The Entertainer Ltd. is the UK's largest independent toy retailer, which operates more than 170 stores. The company was founded by the husband and wife team Catherine and Gary Grant in 1981, when Gary purchased a local toy shop in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England. The Entertainer is part of , a family of brands which also includes Addo and Early Learning Centre.
History
The Entertainer began when the Grants took over The Pram and Toy Bar located in Amersham, Buckinghamshire in early 1981. The shop was renamed The Entertainer in May that year. In 1985, they purchased their second shop, located on The Broadway in Beaconsfield. In April 1991, ten years after the acquisition of the toy shop in Amersham, the chain opened its third shop in Slough, although this has since closed. The company then underwent massive expansion and, by 2001, the chain had opened its 25th shop, located in the Victoria Centre in Nottingham. The Entertainer now also has many concessions within Matalan under the branding name Totally Toys. As of 2020 they near 100 concessions. In February 2019, The Entertainer purchased Early Learning Center, with 520 international franchise outlets.
Store details
Branches of The Entertainer opened before around 2002 generally have a red fascia with a Times font bearing the name 'The Entertainer', often alongside the legend "'s Toy Shop", usually in areas where The Entertainer has the largest all-round toy shop presence. Stores from this period characteristically had a 'shopping aisle' format with one or two large open areas for demonstrations or stacks of products during busier periods. This format has now been discontinued. The flagship store bearing this format is the Coliseum store. In about 2003, a new store format was devised in an effort to modernise the chain with the opening of the new flagship store in the Bull Ring in Birmingham. The company's primary colour was changed from red to blue, with the company's name now inscribed in the font 'VAGRounded'. Stores now have a more complex layout with false protruding walls and curved shelving gondolas. New stores often have the company's new slogan 'Mad About Toys' inscribed on the store's fascia. Stores from the pre-2003 era are being refitted and relaunched on a needs basis, the latest to complete the change has been the Nottingham branch. Stores are often given brighter lighting and new 'unified' signage that runs all the way around the store, along with the new company fascia.
Christian ethos
Gary Grant describes himself as a "charismatic evangelical" Christian. Hence, unusually for British retailers, The Entertainer retail locations do not open on Sundays. The business does not sell products deemed to have a connection to the occult, including Harry Potter merchandise.
The Grant Foundation is The Entertainer's charitable wing. In line with biblical practice The Entertainer tithes its profits. In 2002 alone, The Entertainer donated £100,000 to several children's charities, including The Toybox Charity, a charity for which Gary Grant was a trustee, which supports street children in Guatemala. In 2005, The Entertainer launched its own Charity Wristband Partnership with 15 charities raising over £300,000 for a range of different causes.
Other charity fundraising
In August 2011, The Entertainer switched onPennies, the digital charity box in all of its stores, allowing its customers to round-up their purchases and donate the change to charity when paying by debit or credit card. It was the first high street shop to offer Pennies, joining Domino's Pizza, Zizzi restaurants and Travelodge at the time. Since its inception, The Entertainer states that Pennies donations have now totalled over £3 million for charity.
