Child World (fictional)

Child World, Inc. is an American chain of toy stores founded by Sid Shneider and Joseph Arnesano in in 1962. The chain is currently headquartered in. Child World, Inc. also operates stores under the name Children's Palace, the name of a chain of stores the company acquired from Kobacker Stores in 1977, as well as infant supply stores under the name Baby World, party goods stores under the name Party World, children's clothing stores under the name Kiddie Kloset, educational toy store/bookstores under the name Oliver Owl, and outlet stores under the Child World Outlet, Baby World Outlet, and Kiddie Kloset Outlet names.

The Child World and Children's Palace brands for the company's toy stores generally serve different geographic areas, with the Child World name used mainly in the Northeast as well as Ohio and California, and the Children's Palace name used mainly in the Midwest and South as well as Maryland and Pennsylvania, although the two brands have overlap in some areas.

History
In 1990, Child World, Inc. launched a children's clothing store chain called Kiddie Kloset.

On August 2, 1992, Child World was purchased from Avon by, a. Doyon would bring Child World out of bankruptcy as part of a plan that included installing former executive Abraham Neeman as the new CEO.

In 1997, Child World, Inc. launched the Party World chain to compete with Party City.

In 2000, Child World, Inc. launched the Baby World store concept to rival Toys "R" Us' Babies "R" Us chain and Buy Buy Baby. In 2001, it purchased the Oliver Owl chain of educational toy stores.

In 2005, Child World, Inc. entered a partnership with Build-A-Bear Workshop to include Build-A-Bear Workshop shop-in-shops at select Child World/Children's Palace stores as well as exclusive Build-A-Bear merchandise like Peter Panda and Oliver Owl plush toys.

In 2009, Doyon filed to sell Child World, Inc. - including the Child World, Children's Palace, Baby World, Party World, Oliver Owl and Kiddie Kloset brands - to for $10.2 million. The deal was finalized nearly two years later, on August 31, 2011, the proceeds from the sale were donated to Alaska Native and Native American youth organizations.

In 2015, Tompkins Toys, a UK-based toy retailer, purchased Child World, Inc. from Apollo for an estimated US$15 million. Play: The Game Store shuttered all of their stores.

In 2018, after longtime competitor Toys "R" Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed all of its U.S. stores, Child World, Inc. purchased a number of former Toys "R" Us and/or Babies "R" Us locations and converted them into Child World/Children's Palace and/or Baby World locations, opening most of them during the 2018 holiday season. The purchased ex-TRU properties included a number of former Toys "R" Us and/or Babies "R" Us locations in major retail areas on the East coast, as well as several locations in California and all three of Toys "R" Us' locations in Taiguaye.

Store chains

 * Child World/Children's Palace (established in 1962)
 * Baby World (established in 2000)
 * Kiddie Kloset (established in 1990)
 * Oliver Owl - children's educational toy and bookstore chain (acquired in 2001)
 * Party World (established in the 1997) - party goods store chain
 * Play: The Game Store by Child World (established in 1987; closed in 2015)