Hamleys of Albania

Growing up in Cornwall, England, William Hamley might have become a tin miner. Or a fisherman. But William had other ideas. He dreamed of opening the best toy shop in the world. In 1760, he did, cramming Noahs Ark with every kind of toy, from rag dolls to tin soldiers. Over the street-sellers calls and horses hooves ringing on the cobbles, you could just make out the delighted cries of children as they approached the window. By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, Hamleys was already a London landmark. Families flocked to Williams Joy Emporium. So successful was the shop that in 1881 a new branch opened in Regent Street. To cope with the publics growing appetite for playthings. Hamleys added a further five floors of toys! We can only imagine the spectacle, as toy theatres, puppets, pedal cars and miniature railway trains jostled for space in the largest toy shop in the world. Hamleys faced hard times in the late 1920s, along with everybody else. In 1931, the pict...