Smyths Toys: what is this new toy brand expanding into France?

There is Jouéclub, La Grande Récré or King Cadeau. There is another toy brand, much less known in France, which wants to make a place for itself: Smyths Toys. With 277 stores in Europe, including already 43 in France, it presents itself as the leading toy retailer in Europe. Its name betrays its origin: Smyths Toys comes from Ireland. The brand was created in 1986 and was founded by the Smyth family who gave it its name.

Smyths Toys experienced strong expansion outside Ireland in 2018 by purchasing the stores of American Toys'R'Us in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Four years later, at the start of 2022, it took over the PicWicToys stores, the toy brand in receivership of the Mulliez group (Auchan, Décathlon, Norauto, Kiabi, Leroy-Merlin, etc.). This acquisition allows Smyths Toys to establish itself on French soil.

During the strategic Christmas period, Smyths Toys, which is mainly present in Hauts-de-France and Ile-de-France, opened a store in Avignon at the Mistral 7 shopping center a week ago. She arrives in Toulouse on Saturday November 30, at the Saint-Orens shopping center in premises abandoned by Décathlon. This is its second store in Occitanie after Perpignan.

Smyths Toys offers “a no-frills store concept” by wanting to “return to the basics of commerce, that is to say choice and price”, explains the specialist magazine LSA. Is this new toy challenger in France cheaper than its competitors? To find out, we have five star games or toys for Christmas 2024 on the websites of the main toy brands.

• Skyjo board game : €14.99 (Smyths Toys), €14.99 (Jouéclub), €14.99 (King Cadeau), €16.99 (La Grande Récré)
• Punirunes, interactive companion : €34.99 (Smyths Toys), €38.99 (King Cadeau), €44.99 (Jouéclub), €47.99 (La Grande Récré)
• Stitch plush 50 cm from Disney : €34.99 (Smyths Toys), €39.99 (Jouéclub), €39.99 (La Grande Récré), €39.99 (King Cadeau)
• PAW Patrol Control Tower : €44.99 (Smyths Toys), €52.99 (King Cadeau), €54.99 (Jouéclub), €54.99 (La Grande Récré)
• Lego architecture Notre-Dame-de-Paris : €167.99 (Smyths Toys), €199.99 (Jouéclub), €199.99 (King Cadeau), €199.99 (La Grande Récré)

It appears from this comparison that Smyths Toys is less expensive than its competitors for four of the five games and toys tested and on par with several of its competitors for the fifth game. Is the brand cheaper on all games? Impossible to say from tens of thousands of references but the comparison proves, once again, that between toy stores and hypermarkets, there is always… competition.