchise opened with two stores on 4 November 2008.
The first store in South Asia was opened in Mumbai, India, on 9 April 2010. The 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) store is located in an upmarket shopping district in India's financial capital. A second store in India is located in the city of Chennai at the Express Avenue Mall. The 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) store has a London bus that customers can walk up through. It now has 78 stores in India, including three stores in Punjab with a recently opened store in Amritsar on 1 February 2018. Hamleys also opened its first store in Bhubaneswar at Esplanade One Mall On 10 January 2019. Hamleys also opened its first store in Lucknow at Fun Republic Mall. With this addition, the brand is now present in 26 cities with 50 stores across India. In Gujarat, Hamleys opened its first store at Ahmedabad One mall with 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) on 9 November 2014.
Hamleys' opened a store in the Saudi capital Riyadh on 26 January 2012. The 2,100-square-metre (23,000 sq ft) shop is located in the Panorama mall at Takhassusi Street's intersection with Prince Mohammed Road.
In 2012 Hamleys opened its first store in Russia. It now operates two in Moscow, one in Saint-Petersburg and one in Krasnodar.
In 2013, Hamleys announced plans to open 20 stores across India in collaboration with Reliance Brands Ltd. The company also announced that a store would open in the One Utama Shopping Mall in Kuala Lumpur, in November 2013, the first in Southeast Asia. Malaysia is now a home for three Hamleys stores, with new outlets opened in the Quill Mall, Kuala Lumpur and in the satellite terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
In 2014, Hamleys opened its first store in the Philippines. The store opened in Central Square, Bonifacio Highstreet, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. A second Philippine Hamleys store is also set to open the following year. Stores Specialists Inc. (SSI) Group is the exclusive distributor of Hamleys in the Philippines.
In 2015, an Abu Dhabi franchise opened with two stores in World Trade Centre Mall (WTC) and Yas Mall, Yas Island.
In July 2015, a store opened in Plaza Singapura, Singapore. This is the first Hamleys store to be established in Singapore. Subsequently, a second store was introduced at Marina Bay Sands.
On 27 August 2015, a store opened in Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa. Six other stores have opened in South Africa: at Mall of Africa, Sandton City, Gateway Mall, Fourways Mall, The Zone @ Rosebank and Eastgate Mall.
In November 2015, a store opened at Antara Polanco Fashion Mall in Mexico City, its first store in Mexico. As of June 2018, there are four stores in Mexico: one in Querétaro at Antea LifeStyle Center, one in Veracruz at Andamar Lifestyle Center and two in Mexico City at Antara Polanco Fashion Mall and Artz Pedregal.
A store is present in Nicosia, Cyprus. There is also a store in Malta.
In 2016, Hamleys opened a store in Prague, Czech Republic, in Na Příkopě Street.
In 2017, a Hamleys store was opened in Hull, England to celebrate the UK City of Culture, in the shopping centre, Princes Quay.
Also in 2017, a store was opened in Warsaw, Poland, at the Galeria Północna shopping mall.
In April 2018, it was confirmed that the Dublin store would close after being open for 10 years.
In December 2018, it was also announced that the Trafford Centre branch would close after a short time in operation.
In 2018, a proposal was announced to open a store in New York City near Herald Square, though nothing has progressed as of 2023.
In April 2019 it was reported that an Indian Company Reliance Retail was planning to buy out the British toy store chain.
In May 2019 it was confirmed that Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited on 9 May 2019 signed a definitive agreement for Reliance Retail to acquire 100 per cent shares of Hamleys Global Holdings Limited. Hamleys is planning to open a Hamleys in The Gate Mall in Kuwait.
In November 2022, Hamleys opened a store in Albania. It is located in the heart of Tirana, inside the Emerald mall. It covers the entire second floor with toys, the third floor with Hamleys party rooms and attractions on both floors.
In 2023, Hamleys opened a store in Rome.
