Page 30 - June 2021

Illuminating Childhood

Memories

The Entertainer is a unique retail business –

like a signature that cannot be copied. The
company is here to create memories for every
child whilst delivering outstanding customer
service for both children and adults. Here, RLI
spends some time with Gary Grant, Founder
and Executive Chairman to discuss what drives
the business forward and what the future
looks like.

he concept of The Entertainer as we know it today began in May 1981, when
Gary Grant and his wife Catherine took over the Pram and Toy Bar. Sensing an
opportunity to make the shop into somewhere children and adults alike could
Tcome and visit to have fun, find something to ‘entertain’ their time and want to
come back to again and again, Gary has not looked back since.
The mission behind the business is simple, become the best-loved toyshop in the world
– one child and one community at a time.
Today The Entertainer operates 171 stores up and down the UK including key
locations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They have 33 stores in Spain, with all
except one currently operating as Poly. The first rebranded Poly store opened as The
Entertainer last month, with plans in place to eventually rebadge all of the Poly stores.
The company also purchased The Early Learning Centre brand two years ago and
they have around 260 of The Early Learning Centre franchised stores around the world,
with many of these franchise partners now opening The Entertainer franchised stores
as well.
Even before the onset of Covid-19, the company had gone through a year of
disruption, largely because of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. Then came 2020 and
as Grant puts it, it was a year that was completely unprecedented.
“To give you an idea, in the 13 months up to the end of April this year, we’d been
closed seven and a half months out of 13,” explains Gary Grant, Founder and Executive
Chairman of The Entertainer.
“Fortunately the government support has been outstanding and that is the only way

30 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL JUNE 2021