Hamleys, the oldest toy shop in the UK, will officially open in Sanpower Plaza (Nanjing IFC), Xinjiekou, Nanjing, and start business on a trial basis on 1 October. Nanjing citizens are keen to experience this new, extraordinary and special “fantasy kingdom” in their own hometown.

It is understood that Hamleys was founded in 1760 and has a history of over 250 years. In 2015, C. Banner International Holding Ltd., Sanpower Group’s partner, successfully acquired the store. With the opening in Sanpower Plaza in Nanjing, Hamleys will launch a China offering with more diverse products and services based on innovative ideas, and develop into a single shopping complex featuring children’s entertainment, education, clothes and accessories, daily necessities, culture and food.

The Hamleys shop in Nanjing has a total area of nearly 7,000 square meters and is equipped with more than ten entertainment projects distributed in different places from the ground floor to the third floor. These projects target children at all different ages. It has also set up two Party Rooms for themed party services for children.

It was explained that from next year, Hamleys will enter Beijing, Shanghai, Xuzhou, Hangzhou and other key, densely populated cities. The plan is to open 50 to 100 stores in China and to build a single Hamleys children shopping complex as big as ten thousand square meters.

Sanpower Group’s head of communications explained that Hamleys’ expansion plans in China reflects the merger and acquisition concept of “future defines future” proposed by Yuan Yafei, the chairman of Sanpower Group, and is the first time the results of overseas M&A activity by Sanpower Group and its strategic partners is seeing on-the-ground implementation in China. House of Fraser, Hamleys, Brookstone and other foreign commercial brands and businesses will also enter the Oriental Fraser shopping centre in Xinjiekou, Nanjing. With the House of Fraser’s official opening at the end of this year, Sanpower’s model of “commercial 4.0”, which is made up of “house brands + buyer brands + scenario-based sales + O2O + finance” will continue to emerge.