Over 40 Years of Selling Toys!
The Entertainer is the U.K.’s Largest Independent Toy Retailer with over 165 UK stores stretched across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the islands of Jersey and the Isle of Man, with over 200 international The Entertainer and Early Learning Centre shops too! Our sister company, Addo Play, create and design toys that delight children all over the world with creative teams based in Amersham and Hong Kong, and a showroom in the USA!
As the world of retail changes so do we! With the acquisition of the Early Learning Centre in 2019, we are committed to providing our customers with quality, choice and value. Our presence as a toy retailer is ever growing too, as we partner with well-known businesses such as Tesco, Matalan and Marks and Spencer to showcase our toys. Keep your eyes peeled for The Entertainer ranges in some other well-known high street locations and online retailers too!
We have also brought our vibrant, friendly, and spacious stores from the UK to Spain with our chain of toy shops, Poly Juguetes and with the acquisition of the Early Learning Centre in 2019, we are committed to providing our customers with quality, choice and value.
The Entertainer really has big ambitions for growth, and we’d love it if you would join us on our big adventure!
Addo Play joined The Entertainer in 2015 and the Early Learning Centre (ELC) brand made our family bigger in 2019! If you’re interested in product development and the next new toy, then Addo Play could have a career for you! Addo Play are based in Amersham, and they design and create our own brand toys which we sell in our stores and market internationally. Roles range from product developers and designers to sales and marketing, and they also have an office in Hong Kong!
Supported and developed by Addo, ELC is The Entertainers developmental preschool brand with a clear purpose, to support parents with their child’s early years learning and development through play. Every child learns and develops in their own special way; this is what makes them so remarkable. ELC exists to make every child's play adventure extraordinary, capturing their imaginations for generations to come and shaping the grown-ups of tomorrow. We are proud of ELC’s heritage and as a leading specialist of children's development, we’d love you to join us and help create toys and content to be that little bit better, and that little bit different!
‘An innovative and fresh concept that takes toy shopping to a whole new level!
In early 2024, we announced a partnership with Tesco, giving our customers a convenient way to shop for toys in their local Tesco store throughout the UK and also in the Republic of Ireland. That’s over 800 new locations where The Entertainer is now trading and selling toys! How cool is that? The concession spaces are fully branded and The Entertainer now sources, buys and supplies Tesco with a varied toy range. So, from beloved brands like Barbie, Nerf, L.O.L., and Paw Patrol, to creative products from Addo and Early Learning Centre, there is something for everyone.
The Tesco partnership is a major milestone for The Entertainer and has created a wide variety of new roles and opportunities in our teams including field and Head Office support roles. Those roles vary from taking care of the department in the heart of a local Tesco store, working in a field role visiting our different fascia's, or joining our growing commercial and trading teams at our Head Office. The choice is yours!
So, if you're ready to embark on this thrilling adventure with us, go ahead and browse our vacancies today. Who knows? Your dream job might just be a click away!’
There are surprises around every corner in our Amersham based office, where the teams support stores with every aspect of toy shop life, working from character-based meeting rooms with Darth Vader and Barbie!
With free parking, open-plan offices, and comfortable shared spaces (inside and outside!) where you can enjoy time away from your desk, there’s so many reasons why The Entertainer HQ is for you!
Just look at this video if you want to explore more!
From your very first day with us, you’ll be welcomed by your new store team and receive training with our friendly colleagues to teach you everything you need to know about working in a toy shop!
Every day is different, from learning about new products and getting to know your customers to tackling those big deliveries and keeping the shelves full of toys... there’s lots to keep you busy.
Watch as Baby Blue takes you on a whirlwind tour of his first day in an Entertainer, becoming a pro on the tills, greeting customers and getting to know his team!
Jack is the jack-in-the-box you see everywhere. He is on our till receipts, on our lorries, on store and office signs, on the floor and anywhere else he can squeeze in! Gary and Catherine believed a logo for their new toy shop should be child friendly - something easily recognisable to even the youngest of children. After all, we wanted The Entertainer to become the best-loved toy shop! Jack was brought into being by Gary’s stepfather, an artist, who really captured the tradition and childish fun of a toyshop we could all remember.
Jack underwent a slight refashioning in 2003, showcasing his brand-new look, with his first appearance on the fascia of our Birmingham Bullring shop.
The Entertainer journey begins! Our first store is opened in Amersham by Gary and Catherine Grant
The Rubik’s Cube is the most popular toy that year
The Entertainer goes online! TheToyShop.com goes live, allowing customers to shop online with us for the first time
Baby Annabell was the top selling girls toy in 1999
Our much-needed Head Office in Amersham is open to support our store estate of now 25 shops!
We partnered with Addo Play in the same year we opened our 100th store in Aylesbury, reached 1000 employees and raised £1million through Pennies – that was a busy year!
The Entertainer acquired The Early Learning Centre brand in March 2019 with the commitment to creating quality products that bring excitement into learning.
We celebrated our 40th anniversary across all stores, field and head office teams
After a successful trial starting in 35 Tesco locations from October 2022, The Entertainer have now taken ownership of the company's toy zones across the UK and Republic of Ireland Tesco stores.
When you join us at The Entertainer, you are part of a family.
We are proud to be one of the fastest growing toy retailers in the UK! Having gone from 100 stores back in 2015 to over 170 today and selling our toys in Tesco supermarkets in the UK and Ireland, we prove our ambition and determination to achieve our mission of being the best-loved toy shop, one child, one community at a time – is successful!
With lots of exciting development and opportunities for us to grow - the possibilities are endless for The Entertainer, and we want you to be part of that.
Some of the achievements we have celebrated so far are:
Now, don’t you want to join us to see what you can be a part of?
Did you know that Father Christmas visits 5,556 houses every second on Christmas Eve?
There has been almost £2 million raised for various charities by employees of The Entertainer through Payroll Giving
156k litres of fuel used to get deliveries to our stores
Since 2021 we have sold 1,795,413 Squishmallows
At The Entertainer, we believe in rewarding our people for a job well done. We also know that different people will enjoy different benefits, which is why we have thought carefully about the benefits we offer. With so many to choose from, we are sure there will be something for everyone who joins us at The Entertainer.
The profit share scheme pays out a percentage of your basic salary provided that the company achieves its profit triggers for the financial year.
With Jack’s Treasure Chest you can find the best benefits & offers from an extensive network of retailers including discounts with high street retailers, great savings on attraction and experience day tickets, reductions on holidays, cashback offers and much, much more!
The cycle to work scheme is a tax and national insurance free scheme available for all employees to use and you could save around 33% on buying it straight from a store!
We give you a very generous discount of up to 20% on toy purchases, even if the items are already reduced or on a promotional offer.
Life Assurance Scheme provides a benefit of four times your basic annual salary in the event that you should die. Cover is available for all employees once they have completed 6 months service.
Holiday entitlements starting from 33 days per year, and increases with service to up to 36 days including bank holidays! So, where are we going?
Everyone deserves a treat on their birthday! If your birthday falls on a working day then you will be able to have it as a paid days leave to celebrate, eat cake or open all those presents!
Open to everyone from when you join, we contribute the equivalent of 3% of your salary into the scheme. With service, the company’s contribution increases up to a generous 10% of your salary.
The Retail Trust are an organisation with the specific goal of supporting people who work in retail. Services include, financial and legal advice, confidential counselling, a wellbeing website, and of course the 24-hour Virtual GP!
As a Company, we are committed to giving back to the communities we are part of. From raffle prizes to supporting community groups with their various fundraising activities, we are enthusiastic to get involved in our local area and help in any way we can. Every year, we give 10% of our profits to charitable causes and have introduced a number of initiatives in our stores such as Pennies digital charity box, which has raised nearly £4 million for local hospitals and children’s charities since we joined forces with them! We also have our award-winning Quiet Hour, which aims to create a more welcoming environment for children with autism.
Our Payroll Giving Scheme allows you to support your favourite charities (tax-free) through your pay. If you are a UK taxpayer you can donate to any UK-registered charity that you like. To enhance your generosity, The Entertainer will even match your donation!
You can also sign up for Gift Aid where 25% will be added to your donation at no extra cost to you. So far, our scheme has raised close to £1,500,000 for great causes, it is so successful that we are the UK’s leading retailer for donations, with fantastic levels of employee participation.
We have also been recognised by the government, with a Diamond Award alongside several other national payroll awards.
Another way to give to charity is to sign up to Pennies from your pay. This means, that the spare pennies from your monthly salary are deducted and donated to our chosen charity, Cancer Research UK. It’s a good way to give, as it happens automatically and it will never be more than 99p per month, you won’t even notice it’s gone!
Working at The Entertainer, you will make friends for life and join a family company that’s been established for over 40 years!
With positions for everyone, whether you are looking to earn some money over Christmas, start a career or take the next step in your retail journey, we will support you to achieve your goals. Whilst you’re hard at work, we will be working hard too, to ensure we provide you with everything you need to excel in your role, from delivering a fantastic range of Learning & Development courses, a whole host of great benefits for the family to enjoy, to offering an invaluable Employee Assistance Programme, we want you to be happy not only at work, but at home too.
With The Entertainers mission to be ‘The best-loved toy shop, one child, one community at a time’, there will be plenty of chances to progress in your role in either stores, head office or field locations. What are you waiting for, Aim High!
Head Office
It takes a lot of talented people at our Head Office to support our stores, online and warehouse teams. Located in Amersham, near to where our first store opened, our open plan offices make for a friendly and relaxed environment. With areas dedicated to socialising and recreation, and themed meeting rooms to immerse yourself in, where else could you have a meeting with the Paw Patrol gang?!
From Marketing and our Web teams, to Logistics and I.T, there are a variety of different teams both at The Entertainer and Addo, each with their own career paths to allow you to grow.
Ever wondered what The Entertainer HQ is like? Just look at this video if you want to explore more!
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Field
With more than 170 stores and multiple partnership retailers throughout the UK, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Jersey, that’s a lot of roads (and sea!) to cover. We like to keep in touch with and support our people and our dedicated field teams do just that, visiting stores, talking to our people and making The Entertainer the best toy shop around!
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Retail Roles
If you are competitive, with a natural love of retailing, you will thrive running one of our shops! Toy retailing is demanding and fast paced with a real focus on delivering brilliant service to both our big and our little customers. As a Store Manager or Assistant Manager, you will need to adopt a hands-on approach and demonstrate a desire to lead from the front on the shop floor. You will also need great leadership and people skills to develop and motivate your team, delivering a top performing store.
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Retail Roles
As a key part of the management team, you are going to make a real difference, supporting the store, and keeping everything ticking over. You will be energetic and outgoing, possessing a natural flair for retailing, proactive on the shop floor and efficient in completing routine administration. Other responsibilities will also include organising daily tasks and rotas, merchandising, delivery management and opening and closing the store. We will offer you comprehensive on the job training and opportunities to progress and develop if a career in retail management is for you.
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Retail Roles
We have the best retail teams around! Our colleagues in stores are dedicated to delivering exceptional service to every customer who walks through our doors. Asking brilliant questions to help identify what they are looking for, you will help the customers in any way.
With varied tasks such as merchandising and deliveries, you will also be trained to use the tills and give incredible product demonstrations too. With an enthusiastic approach and sense of fun and energy, if a career in retail is what you’re looking for, we have amazing opportunities for you to get you started.
View VacanciesConsidering a work placement with The Entertainer?
Our Work Placement scheme provides you with the opportunity to learn new skills, to meet great teams while working in a fast-paced environment, whether in our stores, offices, or fulfilment centre. They are all busy, exciting, and interesting places to work and learn all you can about retail.
Not only that, but you will also have access to our Work Placement eLearning training content throughout your time with us. Here, you will be able to complete online courses in areas such as interview skills, confidence building alongside our ever-growing number of product and skills courses. While you are with us, you will complete a full training induction with a member of the team who will help with your on-the-job training and development. We encourage lots of questions and we are keen that you get the most out of the experience while you are with us!
If you are interested in a Work Placement with us, please apply below!
Our placement schemes are popular, and our teams are working hard to accommodate your request, so please allow up to seven working days for a reply.
We interview all placement candidates too, so please ensure that you are dressed suitably, and you are well prepared for the interview.
Please note, we will not operate our Work Placement scheme in our stores during our busiest times, between 31st October and 1st January each year.
Zainab, is part of our first ever Diversity and Inclusion Panel which is dedicated to bringing awareness and sharing knowledge on how we can be more inclusive as a company.
“As a company, we support Diversity and Inclusion by encouraging our team members to be true to who they are and bring their authentic selves to work. As well as constantly being curious and inquisitive about their different cultures, backgrounds, races, ethnicities and lifestyles. I love celebrating my culture by sharing it with my colleagues and learning more about theirs too. For me, feeling included and seen within the workplace is very important, it creates a healthy and positive environment. The Entertainer makes sure that everyone’s thoughts and opinions are heard. From Head Office and Field to store teams too, We value diversity, inclusion, and equity for all.”
It is important to us that our colleagues feel happy, valued, and safe both at home and at work. Our Employee Assistance Programme is hosted by The Retail Trust, who are an organisation with the specific goal of supporting people who work in retail. Services include, financial and legal advice, confidential counselling, a wellbeing website, and of course the 24-hour Virtual GP! We are there for you, no matter what.
We will support your learning and development at every stage of your career here with us. It starts with an engaging induction, access to our online training platform ‘The EnterTrainer’ and on-the-job training and support. The EnterTrainer provides self-paced, learner-led training that covers everything from customer service to confidence building, wellness training to practical skills and much, much more. We also run learning events throughout the year as well as courses, workshops and webinars. The learning opportunities here are endless. We actively encourage you to challenge yourself, to stay curious and to aim higher. Whether you want to be the best you can be in your current role, or if you are looking to progress, we have a training plan here to support you and your career.
We have a business built on loyalty and commitment. The ’Ten Year Club’ is our way of acknowledging and rewarding the people who have worked for us for ten years or more. We believe that this is a significant milestone in your career. This group of long-serving colleagues meet annually at Gary’s invitation to celebrate our successes past and present. Usually, this will be a day off work having a lunch together and visiting somewhere exciting. The Club includes everyone from Sales Assistants to Directors, all of whom have contributed significantly to our ongoing success.
We hope that one day you will be a ‘Ten Year Clubber’ too.
Our Mission and our vision along with our values are what makes us who we are. They form part of every decision we make, every day.
Our vision is that every childhood be filled with wonder, creating memories for every child who walks through our doors to remember for a lifetime.
Our mission is to be the best-loved toy shop, one child, one community at a time. We come together for those that need us in our communities and beyond.
The Playground is more than a physical presence - it’s the atmosphere we create. It is the umbrella value that brings everything together, it’s our secret ingredient! It helps us remember we are serious about what we do, but we always find time to have fun along the way!
Our Values reflect our behaviours, the things that shape how we work with each other. They complement each other and it is important that we carry them through to our working day. These Values are a team and just like us, they work best when they work together.
We are an ambitious company always looking at ways we grow the business. We want you to be ambitious as well.
Caring about each other, what we do and how we do it.
Toy retailing is demanding, and we need you to be demanding of yourself and of us.
We can tell you all the information we think you want to know about us as a company, but what would be even better is if you heard what our colleagues think about working with us too! Read below what our amazing colleagues from across the business say about their journey with us so far.
