Christmas is coming to Hamleys

Toy World’s Caroline Tonks took a trip into London to visit Hamleys’ flagship Regent Street store, where she met with Karen Dennett, Hamleys’ senior international buyer, to discuss this year’s Festive 15, Hamleys’ growth in 2025, what’s on the cards this holiday season and more.

As always, Hamleys’ Regent Street store is a bustling hub of excitement and curiosity, with young kids running around in anticipation of finding their next new toy and staring up in awe as demonstrators show off the latest hit products. Characters greet visitors as soon as they step inside, a smile on their faces and an enthusiasm that is infectious.

Nestled at the back of the ground floor is Santa’s Grotto. Despite the holidays not quite yet upon us, the room is decked to the nines, with warm colours, Christmas trees and presents all around. Senior buyer, Karen Dennett, sits in Santa’s chair, surrounded by this year’s Festive 15 – the stores’ picks of the top toys for Christmas 2025. Over 15,000 new toys launched into the toy market in the last 12 months, with Hamleys’ senior buying team sifting through the endless product to determine their 15 festive recommendations. According to Karen, the team doesn’t have a set criteria to make this decision, as they want their choices to be authentic picks that reflect current toy trends and purchasing patterns.

“What we have noticed this year, which goes back to Toy Fair in January, is a shift to simplicity,” states Karen. “We are seeing strong sales growth all around, but where we’re seeing the really good sales growth is on simple play patterns, like our soft toy division. It’s always been one of our top performing categories, but this year it’s seen phenomenal growth. The world is a bit complicated at the moment, so to have a touch of simplicity is perfect.”

This year’s Festive 15 showcases a wide variety of product, from bouncy balls and teddy bears to cuddly food and fashion dolls, with a broad selection of suppliers on the list alongside Hamleys’ own heritage brands. Each product chosen ties into the others through simple or evergreen play patterns, no matter if it’s plush, dolls, tech or collectibles.

2025 has been a solid year for Hamleys, with strong footfall in-store year-round. Tourism is back too, if not up, from where the store was pre-pandemic, making up a core part of Hamleys’ business. Due to its central London location, footfall is never an issue for the store, and its domestic customer base is also going strong. On top of this, Hamleys’ other UK locations are performing well, including locations in Glasgow and Westfield White City, along with its travel stores in airports and train stations.

Besides Hamleys’ Festive 15, there’s a wide variety of ranges that have performed well across the year. A number of successful film releases have been accompanied by in-demand product – Minecraft and Stitch both had a massive boost at the time of their cinematic release, but that momentum has remained strong at Hamleys, plateauing at a high level. “They’ve almost become evergreen brands already,” says Karen. “We’ve got a section for Stitch on the second floor and Minecraft is dotted all around the store. These properties haven’t fallen away like some other films.”

The Hamleys brand is a significant draw to consumers. It has a large product range that caters to tourists, with items such as tote bags, keyrings and pens in London prints like black cabs and double-decker buses. These are extremely popular items, according to Karen, especially in the travel stores.

She adds: “Paddington is a really iconic British brand, and at Hamleys, I would say we over perform compared to other retailers in supporting it. You come into our store and Paddington is everywhere. We like to think that Hamleys is an iconic brand - and Paddington is too; we’ve got that perfect synergy. We even have a few exclusive items with Paddington.”

Hamleys caters to a wide audience, not just young children. The basement of the flagship store is a Kidult wonderland, with a dedicated Harry Potter area and Pop Mart, full of collectibles and blind boxes that are taking social media by storm. The fourth floor shows off Hamleys’ tech side, with its drone area and a permanent Scalextric racecourse, while the fifth-floor houses Hamleys’ Lego portfolio, with the likes of Lego Technic which caters to 18+. The second floor is home to the Hamleys boutique, which opened in April. Ideal for tweens and keeping them a part of the toy industry for longer, this area offers everything from nails, hair and dress-up to shoes, bags and face paint.

With the Festive 15 officially released and Halloween now behind us, Christmas is ready to officially kick off in-store. Although the summer holidays are a very busy time with the high tourist numbers, the toy store’s peak season, like most retailers, is Christmas. Santa’s Grotto opens to the public from early November, with tickets in high demand. “When we put the tickets on sale for Santa’s Grotto, there was a massive queue by 10 o’clock before it even opened,” says Karen. “Within a matter of days it was completely sold out. Hundreds of people were emailing us from August to see when tickets were going to go on sale.

“Other retailers will run a grotto, but not at the scale we’re able to do. We have multiple rooms and entertainment too. Going to Hamleys at Christmas has become a tradition, and the average dwell time for customers can be over two hours. There’s a lot to see and do, so people will be here for a long time; it’s busy and buzzing. Sales data is already telling us that we’re going to have a good Christmas; no matter how tough the rest of the year has been, families want Christmas to be as special as it possibly can be. The whole team is really positive going into this part of the year.”

The entertainment team will be dressed up as elves, dancing around the store and drawing customers in. The popular open-top Hamleys bus will be making a return, packed with characters to elevate the experience. “Customers have to pre-book this experience, but the bus will pick families up at the store and take them around the West End to see all the Christmas lights. Lots of fun goes on whilst they’re on the bus. Previously, we’ve done it for nine to 10 days, but this year, we’re running it for eight weeks because it was so successful. This also sells out really quickly.

“This is our second year collaborating with the Langham Hotel just up the road, where we host a Hamleys Afternoon Tea for kids, which is also extremely popular. This year, we’re connecting the bus tour with the afternoon tea, before everyone is brought back to the store at the end of the route.”

The famous Hamleys Christmas window unveiling will take place on 6th November, showcasing what Hamleys believes will be its key items for Christmas. This has become a big event for the toy store over the last few years, including a stage, red carpet, character appearances and even live music. Last year, the crowds were at least 10 people deep, and this year, for the first time ever, there are even plans to light up the entire building in true Christmas fashion.

“We deliver entertainment like no other retailer can do; it’s theatrical,” states Karen. “This is our strength and definitely our point of difference. 16 years ago, Hamleys had one full-timer and one part-timer on the entertainment team. This year, there will be 50 elves alone. This just shows how big entertainment and demonstrations are for our business. The team in total is probably closer to 80 people now.”

Entertainment has always been a big part of the Hamleys experience, which has seen a natural evolution to the scale it’s at now. Data has shown that customer dwell times are longer when there is more reason to stay in-store, like entertainment, theatricals and demos, prompting the development of the toy store to the Hamleys that delights children and families today.

Karen concludes: “What we do may seem quite extreme, but we’re doing it for a reason. It just doesn’t happen anywhere else on such a grand scale, so we really stand out. Everyone is welcome; we don’t charge anyone to come in and interact with the entertainment team. There are always toys in certain fixtures that kids can get on the floor and play with. A lot of thought has gone in to engagement, dwell time, fun, taking away barriers and building the experiential.

“Christmas is an amazing time in store, and we can’t wait to see all our customers enjoying what we have on offer.”

Hamleys' Festive 15 (in no particular order)

• The Lego Marvel Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock Subway Trains Scene Set (Lego)

• Roblox Dress to Impress fashion dolls (Click)

• Ty Beanie Bouncers (Ty)

• L.O.L. Surprise! Magic Flyers (MGA Entertainment)

• Hamleys Market Place Food Pizza Slice (Hamleys)

• Soccer Dash (Golden Bear)

• Human Controller (Tomy)

• Robosen Mini Robot – Toy Story Kit – Woody (Robosen)

• One Piece Egghead Arc Series (Mighty Jaxx)

• Micro Drift RC (Hamleys)

• Star Wars Power Crystal Lightsaber (Hasbro)

• Peppa Pig Evie with Blanket (Character Options)

• Sky Trails: S1 Starter Kit (Playmobil)

• Wooden Hamburger Stacker (Hamleys)

• Hamleys Bertie Heritage Teddy Bear (Hamleys)