Ah, you can delete this.

 

Hasbro on Twitter

 

Well at least it isn’t just a bunch of empty hype like KayBee seems to be...

 

never heard of fao schwarz, but man, that's an awful name for a toy store. it sounds like a stock exchange symbol or an upscale brand of sunglasses.

 

Wow, how times have changed...

It was a while ago now, but once upon a time, FAO Schwarz was THE name in upscale toys.

 

FAO was a great store to walk around in and browse, but there wasn't much as far as action figures and there were scarcely any deals to be found. In fact, everything was at least 25% more expensive than anywhere else. Whenever I visited, I would marvel at the Trojan Horse at the entrance, the employees performing magic tricks for kids and the many colorful end-cap displays, but I never purchased anything. I honestly wondered how they stayed afloat as long as they did.

 

I see their FAO Schwarz is as big as mine!

 

I would argue that my assertion (that they were once THE name for upscale toys) does require going back further in time than that. I certainly don't disagree that they never updated to match the times well, and tended to retain the "upscale" prices even when the toys themselves didn't call for it in their later era.

Who knows what the current incarnation will be like?

 

Well, I will say that the one in Kansas City was where I finally found RiD Stormjet when it looked like he'd never, ever show up anywhere.

Also, they had a nice black edition exclusive Megazord (Lost Galaxy?) that cost an arm and a leg - but it was still cool.

It was also a hot-spot for high-end Barbie collector dolls. My wife was totally in for going just to check that out.