Model Train Journal

33,000 jobs lost.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/03/14/toys-r-us-to-close-all-800-of-its-u-s-stores/

I bought all my earliest Lionel trains at Toys 'R Us.

Crushed by the debt accumulated trying to fight off Walmart and Target. The toy business is a rough proposition. Remember the collapse of Lionel Kiddie City?

Healey

I wonder if F.A.O. Schwarz , which was bought and sold by Toys R Us, at one point in recent history, has managed to rescue itself and relocate .

I understand that FAO Schwartz is back, albeit in less opulent digs

My father worked for Kiddie city. Somewhere around 79-80 a few of the upper brass guys left. They went right to Toys r us. With that switch of management Toy r us knew where to place stores and the did it well. They hit Lionel Leisure pretty hard in their top earning markets. With in a year or two Kiddie was in chapter 11. They tried to regroup and failed so General mills sold them. I had some cool demo toys from when my father worked. Then one day i found eBay and sold them all off.

As a lad I blew every dime I could find on Avalon Hill board games at LKC. The wargame hobby threw me off trains for a very long time.

rex desilets wrote:I understand that FAO Schwartz is back, albeit in less opulent digs

Do you know where, Rex?

From the article:
"We know that customers are willing to pay more for an enjoyable experience — just look at the lines at Starbucks every day"
The worst coffee that I have ever had was from Starbucks; and that includes the coffee served on the U. S. S. Kitty Hawk (CVA-63)!!

rex desilets wrote:I understand that FAO Schwartz is back, albeit in less opulent digs

"Opulent digs" was right, Rex. I never saw such a swank store just for toys. That red granite floor was the best feature of all, as far as I was concerned. And I used to love going to "work" there for Lionel on their layout, starting after closing, at approx. 10pm and working until well into the wee morning hours. The whole experience was a kind of "high" for me. Even my wife gets a kick out of telling people I took care of that layout for them there, on Fifth Avenue, no less.
Murph

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:

rex desilets wrote:I understand that FAO Schwartz is back, albeit in less opulent digs

Do you know where, Rex?

30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Interesting that the official site does not tell you where the store is.

Another sign that Amazon is too big and should be broken up. the other is they paid 0 in tax last year

rex desilets wrote:

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:

rex desilets wrote:I understand that FAO Schwartz is back, albeit in less opulent digs

Do you know where, Rex?

30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Interesting that the official site does not tell you where the store is.

Thank you, Rex.

They’re on 5th ave. Opening was October 24 2017.

robert. wrote:They’re on 5th ave. Opening was October 24 2017.

I wonder if they have the layout from FAO there, or the one from their corporate offices that used to be on Madison Ave, or none, or both..

And considering the location, I wonder how well they did at Christmastime.

I may given you a false statement Murph. Finding reliable news online is tricky. It’s possible FAO moved in October 24 with an opening date of fall 2018. New store will be 19,000 sqf. Down from it’s original 61,000