From being a stand-in for Darth Vader, a wobbly sales floor to getting Santa his very own rocket, LeisureWorld owner David Crowe has a fascinating story to tell about Belfast's much-missed toy emporium
The owner of an iconic Belfast toy shop has opened up on the honour of being able to run "the city's answer to Hamley's."
"So all of a sudden, we had this building on Queen Street sitting there not doing a great deal," David explained to Belfast Live. Starting off as a small family-run business, the shop soon began to grow in size, going from around 4,000 sq ft to 24,000 sq ft. But they had a "major issue" at that time, due to the shop's previous life as a dance hall.
An important part of the job for David and the team at Leisureworld was to always focus on the shopping experience, not simply picking up a box and buying, but letting kids have a look and play. "Darth Vader is about 7ft tall, so when you're inside the suit, you're looking out through a little mesh around his chest height. You have the sound generator to make all his noises, and you would walk around the shop in this very heavy suit. I did that and also dressed up as Ken for Barbie, she was a model who arrived in a convertible pink Volkswagen."
But the big show in town every year was Christmas and the run-up. David said they would typically do half a year's business in the six week run up, which could be chaotic, but it led to many happy memories. "Another great thing we did was we ran a Christmas club, where you could come in and select items off the shelf throughout the year, you would pay it off weekly or monthly, and we would keep them in black bin bags with a number on them and store them. In all the years we did it, I don't think we lost or screwed up any presents, which still amazes me.
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