I'm glad it went out in Kansas City on the Plaza...it made room for the new Apple Store...

The NY store isn't closing...

gorickey knows about toys.
That explains a lot...

-t

A robot is a toy...hence, this bot enjoying toys...

And I always assumed gorickey is an industrial strength bot, not just a toy.
Well, you never stop learning.



-t

Dude; is that one of the old Verbots? I remember those.

Yeah, seems like gorickey is really old...

Well, the newer models are already creeping around.
But they don't match up to the original though

-t

Michigan Ave. in Chicago's FAO Schwartz left a couple years ago... blew me away really. Isn't FAO one of the most exciting places for a child, especially during Xmas or the like.

My wife said it had a lot to do with Wal-Mart and these other chains pushing prices so low and having huge inventories of it. T'is sad...

The FAO Schwartz closed here in Boston. They still haven't decided what they are going to do about the bear statue.

Walmart is very unfortunate, but a life saver for low income families.

It is closed in Dallas.

Doesn't sound good to me.
----------------
December 3, 2003

FAO Inc. to file for bankruptcy protection

FAO Inc. announced Tuesday that it expects to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy later this week. The company said that the purpose of the filing was to allow it to sell its FAO Schwarz and The Right Start businesses and assets and to liquidate its Zany Brainy business in an orderly manner.

In August, FAO executives announced it had completed the first round of boutique installations in Saks Inc.'s Department Store Group stores, including two boutiques at the Boston Store in Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa and one at the Boston Store in the Shops of the Grand Avenue in downtown Milwaukee.

FAO and Saks announced an agreement in February in which FAO would install "store-in-a-store" boutiques utilizing its FAO Schwarz, Zany Brainy, Right Start, and FAO Schweetz brands in Saks Department Store Group, which includes stores run by Carson Pirie Scott & Co. in Milwaukee.

In its brankurptcy filing, Schwartz disclosed that it had engaged liquidators to sell inventory of all three of its brands pending the outcome of its efforts to find buyers for the FAO Schwarz and The Right Start businesses and close a transaction by Dec. 15th. If the deadline was not met, the company could be required to accelerate the liquidation of those two businesses and sell remaining assets. Capital Strategies Group Inc., FAO's investment banking consultant, will overseas any acquisition offers.

The company stated that customers and store employees should not see any significant difference in operations at its stores as a result of the filing through the time its wind-down is completed early next year.

The company stated that, based on its recent efforts to sell all or a portion of its business during November, it did not expect any recovery would be available to its common stockholders and that it was taking steps immediately to delist its common stock from Nasdaq.
-------------

This is an older article, but they've filed twice in one year, and a cursory search shows lots of negative feedback on their survival.

May Da Schwartz be with you!

The FAO in West Palm Beach was one of the anchor stores of the new City Place downtown redevelopment, but it has also closed.

Kind of a shame, it was a cool store.

oops! Double Post!

My kids used to love that store. (We had one VERY close to my house.) It was a treat for them to go in, play with a few things, and occasionally (if they were good) buy one of the overpriced items. <GRIN>

One day we went in and my daughter was sitting in some truck that was in the store. Apparently one of the sales folks sold it a few minutes before.

This is how I imagine the sales-drone's mental process that day:
Let's see? How can we handle this situation: A small (2 or 3 at the time) girl is sitting in this thing we just sold. I could use my brain, be nice and ask her to look at something else? Or ... no ... I could be a moron and start screaming at the little girl to get the heck out of that toy!

Well, he chose the later and caused my daughter to cry for doing absolutely nothing wrong. (I think he even used an obsentity, but I can't be certain.) I know that I heard his raised voice, I looked over, saw my pregnant (at the time) wife's face in shock and my daughter break out into tears.

I calmly walked the two of them (wife & daughter) out of the store. I then went back in.

I asked the sales drone if I could have a moment of his time. He said "I'm busy". I said "I'd like to talk to you in private". He said "no".

So ... I said fine, I'll say what I have to say in front of all of these customers. I then laced into him ten ways to Sunday and made him wish he took me up on the private meeting. Fortunately the manager overheard this and called the employee into a private meeting with HIM.

I left.

That particular store went out of business 6 months later. (No wonder with the way they were conducting business.) My daughter (to this day) has never had the desire to go back into an FAO Schwartz store. Bummer ... they were fun. (I liked the tree!)

Went out of business in San Francisco a while ago too. Toys R Us is also in trouble these days, thanks to Target and Wal-Mart.

Actually that should be thanks to the consumer who purchases stuff at Target and Walmart instead of Toys R Us.

If the consumer didn't make the decision to buy the product then Target and Walmart would stop selling the product.

Interesting, but I don't think blaming the customer is going to get TRU out of trouble. I mean, if consumers would just stop buying Wintel PCs, Apple would be doing great!

I work right near there, I can see the giant bear there from the office window. I think they would be a great location for an apple store. Considering that the green line doesn't go to lechemere anymore, its annoying the get to the mall because you have to get off and take the bus.

Not really. Wal-Mart significantly lowers wages for unskilled workers in areas where they take over, so the poorest people become even poorer.

tooki

Word.

Uh, reality check: I am the resident robot.

Actually Wal-Mart usually pays higher than most minimum wage jobs. Which most unskilled worker gets. Not to mention the medical benefits most places don't offer.

Sing it with me:

Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world of toys
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world of toys
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world of toys
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world of toys
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world of toys
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world of toys
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world of toys
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world of toys

Ah, but do you remember 2XL?



And the even older Alphie?

And that's exactly what the problem was. FAO ignored trends and charged far more than anyone else - including Toys 'R' Us and the mall stores.

Not to mention that many of its stores were located in extremely high rent areas.

It wasn't competition that killed off FAO Schwarz (correct spelling), it was bad management and marketing.

yeah, good point...

also true, like those elderly people at the door that greet you, although i find it hard to believe those people get benefits.