Toy wholesaler Funtastic has completed its acquisition of Hobby Warehouse, Toys ‘R’ Us, Babies ‘R’ Us, and Mittoni, with shareholders voting overwhelmingly in favour the transaction.

As of Thursday 26 November, Louis Mittoni will take up the position of managing director and chief executive of the combined company, with Kevin Moore acting as chairman and former director and chairman Bernie Brookes stepping down.

Mittoni previously said this was the next phase of Toys ‘R’ Us’ relaunch, and now said the wholesale operations of Funtastic and Mittoni Technologies will support the businesses future.

“This is an exciting day for both businesses, particularly as we head into the busiest period of retail trading with Black Friday, Cyber Monday and of course, Christmas shopping,” Mittoni said.

“Toys ‘R’ Us is now one of the fastest growing online retailers in ANZ and we will now look to accelerate that growth in 2021 with further expansion plans, plus the commencement of Babies ‘R’ Us.”

The next stage of Toys ‘R’ Us’ relaunch involves building new physical and digital logistics, as well as innovative, experiential retail stores.

Last year, a Toys ‘R’ Us spokesperson told Inside Retail the business would launch several large-format bricks and mortar stores, followed by a number of smaller footprint ‘retail-lite’ stores.

“All stock is on the floor, there’s no storage space out the back. It’s impulse items under $30 for sale there, and anything over $30 is buy-in-store, ship-to-home,” the spokesperson said.

“[But] every time you open a store, you’ve got to have a very clear mindset to say we’re going to commit five years of rent as a liability on the balance sheet, which will prevent me from using my working capital for other things – buying new products, advertising, employing people. “You have to be very clear as to why you’re going to open stores. They must have an absolute purpose.”