The article states they will re-open in the summer, under new management. They'll be offering high end toys unavailable in other toy stores (re: back to FAO's roots).
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Trains Come to Halt as Toy Store Locks Doors
January 27, 2004
By SHERRI DAY
They pushed at doors that refused to budge. They peeked through windows to see the fantastic toys and model railroad, but all they could make out were empty shelves
and a cleaning crew. Much to the dismay of scores of tourists, parents and children, the owners of F. A. O. Schwarz locked up their flagship store on Fifth Avenue yesterday, leaving only a neatly typed note taped to the once revolving glass doors.
"F. A. O. Schwarz is closed," the note said. "Thank you for your patronage." The note urged customers to return in the summer, when the upscale toy store is expected to reopen under new ownership.
"How can you come to New York without seeing F. A. O. Schwarz?" asked Sari Sonshine, who had come from Toronto with her daughter Emily, 12, and Emily's friend Gillian Singer. The two girls settled for having their picture taken as they posed on the giant metal bear that sits sentry outside the store entrance.
The closing did not come as a complete surprise. The retailer's parent company, FAO Inc., has suffered a long decline, largely at the hands of discount toy retailers like Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us. Unable to stir enough interest in its often pricey signature toys, like oversized stuffed animals, collector's dolls and electric trains, the company filed for bankruptcy protection a year ago. It emerged in April, but re-entered bankruptcy protection in December.
Since then, the retailer has liquidated its merchandise, selling everything from baby strollers to Barbie dolls at as much as 95 percent off the original prices. The company also put many of its assets, including the Manhattan store, on the auction block last week. A judge approved the sale, valued at $41 million, yesterday afternoon, clearing the way for a reopening.
But yesterday at the Manhattan store, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, shoppers were disappointed that the closing had come so quickly.
"I heard about the whole bankruptcy thing, but I didn't know it was closed," said Yvette Andrews, a data manager from Flatbush, who came in search of rock-bottom prices. She walked away disappointed that she had arrived a day too late.
Sergio Puente's initial reaction to the closing was too explicit to be printed in this newspaper. "Excuse my language," Mr. Puente, an advertising salesman from Bay Ridge, said as he peered into the store. "I thought they were going to save it. It's terrible. I can't believe it."
For others, the pilgrimage to F. A. O. Schwarz was meant to fulfill a rite of passage observed by generations of children.
"We came to see F. A. O. Schwarz before they closed," said Michael Zachariash, an engineer from Los Angeles who brought his 7-year-old granddaughter, Miriam Kamara. "She's never seen it, and I was afraid she'll never see it. If they reopen in the summer, we'll try again."
But even as would-be shoppers walked away expressing shock and disappointment, F. A. O. Schwarz was taking its first steps back to vitality. A judge in the United States
Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved the sale of the Schwarz stores in New York and Las Vegas to VGACS Acquisition Inc., a unit of D. E. Shaw & Company in New
York, for $41 million. The company, which outbid two competitors, had initially bid $20 million.
Officials at D. E. Shaw said yesterday that they intended to renovate the stores and return their focus to the sale of "distinctive, high-end specialty toys" that cannot be
found at mass retail stores. The stores are expected to reopen in four to six months, the company said, under the F. A. O. Schwarz name.
"We're going to keep some of the landmarks like the bear and the clock," said Max Holmes, a managing director at D. E. Shaw. "The rest of it, we'll just have to wait and see. It's going to be fun." Mr. Holmes said his company also planned to retain other iconic fixtures, like the giant piano keyboard that Tom Hanks danced atop in the 1988 movie "Big."
But for some shoppers outside the Manhattan store yesterday, progress was too slow.
"We were coming here as a reward for good cooperation on Sunday," said Joyce McCormack, as she peeled her 4-year-old son away from the door. "I promised him, and there's disappointment, but that's O.K. We'll just go to Toys "R" Us and look at the dinosaurs."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/nyregion...b10e7e48953bca2
----
Trains Come to Halt as Toy Store Locks Doors
January 27, 2004
By SHERRI DAY
They pushed at doors that refused to budge. They peeked through windows to see the fantastic toys and model railroad, but all they could make out were empty shelves
and a cleaning crew. Much to the dismay of scores of tourists, parents and children, the owners of F. A. O. Schwarz locked up their flagship store on Fifth Avenue yesterday, leaving only a neatly typed note taped to the once revolving glass doors.
"F. A. O. Schwarz is closed," the note said. "Thank you for your patronage." The note urged customers to return in the summer, when the upscale toy store is expected to reopen under new ownership.
"How can you come to New York without seeing F. A. O. Schwarz?" asked Sari Sonshine, who had come from Toronto with her daughter Emily, 12, and Emily's friend Gillian Singer. The two girls settled for having their picture taken as they posed on the giant metal bear that sits sentry outside the store entrance.
The closing did not come as a complete surprise. The retailer's parent company, FAO Inc., has suffered a long decline, largely at the hands of discount toy retailers like Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us. Unable to stir enough interest in its often pricey signature toys, like oversized stuffed animals, collector's dolls and electric trains, the company filed for bankruptcy protection a year ago. It emerged in April, but re-entered bankruptcy protection in December.
Since then, the retailer has liquidated its merchandise, selling everything from baby strollers to Barbie dolls at as much as 95 percent off the original prices. The company also put many of its assets, including the Manhattan store, on the auction block last week. A judge approved the sale, valued at $41 million, yesterday afternoon, clearing the way for a reopening.
But yesterday at the Manhattan store, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, shoppers were disappointed that the closing had come so quickly.
"I heard about the whole bankruptcy thing, but I didn't know it was closed," said Yvette Andrews, a data manager from Flatbush, who came in search of rock-bottom prices. She walked away disappointed that she had arrived a day too late.
Sergio Puente's initial reaction to the closing was too explicit to be printed in this newspaper. "Excuse my language," Mr. Puente, an advertising salesman from Bay Ridge, said as he peered into the store. "I thought they were going to save it. It's terrible. I can't believe it."
For others, the pilgrimage to F. A. O. Schwarz was meant to fulfill a rite of passage observed by generations of children.
"We came to see F. A. O. Schwarz before they closed," said Michael Zachariash, an engineer from Los Angeles who brought his 7-year-old granddaughter, Miriam Kamara. "She's never seen it, and I was afraid she'll never see it. If they reopen in the summer, we'll try again."
But even as would-be shoppers walked away expressing shock and disappointment, F. A. O. Schwarz was taking its first steps back to vitality. A judge in the United States
Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved the sale of the Schwarz stores in New York and Las Vegas to VGACS Acquisition Inc., a unit of D. E. Shaw & Company in New
York, for $41 million. The company, which outbid two competitors, had initially bid $20 million.
Officials at D. E. Shaw said yesterday that they intended to renovate the stores and return their focus to the sale of "distinctive, high-end specialty toys" that cannot be
found at mass retail stores. The stores are expected to reopen in four to six months, the company said, under the F. A. O. Schwarz name.
"We're going to keep some of the landmarks like the bear and the clock," said Max Holmes, a managing director at D. E. Shaw. "The rest of it, we'll just have to wait and see. It's going to be fun." Mr. Holmes said his company also planned to retain other iconic fixtures, like the giant piano keyboard that Tom Hanks danced atop in the 1988 movie "Big."
But for some shoppers outside the Manhattan store yesterday, progress was too slow.
"We were coming here as a reward for good cooperation on Sunday," said Joyce McCormack, as she peeled her 4-year-old son away from the door. "I promised him, and there's disappointment, but that's O.K. We'll just go to Toys "R" Us and look at the dinosaurs."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/nyregion...b10e7e48953bca2