After 38 years selling toys to most of the UK’s toy retailers, Craig Richards has decided to take an early retirement.

Craig started selling Subbuteo for Waddington Games in 1984, an apt career move as he had just finished playing professional football, representing clubs including QPR and Wimbledon.

After Waddingtons was bought by Hasbro in 1997, Craig moved to Mattel, and stayed there for 25 years. During this time he can claim to have managed just about every specialist toy retailer there is, however his heart and passion has always been the independent trade. There is no doubt that Toymaster and AIS members would count him as one of the finest salespeople to have dealt with, and the Golden Teddy he received at the Toymaster show in 2019 was no surprise to anyone that knows him.

Former Mattel colleague Steve Asbey, now UK sales manager of Cheatwell Games, commented: “Craig will be missed by his toy industry friends, but he will at least now have time to analyse why his beloved Cardiff City is so awful..!”

Craig took the time to send hand written notes to his key retailers advising them of his decision, thanking them their support over the years and wishing them all the best for the future. One such note was received by Dave Middleton of Midco Toys who told Toy World: “Craig will be greatly missed. Another good old-school guy gone from the industry, he will take some replacing.”

The Toy World team would like to wish Craig the very best with his retirement.