Langleys hopes its new collectibles shop will appeal to traditional and modern collectors alike.
One of Norwich’s best-known toy shops is close to unveiling an overhaul of its city-centre store as it adapts to meet the rising popularity of collectible memorabilia. Langleys’ new models and collectibles store, which opens at its premises off Haymarket, near Norwich Market, had been pre-school store Little Langleys until mid-January.
The new store, known as Langleys Collectibles, will cater for interests ranging from Airfix models and self-assembly kits to branded collectors items, die cast model cars and Harry Potter wands.
Chris Goulding, store manager, said the company had made the decision to move its pre-school products back into the main store and use the space to expand another product range.
“We felt it was more appropriate to have the pre-school range back in the main shop, and here we decided to do something a bit different,” he said. “We were getting asked for a lot of these kinds of products – we’ve always had a model department in Langleys but we thought it would be good to expand the range.”
Manager of the new store Gary Bicknell, who currently runs Langleys’ models department, said the store’s collections would continue to develop after its opening, with plans to introduce more automobilia and militaria.
The shop is also testing the water with larger figurines, similar to those sold in sister shop The Television and Movie Store.
Gary said a crossover was emerging between fans of models and collectibles and those into “geek” board games, a crowd Langley’s plans to cater to alongside collectors with more traditional tastes. The new shop will also sell pre-owned items, and will be looking to buy collections from people wishing to sell theirs.