British toy shop chain The Entertainer hands ownership to its 1,900 staff
Gary Grant opened the first shop in Buckinghamshire with his wife Catherine 44 years ago.
The group now runs some 160 shops and 1,000 concessions across the UK in retailers like Tesco and Marks & Spencer.
Mr Grant said it was a 'momentous day' for the family, adding: 'Over the last 44 years, we have invested our working lives into this business.
'All our children are shareholders, and our two oldest sons joined to work alongside us, 20 years ago – so it's truly a family business.
'This is a significant decision for the family, and one we haven't taken lightly, but it feels like the right time to transfer our entire shareholding into an employee ownership trust.'
As beneficiaries of the trust, employees will be handed bonuses based on the amount of profit the business makes in the future.
It also means staff get to have a say in how the business is run.
The Entertainer shops across the UK close on Sundays as part of the Grant family's Christian ethos which encourages staff to spend the day with their families.
Teal Group, which owns the chain and toymaker Addo Play, made a pre-tax profit of £6.7 million in the year to the end of January 2024, according to its most recently filed accounts.
The UK's biggest employee-owned company is the John Lewis Partnership, with around 70,000 of its staff sharing in the company's profits.
Outdoor activities group Go Ape has some 1,000 staff that share in any surplus profits after handing over ownership in 2022, while TV and hi-fi retail chain Richer Sounds transferred shares into a trust six years ago.
James de la Vingne, chief executive of the Employee Ownership Association, said it was 'always an exciting time when a major high street brand takes the bold move to become employee-owned'.
'We're seeing a growing trend for retailers making the move to employee ownership alongside calls to help save the high street,' he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
37 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Parents are racing to a major store to snap up back to school essentials – & they bag a mega haul for under £10
Including the exact location where you can find the cut-price goodies at the store CLASS ACT Parents are racing to a major store to snap up back to school essentials – & they bag a mega haul for under £10 Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WHETHER your kid is heading to primary or secondary school in the next few weeks, sending the children back to the classroom isn't cheap. According to a report by financial provider Shepherds Friendly, the total cost for school uniform across your child's education can hit nearly £5,000 - while after school clubs, holiday childcare and school meals bump the cost up further. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Parents are racing to get their hands on cut-price pens, pencils - and more Credit: Getty Images - Getty 2 A major store has slashed the price of all the necessary back to school essentials Credit: Facebook This means millions of cash-strapped Brit parents are on the lookout for affordable ways to slash the expenses wherever possible - and now, one savvy shopper has come to the rescue with a purse-friendly buy. According to Samantha Scott, a major UK superstore has slashed the price of all the necessary back to school essentials - and you can bag a mega haul of stationery for under a tenner. So, if your little one keeps losing their pens, pencils and other school must-haves, you may wish to plan a trip to the nearest Tesco pronto. During her visit at the popular retailer, the lucky shopper got her hands on a huge variety of stationery, including pencils with eraser tips, pastel ballpoint pens, sharpies and more. Showing off the incredible haul on Facebook, Samantha said: ''Stationery all reduced in Tesco. ''Less than £10 for all this.'' In the post, Samantha - one of the 2.6million members of the Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK group - revealed she had also purchased cut-price finger paint set, Tipp-Ex, several sticky tapes and neon sticky notes. Other wallet-friendly bargains in the epic sale also included glue sticks and colourful highlighters. In total, the Tesco customer had bagged more than 30 different items for the bargain deal of less than £10. According to Samantha, fellow shoppers can find the jaw-dropping price reductions in the general aisle - and not near the back to school shelves. Amazing Back-to-School Deals You Can't Miss! She went on in the comments: ''Some items were on the original shelfs with yellow stickers the rest were just marked down on the shelf.'' Uploaded less than 24 hours ago, the post has already taken the internet by storm, winning Samantha a whopping 1.3k likes. Keen to snap up the goodies, more than 300 members of the page flooded to comments, where many tagged their friends and family. I've only ever bought one jumper and a shirt Janine McDonald uses swaps and local community resources to find school uniform for her two daughters – now 13 and 15. They're both in different schools, with different uniform, but Janine, who is a single mum, has limited the expense by swapping and finding donated items to fit both girls. She says: 'At both schools, they have a pre-loved uniform section, so you can go in and either swap something or buy it for just literally a couple of pounds.' In Manchester where Janine lives there are Gateway centres which are a 'one-stop-shop' for a wide range of council and community services. She added: 'The local gateway hubs hold a uniform Donation Point so you can just drop off any uniform there, and then anybody is free just to come and have a look and take anything that they need. 'I find they last absolutely fine, so I don't need to buy new. "I reckon that has saved me a couple of hundred pounds for each child.' Janine, who has taken her recycling expertise and turned it into a decluttering business Clear the Clutter Now, says that setting up or joining a community WhatsApp group is another way to get cheap uniform. The mum explains: 'In the streets around where I live at the end of the school year, we'll put on there, whatever age trousers we've got from whichever school, and then people just give them to each other.' She recommends that parents, as well as looking for free uniform, take school uniform lists with a pinch of salt. 'You get the uniform list, and sometimes it recommends, five pairs of trousers, or X number of this, X number of that,' she says. 'Realistically, you don't need that many. "You can always buy one to start with and top up if needed.' One cried after realising they had paid the full price: ''We shopped to soon.'' ''Love a bargain,'' someone else chimed in. A third exclaimed: ''OH MY GOOD LORD, I AM GOING TO END UP LIKE A KID IN A CANDY SHOP! THANKS FOR THE POST!'' A fourth warned: ''Not reduced in Coventry today but fab bargain if they are in your area.'' ''Cost me 35 pound for my kids,'' a mum had seen the post too late.
Daily Mirror
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Parents to spend £500 on average celebrating kids' exam results
A poll of 1,500 parents of 16-18-year-olds found a cash gift is the most popular way to mark the announcement of their children's grades. A survey of 1,500 parents with 16-18 year olds revealed that cash presents are the most favoured method of celebrating their children's exam results. Others plan to purchase clothing, mobile phones, footwear and jewellery for their youngsters. Laptops, music festival passes and even holidays also feature amongst the top 30 most popular post-results rewards. However, whilst the typical parent will fork out £467 on their child, this figure jumps to £902 in London, £783 in Northern Ireland, and £630 in the West Midlands. It comes after Brits are told to never put one banned item in garden bins as you could face punishment. UK households issued warning if they have Nescafé coffee in kitchen. 'I work at Tesco and there's one thing I hate doing for customers'. Whilst parents in Northern Ireland are most inclined to purchase a new laptop for their youngster, those in Wales are focusing on experiences, including exhibition tickets or contributions towards spa treatments. More parents in the South West are anticipated to purchase musical instruments than anywhere else across the UK, whilst those in the East Midlands are most likely to help fund a new vehicle, and in the East of England, a motorbike. The research was commissioned by Moonpig, which provides cards and an extensive selection of celebratory presents for results day. A spokesperson commented: "It's interesting to see the different trends in how parents celebrate across the country. "But no matter how much you're planning to spend or the types of gifts you choose to buy – all that matters is your kids knowing how proud you are of them. "Results day is such a huge milestone in the lives of young people, and for them to know that you appreciate all the work they've put in is the most important thing." The study revealed 68% of parents will present gifts and cards irrespective of the grades their children accomplish. Meanwhile, 74% declared all they truly value is the effort invested to reach this significant moment. However, 23% acknowledged that whilst they will certainly purchase a present either way, these will vary based on the outcomes attained. This could explain why merely 36% have already bought the gift they're intending to present in celebration of results day. With 28% expressing the same regarding a card, according to statistics. The investigation also examined the elements parents consider most inspire their youngsters to excel – with their personal sense of accomplishment and individual drive being the leading responses. Yet despite this view, half of parents confessed to, at various times, employing presents or money to encourage their children to reach particular grades. This might stem from the pressure experienced by 38% from outside influences, including fellow parents and social media, to spend money marking results day. Moonpig's spokesperson commented: "No matter the grades, it's a massive achievement and rite of passage worth celebrating. And it's nice to see that the majority of parents agree that kids should be celebrated regardless of their results. We personally can't wait to see all the things this generation will go on to do in their lives – and how this will shape the future." TOP 30 RESULTS DAY GIFTS: Cash gift. Items of clothing. A smartphone. Shoes. Jewellery Games console games. A laptop. A games console. A watch. A smartwatch. Experiences (e.g. tickets to an exhibition, theatre, activity, spa day). Books. A tablet. A holiday (e.g. flights, accommodation, paying for entire holidays). Flowers. Make up products. Skincare products. Sports equipment. Bags. A pet. Festival tickets. A bike. A musical instrument. Sunglasses. A new car. A motorbike. A subscription box (e.g. books, beauty, food). Stationery. A used car. A scooter.
Scottish Sun
11 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Tesla targets UK home energy supply by 2026 – taking on Centrica and Octopus Energy
Read on for bad news coming the way of Iceland customers MUSK POWER Tesla targets UK home energy supply by 2026 – taking on Centrica and Octopus Energy Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TESLA is planning to supply energy to UK households as early as 2026. Elon Musk's firm has applied for a licence in order to take on energy companies including British Gas owner Centrica and Octopus Energy. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up The company hopes to start supplying energy to homes and businesses across England, Scotland and Wales as soon as next year. Tesla Energy Ventures applied for the licence last month, according to a new filing published by regulator Ofgem. The electric car manufacturer also has a solar energy and battery storage business. The news comes around two years after Tesla had first started hiring for a head of operations who would run its proposed energy supply business. Tesla has been involved in the UK energy market since 2020, when it was granted a licence to be an electricity generator. In the US, the group has been an electricity supplier in Texas for the past three years. The development comes amid a backdrop of waning demand for Tesla's electric vehicles across Europe in recent months. Industry figures showed an almost 60 per cent plunge in the number of new Tesla registrations in the UK last month, compared with last year. Data showed that 987 new vehicles were registered in July, compared with 2,462 in the same month in 2024. 3 Elon Musk's Tesla Energy Ventures has applied for a licence in order to take on energy companies including British Gas owner Centrica and Octopus Energy. Credit: AFP Inside Elon Musk's Tesla diner of the future staffed by ROBOTS with drive-in movie screens & burgers in Cybertruck boxes TOY WORKER BONANZA THE founder of Britain's biggest toy chain is handing control of the business to his 1,900 employees. Gary Grant, 66, is stepping down after 44 years at The Entertainer and future profits will be shared by the workers under the new structure. Amersham, Bucks, and built an empire of 160 shops and 1,000 concessions in retailers like Tesco and Marks & Spencer. He said: 'This is a significant decision and one we haven't taken lightly.' M&S CLICKING 3 Marks and Spencer has restored full online services after it cyber attack disruption Credit: Alamy MARKS AND SPENCER has restored its full online services almost four months after it was crippled by a cyber attack. Its click and collect service, which stopped functioning in April, is now working. Customers can now also return items bought via the web to stores, M&S said yesterday. Click and collect is the last major area to have been reinstated following the computer blitz over Easter. ICELAND HIKE 3 Price hikes are coming to Iceland stores over the coming month, with the Government's tax raids on firms being blamed Credit: Alamy ICELAND says it will be forced to raise food prices over the next six months following the Government's tax raid on businesses. It blamed Chancellor Rachel Reeves' National Insurance and minimum wage hikes on rising supplier costs. It comes just months after Iceland's boss Richard Walker said companies should stop 'wallowing' and complaining about the measures in the Autumn Budget.
