Mirage looking to sell Intertoys: shake-up in Dutch toy market

The Dutch Mirage Retail Group is looking to sell its toy chain Intertoys. The sales process has already started, but may take several more months. Will Smyths Toys, the Irish newcomer on the Dutch market, take the prize?

Already started

After its aborted IPO last March, Mirage Retail Group wants to take a different course. Store chains will be sold separately when they are ready, entrepreneur Michiel Witteveen says. “For Intertoys, this moment is now“, says the retailer in a letter to franchisees that RetailTrends was able to access. “I am now seventy years old. At that time, you just have to make sure there is continuity in the shareholder structure“, the CEO confirmed to Dutch newspaper FD.

The retail group is now looking for an interested buyer who has enough capital to help Intertoys grow further. Potential buyers are now being approached, but the whole process will almost certainly take several months. Intertoys Witteveen bought the chain – with has more than 200 stores in the Netherlands – in 2019, following a bankruptcy and a restart under a Portuguese acquirer.

Mirage Retail Group’s announcement follows shortly after the arrival of Irish toy chain Smyths Toys, which is on a European expansion spree and recently opened its first three shops in the Netherlands. The newcomer, which is opening large shops on city outskirts and in shopping centres, is aiming for twenty Dutch stores soon.