RETAIL bosses have revealed when a much-loved toy shop brand will be coming to the heart of Colchester.

Retailer WHSmith has confirmed its new Toys R Us “shop-in-shop” will be opening in the city centre next weekend.

Popular toy brands including Barbie, Bluey, Hot Wheels, Lego, and Paw Patrol will all be on sale.

The brand’s mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe will be joining the WHSmith team at the retailer’s shop in the Lion Walk shopping centre to launch Toys R Us next Saturday.

WHSmith is opening 30 Toys R Us 'shops-in-shops' across the UK. Pic: WHSmith/PAWHSmith is opening 30 Toys R Us 'shops-in-shops' across the UK. Pic: WHSmith/PA

The grand opening will kick off with a ribbon cutting at 8.30am and Geoffrey will greet shoppers throughout the morning.

Goody bags worth more than £20 will be handed out to the first 50 youngsters visiting the shop.

Colchester is one of 30 WHSmith stores set to open a new shop-in-shop from Toys R Us this year, following an initial launch of nine stores last year.

Ian Sanders, group commercial development director at WHSmith, said: “We’re really excited to be opening Toys R Us in Colchester.

“WHSmith is known for being the hub of the high street by providing customers with a range of great products and services.

“Partnering with Toys R Us gives us a leading toys and games range in our stores and means customers have even more reasons to shop with us.

“We look forward to welcoming many more customers into our store.”

The new addition to the city centre will be in good company with competitors The Entertainer and Smyths already having well-established toy shops in High Street and at Tollgate respectively.

It will be the first time the Toys R Us brand has come to Colchester.

It’s still a nostalgic name for people from the city with youngsters in years gone visiting its huge toy superstore a short hop along the A12 in Ipswich.

The massive toy shop closed in 2018 and has sat empty ever since.

Marks and Spencer has been rumoured to be interested in taking on the huge unit.