With Christmas shopping going full steam ahead and parents and relatives scrambling to find the items on their young loved ones’ wish lists, the children’s toy market can seem like a licence to print money.

But the well-known family-owned toy chain BR is struggling so much with competition from other retailers that the Gjorup family, now in its third generation of ownership, has decided to sell a share of its concern, Jyllands-Posten reports.

The competition comes especially from webshops and supermarkets. Peter Gjørup, the head of Top-Toy, the parent company of BR, explained to Jyllands-Posten that in order to succeed in the future, the company would have to extend its reach beyond the Nordic market. “In order to be successful in the long run, more is needed,” he said.

“We might need to become a big player in Europe. We certainly have some very large competitors outside of the Nordic countries and we need to do something about that.”

Family to stay involved
Jyllands-Posten reports that several capital equity funds have expressed an interest in the chain, which is estimated to be worth between two and three billion kroner.

However, Gjorup told the newspaper that the family does not want to sell the company in its entirety.

“We are very clear that the family won’t let go of the whole company and sell all of the shares,” he explained.

“The family involvement is the lifeblood of the company. We will definitely be involved in the future, but it will be together with a partner.”