End of an era as Barry toy shop closes its doors

Glamorgan Star news 28/04/2022

3 minutes read

Roys Toys shop in Barry has closed its doors for the final time — RoysToys shop in Barry has closed its doors for the final time.

End of an era as Barry toy shop closes its doors

By MARCUS STEAD

The iconic Roys Toys shop in Barry has closed its doors for the final time after 40 years of trading.

The store, on Main Street, Cadoxton, was established in 1982 by Roy Williams, and since his death in 1997, it has been run by his daughter, Carol Brown.

Roys Toys originally opened on Main Street, but then moved to bigger premises nearby, before Carol downsized and returned the shop to the street where it all began.

Carol Brown with her late father Roy Williams who died in 1997.

Carol decided that it was time to retire due to a combination of events during the last few years.

A gradual shift towards consumers purchasing toys online has been taking place for more than two decades, but the pandemic accelerated the pace of change.

In recent years, Carol had been assisted by her husband Kevin, who helped her run the shop when he retired from his job as a council worker, and following his death in September last year, she decided the time was right to cease trading.

Speaking shortly after the shop closed its doors for good on the afternoon of 5th April, Carol reflected on what the shop had meant to her and the community: “My father, Roy Williams, worked for BP, and he had his ‘golden handshake’, then he decided to open a toy shop.

“We moved a couple of times, we expanded to bigger premises on Church Road, and I’m fairly sure we were the biggest toy shop in Barry at one point.

“It was a really busy shop, especially in the 1980s. We ran Christmas clubs and toy parties, they were wonderful days and the memories will always stay with me.

“My father and I used to travel to toy exhibitions in places like Bath, Swansea and north Wales. You wouldn’t believe the volume of orders we used to get.

“People would say ‘when are you putting your Christmas stock out?’ and there was no such thing as online shopping in those days. Everybody wanted to see what toys you had and they would choose them for their children,” she said.

Carol believes that being embedded in the community was a vital part of the shop’s success: “We got to know the customers and we would recommend toys which we thought their children would like. Our Christmas Ccub had more than 500 members – they were great times,” she said.

Many toy fads came and went during the 40 years the shop traded, and but one particular era stands out for Carol: “We were one of the biggest stockists of Star Wars toys and memorabilia when it was at the height of its popularity.

“At the time, my father was in the process of buying bigger premises, and unfortunately that fell through.

“We’d already booked Darth Vader to come and open the new shop, so rather than disappoint everybody, the local community centre stepped in and allowed us to host the event there, and there were hundreds of people queuing to see him,” she said.

In the years when Roy ran the shop, he would frequently be seen around Barry on Christmas Day wearing a Santa Claus outfit delivering mountain bikes and other toys to local children.

The community ethos of the shop continued to be integral when Carol took over: “After my father passed away in 1997, I took over the business and moved it to smaller premises, and I’ve had some great times working alongside my husband Kevin in the years after that,” she said.

The festive season continued to be a special time during the years Carol ran the shop with her husband, and they had a friendly rivalry with the Dan Evans department store to see who could sell the most Scout Christmas stamps: “The rivalry between us when it came to Scout stamps was tremendous fun, especially for my husband, who got really involved with it. We were minnows compared to them in terms of size, but we’d sell thousands of stamps,” she said.

Looking to the future, Carol plans on selling the building, along with her property above the shop where she currently lives, and she will move in to a small retirement home in the area.