THE WORLD’S largest toy retailer, Toys ‘R’ Us, has opened its first “pop-up” store in Dublin.

The outlet at WestEnd Shopping Park in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, is the first of six temporary stores planned for the Dublin area over the coming months.

The arrival of the American giant is likely to cause some concern to the Irish company Smyths Toys which has been the dominant trader in the market for over 20 years. It has 20 stores in the Republic, six of them in the Dublin area.

Here it will meet most competition from Toys ‘R’ Us once it opens two large stores of around 3,716sq m (40,000sq ft) in the north and south of the city.

One of them is likely to be located between Airside and Blanchardstown on the northside while the other is planned for the area between Carrickmines and Cherrywood.

The company has appointed Colliers International to find two sites of up to two acres to accommodate the showroom and around 300 car parking spaces.

The WestEnd store, formerly occupied by fashion retailer Esprit, has a floor area of around 743sq m (8,000sq ft).

Aidan Grimes of Colliers said Toys ‘R’ Us would use the new store to dip its toe into the Irish market. “WestEnd is an interesting destination in which to start trading.” The Dublin shop will be serviced from the group’s store at Sprucefield shopping centre in Belfast.

Toys ‘R’ Us is a major retail conglomerate in the United States with 840 stores including one in New York’s Times Square which is the largest toy store in the world.

The company has 716 outlets in 34 other countries.