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May 16, 2008 - 11:12AM
Updated: May 16, 2008 - 11:10PM
FAO Schwarz toys with return to Scottsdale
Donna Hogan, Tribune
Scottsdale Fashion Square is poised to get famed toy store FAO Schwarz back, seven years after the then-languishing New York-based retailer closed its flagship local store and others outside New York to save its name and brand.
The downtown Scottsdale mall could get a full-size version of the venerable toy shop inside Macy's as soon as fall.
And other East Valley Macy's locations are expected to get FAO Schwarz-operated toy departments within the next couple of years.
Macy's and FAO Schwarz said Friday they have signed an exclusive agreement for FAO Schwarz to open toy stores in as many as 275 Macy's stores in the fall. All will be operated by FAO Schwarz as a store-within-a-store, said Jim Sluzewski, Macy's spokesman.
Full-size FAO Schwarz shops up to 3,500 square feet will open in approximately 75 Macy's locations, and smaller versions of the toy store will open in an additional 200 department stores this fall, he said.
Eventually all Macy's stores with children's clothing departments will get a version of the toy store, he said.
Macy's expects to complete the rollout to 685 more stores within two years, Sluzewski said.
Scottsdale Fashion Square is on the still-tentative list to get one of the first versions, said a spokeswoman for FAO Schwarz. But the list has not been confirmed, she said.
No other Arizona Macy's stores are on the first-up list - yet. "But I know they are looking at other places," she said.
Macy's will determine within the next couple of months when each store will get the toys, Sluzewski said.
FAO Schwarz closed its Scottsdale Fashion Square store after Christmas season in 2001. An already staggering economy accelerated by the economic impact of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, wreaked havoc on many retailers as shoppers stayed home in droves, fearful of shopping malls and other large gathering places.
KB Toys closed its Fashion Square store in 2004, leaving the massive downtown Scottsdale mall without any regular toy store. Disney Store sells toys, but only its own branded items.
Scottsdale Fashion Square general manager Steve Helm is thrilled that the 146-year-old FAO Schwarz brand is coming back to the mall.
"It's a great name, a great history. It will fill a void at Fashion Square," Helm said.
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