Paddington Bear at Paddington Station

There is a Paddington Bear stand on the ground floor, at the extreme right platform (on the way to Hammersmith & City tube station or the taxi stand) and there is a full fledged shop on the first floor above Sainsburys, near the Hilton Hotel.
This review is for the full fledged shop on the first floor.
There is a huge variety of merchandise to choose from at this shop from stuffed bears to chocolates, key chains, magnets, Paddington bear jackets in blue and red for kids and of course the whole collection of the books.
The first time I stopped here, I picked up some of the books as a gift for a friends 2 year old, but when the kid asked me to read out the book to him, I realised it was meant for a much older child. The Level of English was not something a toddler would understand, I found myself struggling to paraphrase every sentence (that was the first & last time I have bought a book for a child in a hurry without reading it myself first — it was my first week in London and I had wanted to take a gift to my friends house when they invited me over for dinner & this store was convenient)
The reason I explain that here, is so that you learn from my mistake. There are different kinds of books. The fully illustrated ones are OK for younger children, but the ones that are mostly prose would be appropriate only for an older child even though the subject matter seems more appropriate for a younger one. Read the book, before you buy it, don’t get carried away by just the pictures!
The stuffed toys are a great present for the kids, especially if they have watched the movie and it’s a fun store to visit.

They’ve come a long way from the quaint little stand. A lot of history and a movie will do that for you. Almost always make a stop here while in London to pick up some gifts for my little nieces and nephews. I want to pass the magic of Paddington on to them :-)

Quaint little store at the Paddington Station. I was expecting to see a giant Paddington Bear but alas he wasn’t there. There is a large sketch of him outside. I think it would’ve been cool to see him along the Paddington Trail since it’s gaining popularity due to the new movie.
There are a lot of souvenir items of all shapes and sizes to choose from for all age groups.
I purchased a couple of tiny items to bring back to the States to show off to my friends because I love Paddington Bear.
Movie clips were playing for the new film that’s coming out this holiday season which was cool to see. I didn’t know it was live action.
The store carries Paddington in different sizes wearing his red or blue coat and boots.
It’s a cute place to stop for the novelty if you’re a fan. And since that’s the station’s name it’s pretty easy to find!

This is an awesome shop for anyone who has ever read or enjoyed the Paddington books. I adored these books as a child, and was happy to see that there actually a few new ones that came out just a few years ago (2008 – 2012). The shop obviously has every Paddington book, including special coloured picture editions for much younger children; the only thing they’re lacking are board books, which I would have liked to buy for my toddler niece. They also have all kinds of Paddington Bear merchandise, including clothing, pillows, cups, notebooks, magnets … you name it! I particularly liked the «spineless book» which is an entire Paddington book’s text in a poster, and the text is shaped to look like Paddington Bear (see photo I posted). I also noticed bracelets which are «imported from Darkest Peru» — a really cool souvenir idea.