Beyond Games and Hobby officially opens in Bunbury CBD as part of co-location with iconic Toyworld store

The start of a new era has begun at an iconic Victoria Street storefront. Beyond Games and Hobby had its official opening in their new Bunbury CBD store on Saturday, which sees it now co-located with Toyworld. Owner Matt Denham and staff were kept busy during the day, with dozens of community members coming in to see the activities and gaming range on offer. “We had a queue outside the door at opening,” Mr Denham said. The official opening has been months in the making, with Beyond taking over control of the Bunbury Toyworld store in July. Since then, it has undertaken major works which have seen the heritage toy store retained while integrating Beyond’s existing business as a hub for game enthusiasts in the city, including the transformation of a storage space into gaming rooms for customers. Mr Denham said the purchase came about because of difficulty trying to get a hold of plastic glue for their former Homemaker Centre location. “I came in and as it happened, (former owners) Rick and Harvey (Baker) were really friendly and really helpful,” he said. “They sold me a whole case of plastic glue, which is great, and we got talking because I knew the business was for sale and one thing led to another. “They showed me around and before I knew it, we were putting an offer in on the business.” The official launch of the revamped store comes ahead of the Christmas period — a busy time of year for toy retailers. Beyond has employed the equivalent of two extra full-time employees as part of their expansion, with Mr Denham stating the business offers something new, interesting and dynamic to the Bunbury CBD. “I genuinely think we are a real asset to the CBD and personally, I love Bunbury’s CBD,” he said. “I used to work at Cafe 140 years ago and I never enjoyed a job more than when I could see the town in the day. “I think we’ve got an incredible place to live and I want to consolidate some kind of positivity into the CBD, and I think that’s probably what a lot of people would like to hear as well.”