Smyths Toy Superstores is promsing 30 new jobs

Major national toy retailer Smyths Toys Superstores is hoping to open a brand new store in Ipswich, with a new 15,000 sqft store on Anglia Retail Park.

The new store would help the local job market by creating 30 new positions, it says.

Smyths Toys Superstores currently trade from almost 80 stores across the UK and Ireland and expect to open up to 10 new stores in the next 12 months.

It’s nearest unit is at the Tollgate Centre near Colchester.

The leading toy retailer’s stores offer a massive range of toys from dolls and action figures to baby products, video games and garden playsets.

Smyths Toys Superstores stock all the top toy brands and pride themselves on offering the most competitive prices on the best possible selection of products, according to a spokesman.

“With one of the fastest growing populations in the country, Ipswich is an ideal new location for our business,” says Rob Guckian, spokesman for Smyths Toys Superstores.

“We aim to become part of the community, supporting local children’s events, in particular those connected with EACH, and increasing local employment.”

A planning application has been submitted to Ipswich Borough Council, which is expected to make a decision in late May or June.

The plan is bound to fuel the arguments over edge of town retail versus the town centre shopping core.

The unit at Anglia Retail Park has been vacant for eight years and was previously a furniture store.

However there are already toy retailers in the town centre, and an edge of town Toys R Us, and all major supermakets give over large areas of retail space to toys and gifts in the key pre-Christmas period.

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