Listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest toy store, it was founded by William Hamley as "Noah's Ark" in High Holborn, London, in 1760.

[4][5] It is named after William Hamley, who founded a toy shop called "Noah's Ark" at No.

Ownership of the shop passed through the family, and by the time it was operated by Hamley's grandsons in 1837, the store had become famous, counting royalty and nobility among its customers.

In 1955, Queen Elizabeth II gave the company a second royal warrant as a "toys and sports merchant".

At the time it was said that a strategic plan had been formulated to build on the strength of the brand to ensure the company lived up to its reputation.

Hamleys was sold by Lowndes Queensway in May 1989 to a group led by Duncan Chadwick[13] for £22 million.

In September 2012 Groupe Ludendo, a toy retailer based in France with shops also located in Belgium, Spain and Switzerland, bought Hamleys for a reported £60 million.

[15] In October 2015 it was reported that Groupe Ludendo was negotiating the sale of Hamleys, possibly to a Hong Kong company owned by a relative of the owner of department store House of Fraser.

[16] It was subsequently purchased by C.Banner, a large Chinese footwear and fashion wear conglomerate based in Nanjing.

The ground floor is traditionally for stuffed toys (including Steiff), and is decked out with a diverse array of stuffed animals, from regular teddy bears to more exotic plushes such as turtles and dolphins, and enormous life-sized giraffes and elephants.

In April 2014 the Hamleys Denmark toy chain closed all four of its Danish locations when its Nordic parent company, Kids Retails, filed for bankruptcy.

In Gujarat, Hamleys opened its first store at Ahmedabad One mall with 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) on 9 November 2014.

The 2,100-square-metre (23,000 sq ft) shop is located in the Panorama mall at Takhassusi Street's intersection with Prince Mohammed Road.

[35] On 27 August 2015, a store opened in Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa.

In 2017, a Hamleys store was opened in Hull, England to celebrate the UK City of Culture, in the shopping centre, Princes Quay.

In December 2018, it was also announced that the Trafford Centre branch would close after a short time in operation.

[37][38][39][40][41][42] In April 2019 it was reported that an Indian Company Reliance Retail was planning to buy out the British toy store chain.

The site offered worldwide shipping and focused on user experience, customer service and the sale of traditional products and collectables.

[48] The chief executive of Hamleys told Marketing magazine "I do not want to become embroiled with the likes of Toys 'R' Us, Toyzone and eToys, which are fighting on price alone and will end up making next to no margin".

[50][51] Econsultancy critiqued the site for its basic approach in 2013, and felt that it "doesn't do a lot to represent the brand; in fact, it may even detract from it".