Cambridge Toys 'R' Us store 'likely to close' next spring

City store to be one of 26 axed by Toys 'R' Us across the UK

The Cambridge branch of Toys ‘R’ Us UK will close next spring, according to the company.

The British arm of the toy chain, plans to close at least 26 stores and shed up to 800 jobs. The company hopes to redeploy any staff members from the Cambridge store, just off Newmarket Road, where they can.

A Toys ‘R’ Us UK spokeswoman said: “It is likely that the Cambridge store will close in the spring of 2018. We will continue to honour gift cards and ‘Take Time To Pay’ agreements and there will be no change to our returns policy.”

All the threatened stores are expected to remain open through Christmas and into the New Year. The closures marks a major shift in business policy for the toy chain. The group is shifting from ‘warehouse style’ stores of the 1980s and 90s to ‘newer, smaller, more interactive stores’.

Steve Knights, of Toys ‘R’ Us UK, said: “All of our stores across the UK remain open for business as normal through Christmas and well into the New Year. Our newer, smaller, more interactive stores are in the right shopping locations and are trading well.

“But the warehouse style stores we opened in the 1980s and 90s, while successful in the early days, are too big and expensive to run in the current retail environment.”

It is not known how many jobs are at risk at the Cambridge store.