The rent is too high to keep your childhood alive. Toys R Us, which owns FAO Schwarz, said Friday that it will close the iconic FAO Schwarz store in Manhattan this summer.
The store, located on Fifth Avenue across from the Plaza Hotel, will close on July 15 because of rising rent.
“The decision to vacate the space is due to the continuing rising costs of operating a retail location on Fifth Avenue in New York City,” Toys R Us said in a statement, reports NBC New York. Still, the company is “committed to the FAO Schwarz brand and growing its legacy."
That’s probably why Toys R Us said that it will search for another location to keep the FAO Schwarz name alive. A source told Bloomberg that Toys R Us hopes to have a new outlet opened by late 2016.
In the meantime, Toys R Us is going to try to put as many of the FAO Schwarz employees to work in other Toys R Us or Babies R Us locations in the area.
FAO Schwarz opened in 1862 and was bought by Toys R Us in 2009. The location was also where the famous scene in Big was filmed, with Tom Hanks playing on the floor piano.
logo from FAOSchwarz.com