The holiday-season lineup is being enhanced by Toys R Us Inc. with hundreds of new toy shops, as Christmas approaches nearer. Under its plan of expansion, the company will open up 80 pop-up stores in shopping centers and 260 toy shops in the existing Babies R Us stores.

The toy giant might also today announce its plans to open about 350 Holiday Express toy locations throughout the country by early October. The move comes as the latest effort on the part of the company to drive sales and grab market share from other toy sellers.

It has appeared that over 80 pop-up stores in shopping centers nationwide, and more than 260 toy shops within the company's Babies R Us stores, would all be included in the expansion. As of now, 847 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores in the U. S. are operated by the Wayne, N. J., retailer.

"Pop-up stores are temporary locations that are usually tied to a specific event, such as Halloween or the back-to-school season, and close after a few weeks or months.

They have become more popular lately as prime retail spaces sit vacant during the recession," explained Chief Executive Jerry Storch, who added, " We're aggressively expanding our toy-selling footprint to make Toys R Us more accessible than ever for busy shoppers this holiday season. The foot traffic in these popular shopping destinations provides a considerable opportunity to assert our toy authority position, increase our brand penetration and drive incremental sales."

It is expected that the shops would close in mid-January.