1,900 employees gain ownership of UK toy retail chain

The Entertainer, the UK’s largest independent toy retailer, has made headlines after transfering ownership of the company to its 1,900 employees through an employee ownership trust.

Founder Gary Grant, who opened his first shop with his wife Catherine back in 1981 at the age of 23, has decided to transfer 100 per cent of the family business into an employee ownership trust.

The move means staff will share in the profits and gain a stronger voice in shaping the future of the company.

While the Grant family will still receive a financial payout from the transition, spread over time through company profits, the decision was driven by a desire to safeguard the company’s culture.

“If this had been sold purely for money, it wouldn’t have been passing the baton in the way the family wanted,” Mr Grant explained to BBC.

In the company’s annual reports for financial year ending January 2024, the Entertainer posted pre-tax profits of €7.76 million.

From one small shop in Buckinghamshire, The Entertainer has grown into a multi-million pound empire of 160 UK stores, with recent retail partnerships placing its products in over 850 Tesco outlets and 140 Matalan concessions.

Its resilience has been tested repeatedly, from the 2008 financial crisis to the pandemic, from the steady decline of high streets to the rise of online shopping.

A defining aspect of the retailer’s operations is its Christian ethos. Stores do not open on Sundays, and 10 per cent of annual profits are donated to charity.

The timing of the move means the first meaningful profit-sharing payouts are likely to be in the financial year ending January 2027, given the seasonal nature of toy retail, since most profits are earned during the Christmas rush.

Mr Grant, who left school with just one O level and was fired from his first job before entering retail, believes the employee-ownership structure is the ideal way to preserve both the family’s legacy and the “family feel” of the business.

Although two of his four children work in the company, they have chosen other career ambitions, paving the way for the employee trust to take the reins.

“We would have been very concerned selling to a business that has a completely different set of values to the values of the Entertainer which we’ve built over the last 44 years,” he said. “This is a win-win for everybody that we employ,” he concluded.