New toy shop for Bognor Regis

Christmas will be coming early for children when one of Bognor Regis's oldest retail names arrives back in the town after a 28-year absence.

The famous Goodacres toy shop will be gracing the high street once again thanks to Pauline Ringer and her husband Roy who have just signed a lease for a property opposite Macaris cafe on London Road.

Goodacres has been owned by Mrs Ringer's family for more than 65 years, starting out in Bognor Regis during the early part of the 20th century on Bognor seafront, then moving further in to town.

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The branch closed in about 1982 because rents had become too high to make the business viable.

Mr and Mrs Ringer currently run a branch in Horsham, but said they had been looking to come back to Bognor once the right opportunity arose.

They said since posters went up in the window there had been much excitement about the impending arrival of the business.

Mrs Ringer said: "I've always been interested in coming back here, one because I live here and also because of the family ties, and friends have often said we should open up here again.

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"After Gamleys left and Woolworths went, there has been nowhere else in the town where you can buy toys, and having grandchildren myself I realised there wasn't anywhere. I thought it was about time we came back to Bognor before it's too late."

Mrs Ringer's grandparents, Lavinia and Reginald George Goodacre, opened the shop next to Macaris in the 1960s. After the couple died, Mrs Ringer's mother and father, Jeanne and Ricky Allen took on the business.

And in keeping with family tradition, Mrs Ringer's daughter Lisa Strudwick, who helped run the Horsham branch before having her children, will take up the role of manager of the Bognor branch.

"We are really excited," said Mrs Strudwick, who lives in Bersted. "I used to work at the Horsham shop, but have been looking for something for about a year, to fit in with the children.

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"My daughter calls this 'Mummy's shop' and the Horsham one 'Granny's Shop. The place is so friendly and the shop is definitely in a good position."

In its heyday the Bognor shop was graced by royalty. When Mrs Ringer was looking through her family's scrapbook she found a letter to her grandparents, written in 1929, by Queen Elizabeth's (later the Queen Mother) lady in waiting.

She was writing to Mr and Mrs Goodacre to thank them for helping to purchase a sandpit for the Queen and enclosed two shillings and sixpence in payment.

Mrs Ringer said there was a real buzz about the opening. "We've had quite a few people walking past who have seen the name and remembered it, and said they used to work for Goodacres over the years.

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"There was also one lady who said she worked for my grandmother; she started work when she was 14 and now she's 77, and the shop is coming back to the town.

"A lot of people have said how lovely it is to be back in town. I wasn't aware of how strong the town felt about it, so I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone's been very friendly and we have some good reactions and I have to say I feel very optimistic."

The shop will sell a traditional range of toys and games and Mrs Ringer said the aim was to open during the half-term week, and hold a family fun day with prizes and children's activities.

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