The house of Squishmallows is looking to significantly expand its European business by opening a new office and factory in Bilbao, Spain. 

Jazwares’ first Southern European operation will start serving the Iberian market (Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar) in 2025, joining existing regional facilities in the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands. 

To head up this new outpost, the company has hired Spanish toy industry veteran Santiago Guerra Lopez as managing director of Jazwares Iberia. He’s coming off an 18-year run as EVP of Bilbao-based toyco Bizak, where he managed the regional distribution of toy lines including Cloudco Entertainment’s Care Bears plush, Jakks Pacific’s Super Mario action figures and PhatMojo’s Piggy collectibles. 

Jazwares previously leveraged a multiyear deal with Spanish distributor Toy Partner to roll out its Squishmallows, Star Wars and Pokémon products to retailers in the Iberian region. But as the Florida-based company shifts its focus to Europe for future growth, the plan is to transition to a direct-to-retail supply model, says SVP of Europe Jonny Taylor.