My husband and I recently took a trip to London, and like any good nerds, we found time to visit two well-known British icons in the toy and collectibles industry – Forbidden Planet and Hamley’s.
While we had visited a Forbidden Planet location in Cardiff, Wales, on a prior trip, this was our first trip to their London superstore. The store on Shaftesbury Avenue proved to be a short walk from Covent Garden (another great area for geeks to explore due to the street performers and eclectic shops).
Upon entering the store, our eyes went immediately to the large glass display cases that run along the left-hand side as you proceed in. These cases were home to many “high end” collectibles of the kind I normally only see in catalogs – lots of busts, movie props, statues, etc. I was immediately drawn to the section of Tolkien items. Further down the line was a section of Marvel busts, including what was probably the best Gambit bust I have seen. There was a pretty good assortment of Star Wars mini busts as well. On the other side of the “wall” of glass cases was a large toy area. One large aisle was dedicated to Doctor Who items. Near to that, I found a section of my favorite Game of Thrones merchandise. Star Wars occupied another large area. The selection of Star Wars carded figures was quite large and easily the most organized I have ever seen in a retail store. The rest of the main floor of the store was a large mixture of toys from almost every current genre, along with popular classics.
After browsing the toys for a while, we headed downstairs to the basement level. This proved to be the largest comic and scifi/fantasy book store I have ever shopped in. Besides the usual shelves of current issues, there were several rooms of fiction, comic art, reference, and gaming books. I could have spent hours in there browsing, but unfortunately our schedule didn’t allow for that.
We ended up leaving empty-handed, but that was only due to our inability to bring items back home via our suitcases. There was a mini bust of Captain Jack Harkness that I would certainly have purchased if I had room in my carry-on luggage. As we headed back out the front entrance, I noticed that they had the San Diego Comic Con Exclusive Avenger’s SHIELD Helicarrier hanging on the wall behind the cash registers. We had completely missed that on our way in due to the pretties in the glass display cases.
Our next toy shopping adventure in London was at Hamley’s on Regent Street. Hamley’s was located in a very nice shopping area close to Oxford Circus. We had heard about Hamley’s from a friend and also saw it listed in a London travel book, but didn’t really know what to expect. What we found was a toy store that was as much an experience as a retail store.
The floor at street level was almost all stuffed animals. I was immediately drawn to a section of all Paddington Bear near the entrance (I ended up buying one!). We saw everything from barnyard animals to Muppets to London-themed teddy bears. Also on this floor was a small magic store.
We took the escalators up and found a Build-A-Bear Workshop in a portion of the first floor. It was smaller in size than the ones we see at American malls, but they had just as much to choose from. This floor also housed the large board games section and a candy store.
Being on a limited schedule, we didn’t do much more than a quick walk-through of the next few levels. There was a huge selection of preschool toys, including a nice display of Playmobil. One entire floor looked to be mostly dolls and dress-up clothes. Another area was dedicated to models, trains, and other hobbyist toys. We came across a corner of the store that we referred to as the “big kid” area. This corner had display cases of “high end” collectibles from genres such as The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. The assortment of Harry Potter stuff was amazing.
I have to admit our main goals were the action figure and Lego areas. The action figures were mostly the usual assortment we see here in the United States but also some items we don’t see here. For example, we picked up two Transformers EggBods, which are essentially Transformers characters on weird egg-like bodies. I think the Lego displays were definitely one of the store’s highlights. Like most Lego stores, they had some large-sized pieces constructed of Legos. London icons such as the Buckingham Guards, Sherlock Holmes, and a red phone booth were represented, but I think the real treats were the life-size Queen Elizabeth (with Lego corgi) and the life-size Royal Wedding party that overlooked the escalators.
We left Hamley’s with our Transformers EggBods and a small Paddington Bear – stuff we could easily fit in our luggage for the flight home.
If you’re a toy enthusiast, collector, or if you have your kids along for the trip, Forbidden Planet and Hamley’s are places you will want to visit while in London.
