Retail giant Staples Canada continues to expand and scale its unique Kids Learn + Play concept throughout the country.
Since its launch about a year ago, the concept, a curated collection of tools and toys to enhance play-based learning and foster kids’ growth, development and fuel a love of learning inside and outside of the classroom, has grown to about 30 locations right now.
“We’re scaling nationally. By the end of this year, we’ll have probably about 135 locations and it’s exciting for us,” said Rachel Huckle, CEO of Staples.
“We started piloting it last year. We did it in a few stores last year. Then we did it in a market in Ottawa. We did the full market and we learned from the execution of this what was the right product mix, what was the right assortment, what were our customers telling us and we refined it and found what we feel is the best experience and assortment that our customers are looking for.
“So that pilot gave us the confidence to say let’s go full steam ahead . . . Our goal is to do all of our stores in the coming years.”
Huckle said the Kids Learn + Play initiative fits into the Staples’ mission of being the working and learning company.
“The fact that we already serve parents, students, teachers, grandparents, we have the insight, and I think the foresight, to say where we can win is really at the intersection of learning and play. And you need both,” she said.
In talking to consumers, Staples looked through a lens of play-based learning.
Staples Kids Learn + Play is a curated assortment of educational tools and toys focused on enhancing four key skill-sets – fine motor, cognitive problem solving, sensory, discovery and exploration.
“Those are super important as your children develop and we’re looking at the age range of from kindergarten to Grade 6,” added Huckle.
Staples Kids Learn + Play is centered around play-based learning: the process of learning by doing. When kids perform hands-on activities, they actively participate in the learning process and develop key skills such as cognitive, fine motor, sensory, discovery and exploration. Play-based learning fosters their growth, development and helps set them up for success.
Staples has 299 stores across the country.
The retailer has two versions of the Kids Learn + Play areas. The larger version is set up in the centre area of a store. There’s a full table with an area for kids to play, to sit down and engage.
“We’ve created wayfinding and tools so that when parents or grandparents or educators are shopping if they say hey I’d like my child to work on creativity we have the opportunity for them to either go online, scan a QR code and get reference online to help them make that decision or they can look inside on shelf that will help direct them,” said Huckle.
“We also try to put a little bit of information, not too much, to get them understanding why this is important for their child, how they benefit from it and if they want more information they can go online to get that.”
The second version is a smaller one. Everything is the same from a wayfinding, signage, information, navigation and assortment perspective. It’s just narrower with additional outpost displays that they can shop as well.
“As we start to scale this a big part of what we’re doing is we’re giving parents and grandparents the opportunity to bring in their kids to engage with different vendors and partners and ourselves to either be creative, build and learn,” said Huckle.
