The Jumbo This year they have a birthday as they completed forty years from the time (1986) that opened – as Baby Land then – in the basement of Stoa Ariane, Glyfada, the first big game club in Greece. Behind this project were 32-year-old Apostolis Vakakis, who despite his young age knew the game as few in Greece.
Son of George Vakakis, founder of El Greco, the country's most iconic toy industry, had served the object from a game factory director, CEO of the family industry and then as head of Hasbro in Greece to which he had previously sold El Greco.
Eleven years after Jumbo was created, in 1997, the company would pass the threshold of Sophocleus with a number of baths, and consider «Catadia» That kind of thing. «stands» They found a way to import their stock into the Stock Exchange. Several of the megatheria of the then golden era of the Stock Exchange did not withstand the first difficulties, unlike the «pavilion» who survived the very difficult decades that followed.
In 2025 Jumbo closed with sales of 1.23 billion euros, net profits of 320.1m euros, without bank lending and with cash of millions of euros.
What Jumbo now sells
The survival antidote that Jumbo had listens to in the name Apostolis Vakakis who succeeded in always being one step ahead of every difficult occasion. From 100% toy store started by Jumbo and with the total sold being branded managed to turn it into a non food destination where seasonal species and household objects dominate.
It is typical that from 40% that game sales took over in Jumbo's total sales in 2015, last year, ten years later games have been limited to 19% of the total product mix. The king now in the store is the household items with a share of 40% with seasonals following with 24%. It is worth noting that «Quietly» The snack sector (gums, candies, croissants, chocolates, etc.) has been developed before the funds, which contributes 8% to total sales.
Size counts
In Jumbo's forty years of life, the size of the stores changed several times. From the basements and high floors to the malls that were the cheap solution when they started, they moved to larger shops with parking on the outskirts of the cities and even to even larger boxes – mazes. Now management is reported to be considering a new type of store that pop up within shopping malls.
They will be tested initially in Canada where the first store is expected to open in early 2027 by Israeli partners (Fox group) and is then expected to be tested in several of the other markets that Jumbo operates.
Here it is worth mentioning that the group has a presence with the development of its own network in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania, in North Macedonia and Serbia in collaboration with the Vero of Nikos Veropoulos and in 7 other Balkan countries via Balfin which is the largest trading group in Albania.
In the areas that Jumbo operates, size also counts with regard to orders as the larger the size of your orders, the better prices you get from suppliers. In these contexts for the next period beyond expansion in Canada, a few days ago the expansion of Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was announced by the administration through the Albanian partner and Turkey via an electronic store that Jumbo itself will attempt.
