Geoffrey roams the UK once more

Anybody in the toy business or who has children that are probably now in their teens will be aware of Geoffrey the Giraffe. Geoffrey is the cartoon figure associated with Toys”R”Us, and for some time now he has not called the UK home.

It is in fact five years since the US retailer departed these shores, and latterly its disappearance was probably not mourned as the UK operation had been allowed to deteriorate and the edge-of-town stores, for the most part, looked very tired. There was perhaps a bit of a chicken and egg about its UK failure. The stores looked bad, so the shoppers stopped shopping and as footfall fell, Toys”R”Us scrimped and saved as far as the interior of its branches was concerned.

But now it’s back. In a ‘collaboration’ with WHSmith, Toys”R”Us shopin-shops will be in nine of the stationer’s stores across the country. And at first glance, there is much to remind the visitor of the brand’s heritage, from royal blue wallpaper with coloured stars, to, yes, Geoffrey sitting on a cartoon bench in the middle of the space. The equipment that has been used in the mid-shop looks like adapted WHSmith gondolas and in terms of display, this is a very densely merchandised resurrection.

This is a trial for both parties and it’s a little hard not to wonder whether this is about WHSmith finding a willing tenant for excess space in some of its larger stores, rather than something that is going to boost footfall as potential Toys”R”Us shoppers storm the doors. In truth, it may well be a bit of both. It would hardly be unfair to say that in a lot of locations WHSmith has come in for some criticism for the appearance of its stores and the obvious fact that not a lot of money has been spent on keeping the interiors up to scratch.

The Twitter feed known as WHSmith Carpet (@WHS_ Carpet), which points out the retailer’s shortcomings on a store-by-store basis, has around 27,000 followers, which points to general disenchantment about the appearance of many of the retailer’s stores. That said, this is a profitable concern, although this may indicate cost saving, rather than increasing the bottom line (although things in the travel division, train stations and airports, do look very rosy currently).

A good bet for a revived Toys”R”Us therefore, as this is a retailer that remains a high street stalwart in multiple locations. To put the point in reverse, however, why would WHSmith opt to put a toy retailer under its roof that failed a few years back and which was, by the end, a distinctly lacklustre proposition?

To an extent, the Toys”R”Us demise was a self-fulling prophecy. If you look bad, you probably will be. Is it therefore good enough this time round not only to make the retail grade, but to improve the WHSmith branches in which it appears, making them better than they were before Geoffrey sidled along the aisles?

Possibly, but perhaps the days of Toys”R”Us being a repository of brightly coloured plastic in various shapes and forms are behind us and what will be involved will be a bit of a rethink as far as product is concerned. These are eco-aware times and the sense that filling a child’s room with items that cannot be easily disposed of when they have served their purpose has a feel about it that is not positive.

In fairness, a quick look at the retailer’s UK website makes clear that the offer is pretty much like many other toy outfits, with LEGO, Sylvanian Families and multiple board games, for example, all featuring. It may be, therefore, that what’s on view in WHSmith is in line with the efforts of others. It will be its ability as a WHSmith collaborator to pull ‘em through the doors of the shop as a whole that will determine its chances of success.

The real point about Toys”R”Us then is not the product - that’s more or less where it should be - but the fact that it is not a standalone Toys”R”Us. Such was the drab conclusion to the retailer’s UK tenure last time round that anything that doesn’t look like one of its edge-of-town monoliths has a better chance than that which preceded it.

There is also the point that it will be on the high street, which does rather improve the chances that impulse purchasing by parents when on a different shopping mission may prove a possibility.

So, is there room for it second-time around in this country? Well here’s the positive bit: yes there is. In many town centres we have reached the point where retail units that do not have To Let hoardings across their frontage do sterling work in terms of keeping shoppers doing what shoppers do, and a boost to WHSmith can only be to the good.

As WHSmith Carpet remarks, however, the press release that states that a ‘life-size’ Geoffrey the Giraffe will be gracing each of the new stores is a little puzzling. The best efforts of the VM teams of both retailers would be hard put to accommodate a full-size giraffe and presumably what is meant is a creature that is (human) life size. All of which notwithstanding, it’s good to see something being given a second chance, even if memories about it are mixed.