Retailer enters new category with permanent toy department next to its Disney section.

NORTH AMERICA- U.S. department store J.C. Penney is opening toy shops in all of its brick-and-mortar locations and offering an expanded assortment of toys online as looks to “differentiate its business.”

The in-store toy shops will be located adjacent to the retailer’s Disney Collection in each store’s children’s department. The shops feature toys for kids of all ages including dolls, action figures, racing cars, arts and crafts, board games, plush and learning sets from leading brands such as Hasbro, Mattel, Playmobil and Fisher-Price.

To further reinforce its commitment to the category, J.C. Penney has also doubled its online assortment of toys over the last year with plans to expand even more by the holiday season.

"J.C. Penney has a nostalgic history of selling sought-after toys in our early Christmas catalogs, so we brought toys back last holiday season to see if they would resonate once again. We were extremely pleased by customer response and confidently made the decision to grow our toy assortment in stores and at JCPenney.com. We know that shoppers buy toys year-round and by creating a fun, inviting toy shop, with some of the biggest brands and hottest products, we will entice families to shop and spend more at J.C. Penney," says John Tighe, EVP and Chief Merchant, J.C. Penney. "Toys are an exciting product category for J.C. Penney and an in-store attraction that will drive traffic and sales as we continue to focus on increasing revenue per customer."