A world of wonder, fun and excitement awaits visitors to The Fort Shopping Centre in Birmingham, with the new Booghe physical store billed as the ‘the UK’s first toy-scape’.

Booghe, a specialist online toy retailer with eight year’s eCommerce experience and a yearly turnover of £10m, has proudly opened its first-ever physical location as it sets its sights on shaking up the world of toy retail.

On Friday 28th June, specially-selected guests including suppliers, sales agents and Toy World magazine were treated to an advance look at the new store as its hard-working staff put the finishing touches to displays and preparing to start welcoming the public.

Walking into Booghe, shoppers will immediately be struck by its colourful, almost abstract design. Atrio Design and FB Holdings have been brought in to bring the store concept to life, with bold colours and uniquely-shaped displays guiding shoppers through the store. Stars and planets on the ceiling are complemented by 3D trees mounted on the walls between shelving units, and selfie zones give kids the opportunity to pose in their favourite section or with their favourite toy. The level of detail and planning that has gone into the creation of the store is plain to see: the aisles are plenty wide enough for wheelchairs or buggies, the shelves are all rounded – no corners for excited kids to bump themselves on – and there’s even a play and climbing area at the back.

The opening marked the soft-launch of the store, which ultimately will span two floors offering play zones, demo areas, photo and drawing walls, and a dedicated VR/arcade space. The upper floor of the store, which will also play host to a family-friendly café, is slated to open to the public in August/September, at which point Booghe will host an official opening event. As it was, Friday saw 7-year-old Amber given the honour of cutting the ribbon. In front of a crowd of grown ups and to rapturous applause, she announced: “Welcome, everyone, to Booghe Toys. Toys make me happy – I hope Booghe Toys makes you happy too.”

Later, Amber was spotted carrying armfuls of toys to the till, including Wow! Stuff’s Real FX Stitch, squishies and cuddly toys from Golden Bear, making her the store’s first official in-person customer.

Throughout the store, visitors browsed offerings from Little Tikes, Funko, K’Nex, Barbie, Fisher-Price, Heroes of Goo Jit Zu and Top Trumps as well as licensed toys based on properties including Gabby’s Dollhouse, Super Mario, Star Wars, Stranger Things, Spider-Man, Peppa Pig, Minecraft, One Piece and Harry Potter. Games and trading cards from Asmodee UK, Ravensburger, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! were on display, as well as construction kits from Lego and Mega and collectibles from Ty, Bandai, MGA Entertainment, Jazwares and more. Digital order points throughout the Booghe store give shoppers the ability to browse the retailer’s website and order other products to be delivered to their own homes or to the shop for collection.

7-year-old Amber thanked visitors for coming before cutting the ribbon to applause.

Store colleagues, dressed in bright yellow t-shirts, were busy answering questions and pricing up the last of the toys throughout the morning. Kandeel used to work in Harrods’ toy department, and told us that while the two stores are naturally quite different, they also have much in common. “Harrods tries to create an experiential approach to toy shopping, and that’s what we’re doing here too. There are areas throughout the store where we’ll be holding demonstrations and getting kids hands-on with the toys, helping to create memories and generating real excitement for their next trip back to the shop.”

Booghe director Krishna Yadlapalli seemed delighted with the reception to the Booghe Toys shop, spending much of the event guiding visitors around and explaining the different concepts that have gone into bringing his vision to life.

“We’re 70% of the way to full completion and realisation of what we set out to achieve, Krishna told Toy World’s Rachael Simpson-Jones. “The Toy industry has faced a difficult couple of years, making this an interesting time to open a physical location for the first time, and to be honest, when we told our suppliers that we planned to open this store there was some hesitation. Some people warned me that I was going against the market, but I was undeterred. You can’t hesitate when you’re trying to do something new – if you believe in it, you have to push ahead.”

Andrea Hawker, Sales manager at KAP Toys, was one of those gathered for the opening and was very impressed by the store. She told Toy World: “It looks really great, and you can see the attention to detail everywhere. Look at these shelves, and the pattern on them. It really brings it to life. Krishna has always been a pleasure to work with – nothing is ever too much trouble – and we wish him all the best with this and his future stores.”

Anil Boodhoo, director at Asmodee UK, was also there. He told Toy World: “The opening of the new Booghe Toys store was an absolute delight to see. Krishna really put the customer first when thinking of the store design and customer journey. We’re incredibly proud to work closely with Krishna on his new venture. Seeing our key brands like Dobble and Pokémon Trading Cards feature prominently on his shelves is brilliant.”

The Fort retail park, where the store is located, is one of the UK’s premier out-of-town shopping locations. Attracting approximately 4.8m visitors a year, it offers nearly 2,000 free parking spaces and is home to a raft of destination retail outlets including Primark, River Island, Sports Direct, Poundland, B&M, Boots and more.

The flagship Birmingham store is slated to be the first of a number of new Booghe locations, with the retailer planning to open a new store every 6-12 months, focusing first on the West Midlands.

Krishna explained: “We’ve been in the Toy market for eight years and we’ve always looked out for ways to do things better rather than simply ‘existing’ in the market. Anyone can build a store and fill it with toys, but that’s not what we wanted to do. This is my vision, around us. The feedback we’ve had already is amazing and when the picture is complete later on in the year, I think everyone will understand what we’re about. Our second store, which will also be in Birmingham, will be twice the size – but look totally different.”