Toy giant adds to China presence

Toys "R" Us, the world's leading toy retailer, opened five stores in Beijing and three other cities, on Saturday.

The two new stores in Beijing are located in Golden Resource Shopping Mall and Dreamport in Haidian. The multinational retailer now has four stores in the capital.

The stores are stocked with over a thousand types of toys, including Lego, Gundam, Transformers. Educational toys, covering language and geography as well as other subjects, are also available.

Toys "R" Us, headquartered in New Jersey, made its foray into the China market in 2006 by opening the flagship store in Super Brand Mall in the Shanghai Pudong New Area. It now has 38 stores in 24 cities on the Chinese mainland and two online stores, among its 1,600 stores around the globe. The retailer plans to further expand the mainland market by having 50 stores by the end of 2013, and 100 stores by 2015.

According to a report in Beijing Business Today on May 22, spending on children increased from 74 billion yuan ($11.9 billion) in 2005 to 165.3 billion yuan in 2009. It is estimated that the market will reach 311.1 billion yuan this year.