Mukesh Ambani, Asia's Richest Man, Rebuilds A 261-Year-Old British Icon

Hamleys, a British retail icon that hasn't made a profit for a number of years, plans to quadruple its outlets in the former British colony to more than 500 in three years despite the pandemic, according to Darshan Mehta, chief executive officer of Ambani's Reliance Brands Ltd.

A struggling 261-year-old U.K. toy-store chain is seeking a new lease of life in the hands of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who's looking to India where about a fifth of the world's babies are born to fuel its revival.   Hamleys, a British retail icon that hasn't made a profit for a number of years, plans to quadruple its outlets in the former British colony to more than 500 in three years despite the pandemic, according to Darshan Mehta, chief executive officer of Mr Ambani's Reliance Brands Ltd. Besides the main growth market, the company is also adding stores from Europe to South Africa and China, he said in an interview. Mr Ambani, 63, bought Hamleys in 2019 to strengthen his retail footprint as part of the ongoing transformation of his oil-and-chemicals conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. into a consumer and technology behemoth. The deep pockets of Asia's richest man and India's demographics could help breathe new life into Hamleys, whose share of global toy sales was estimated at 0.6% last year by Euromonitor International, and see it avert the pitfalls faced by rivals such as Toys "R" Us Inc. With a backer whose net worth is $72 billion, Hamleys is seeking to tap into what it sees as an inadequately serviced section of India's almost 1.4 billion people, of which about 27% are children under 14. The country accounts for just 1% of the $90 billion global toy industry, meaning the potential for growth is high, Mr Mehta said.