Checkers is considering a standalone toy store brand to compete with Toys R Us, Toy Kingdom and Hamleys. A source at the company told Daily Investor a concept store could launch this year, but Checkers would not confirm that.

"A standalone toy store brand is one of several opportunities being evaluated, and no decisions have been made at this stage," the retailer said.

A toy chain would be a new physical store brand, not an online play. Checkers already sells toys online through Sixty60, and a standalone brand would mean separate stores, more floor space and more leases. It would follow a pattern Shoprite has used repeatedly: take a category that sells well inside its large Hyper stores and give it its own shopfront.

It already runs Uniq for clothing, Petshop Science for pet care, Checkers Outdoor for camping and braai gear, and Little Me for babies and toddlers.

Toys are a strong candidate because demand is already there. Checkers increased its toy stock by 30% for the 2025 festive season, and its Hyper stores now carry up to 2,000 toy lines, which puts them on par with dedicated toy shops. Some Hypers have LEGO shop-in-shops, and LEGO is expected to anchor any new chain.

Toys also earn better margins than groceries, so selling more of them helps protect Shoprite's profits when food prices are under pressure. The market is meaningful but not huge. Research firm IMARC values South Africa's toy market at about $ 544 million in 2025, roughly R9 billion.

The specialist chains are all private, so none of them publishes profits. Toys R Us South Africa, which runs the brand under licence, grew to 61 stores in August 2025 by buying 13 ToyZone stores in Gauteng and Durban. Toy Kingdom belongs to local group Super Brands Holdings, and Hamleys is run locally under franchise by Antares, a partnership of Gauteng retailers Osbro and Rand Outfitters.

Daily Investor reported the plans and quoted Shoprite digital commerce general manager Andy Ridge, who said more customers chose Sixty60 for festive toy shopping because they want convenience, speed and the latest trends at competitive prices.

Moneyweb covered the Toys R Us purchase of ToyZone stores, and the group's estimate that online toy sales reached about R1.2 billion in 2024. IMARC Group forecasts the local toy market to keep growing at around 6% a year.

What separates this from the existing toy chains is information. Toys R Us and Toy Kingdom have to guess what children will want this Christmas. Checkers can see it, because Sixty60 shows which toys people search for and buy, week by week, across the whole country.

A standalone chain would let it act on that data with a wider range and a proper toy-shop experience: space to browse, gift wrapping and staff who know the products, which a busy grocery aisle cannot offer. The risk is that toys are seasonal, with a large share of sales squeezed into the weeks before Christmas, and a dedicated store has to pay rent all year. That is why Checkers is likely to test one concept store before committing.

For the specialist chains, the threat is real either way. The biggest grocery retailer in the country already stocks as many toy lines as it does in its Hypers, sells them through a delivery app people open every week, and keeps adding categories to Sixty60.

You might also like our piece on Shoprite buying Vida e Caffè, Walmart outperforming the Game it replaced, and Shoprite's market cap doubling off Sixty60.

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