Maxi Toys stores to become King Jouet in France

Toy store chains King Jouet and Maxi Toys are intensifying their cooperation: in France, all of their stores will be branded as King Jouet; in Belgium and Luxembourg, they will remain Maxi Toys stores. No jobs will be lost in the operation.

Synergy

King Jouet and Maxi Toys have announced a new chapter in their partnership: the retail group has opted resolutely for King Jouet’s business model, while retaining the strengths of Maxi Toys. The company will therefore simplify its operation to one brand per country: King Jouet in France and Switzerland, Maxi Toys in Belgium and Luxembourg. There will be no impact on employment: all jobs within the stores, logistics and head offices will remain in place.

In an internal letter from the retail group to its suppliers, which RetailDetail was able to read, owner Prenatal Retail Group states that both chains’ corporate culture and commercial models are very similar and that the first synergy efforts are yielding encouraging results.

Logical trajectory

King Jouet acquired its Belgian competitor in August 2020, after it had short spells in possession of Portuguese investment fund Green Swan and the Dutch Mirage Retail Group. A judicial restructuring in 2020 allowed the chain to make a successful restart with 126 stores and 850 jobs. The takeover by King Jouet put the toy chain into the security of a strong group.

The decision to further increase the synergy seems a logical one. With the integration of the Maxi Toys network, King Jouet would become the market leader in the fragmented French market and the French-speaking part of Switzerland – where all stores have already been operating under the King Jouet brand since May 2021. For its part, Maxi Toys can capitalise on King Jouet’s strengths in Belgium and Luxembourg, particularly in terms of price positioning and digitisation.