NYC Tourists Say Goodbye to FAO Schwarz

The flagship store of the nation's oldest toy company is closing its doors in Manhattan. We talked to tourists outside FAO Schwartz on Fifth Avenue to hear their thoughts on the closure. 
 
You might recognize the iconic toy store by the towering wooden soldiers standing guard at the entrance. Or maybe from the legendary piano scene in the 1988 movie "Big." But for Sandy Vogel from Topeka, Kansas, the one thing she'll always remember about the store is the vast collection of life-sized stuffed animals.
 
"They are so unusual and so much fun!" Vogel said. "I just wish I had that pony in there."
 
Vogel is visiting FAO Shwarz with her grandaughter, and isn't the only one who connects the store with family. Tony Kawarsky from Toronto says it reminds him of visits to New York City as a child.
 
"My grandfather brought me here before he passed away, actually," Kawarsky said. "He bought me this wooden toy and I still have it; it's in my room."
 
Whitney Johnson from Lexington, Kentucky says she's disappointed to see FAO Shwarz go, but says she's glad she got to take her young son for a visit before it was too late.
 
"It's such a fun place for kids and the toy soldiers out front are amazing," Johnson says." And it's an icon! You come every Christmas and get something...[the closing] is going to be sad."
 
Toys R Us has owned the store since 2009. The company says its looking for another Manhattan location before next year.
 
 
 
 
 

 

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