The rise of the kidult helped boost UK toy sales during the coronavirus lockdown, with Lego the latest business to benefit from parents joining their children on the playmat while pubs, cinemas and playgrounds were closed. Despite hundreds of stores being shut during the pandemic Lego remains on track to open 120 new shops this year. The Danish toy firm said bricks-and-mortar stores had a solid future, despite the drop in footfall on high streets and social distancing restrictions in shops. "When our stores have reopened after lockdown, there have been queues," boss Niels Christiansen said."We give people the brand experience in our shops which we can't do outside." It comes as the toy firm announced revenues of DKK 15.7bn (£1.8bn) for the first half of the year, up 7%, while operating profit grew by 11%. The company currently has 612 stores across the globe, with 14 in the UK. Of the new stores it is opening, 46 were launched in the first half of the year. Overall, 80 of them will be based in China. Alongside its store openings, the firm said e-commerce remained vital to the business, with visits to its website doubling to 100 million in the first half of 2020.
