Following a successful trial, The Entertainer has begun its 33-week programme to open in Tesco stores around the UK.

The Entertainer carried out a trial in 35 Tesco locations from October 2022 and, following its success, the company’s curated toy zones are now being rolled out to all UK and Republic of Ireland Tesco stores.

The 33-week programme to open The Entertainer Toy Shop in 853 locations around the UK began yesterday (26th February) with 23 stores in Scotland, set to open by the end of this week.

Tesco customers will be able to shop The Entertainer’s outstanding range of much-loved brands such as Barbie, Nerf, L.O.L. and Paw Patrol, as well as its exclusive ranges, the Addo brand and Early Learning Centre, in all large stores across the UK & ROI.

As well as providing customers with the benefits of an extended range, they will also be able to earn Clubcard points on in-store purchases from The Entertainer and benefit from Clubcard prices promotions on toy products.

Andrew Murphy, The Entertainer CEO, announced the news on LinkedIn, saying: “This expansion will give The Entertainer the largest number of retail locations of any toy retailer in the UK. It’s a huge opportunity, but also a huge undertaking and logistical challenge. Getting to this point has required a great collaborative effort between almost every part of our organisation and our counterparts in Tesco. It’s been a great team effort and I want to thank everyone – across both businesses – who has done so well and moved so quickly to get us set for success.”

Steve Shepherd, who was previously head of Operations at The Entertainer, has taken on the new role of head of Tesco Performance.

In addition to extending its partnership with The Entertainer in the UK & ROI, Tesco is also entering into a supplier agreement with the toy retailer for its Central Europe stores. Both ROI and Central Europe are new markets for The Entertainer and represent a significant expansion of its business.