FAO Schwarz returning to Chicago

CHICAGO, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- FAO Schwarz is opening a 4,000-square-foot toy store within Macy's State Street store in Chicago in time for the critical holiday shopping season.

The toy store, planned to open next month, is expected to generate traffic and sales that have been lackluster since Macy's Inc. converted the former Marshall Field's flagship to a Macy's a year ago, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

The Manhattan-based FAO Schwarz had a 30,000-square-foot store on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago until 2003 when a new owner filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and then re-opened stores only in New York and Las Vegas.

FAO Schwarz's 65,000-square-feet Manhattan store reportedly draws 2.5 million shoppers a year.

"If I were Macy's, asking how to drive traffic to our stores around holidays, who better than FAO Schwarz?" asked Steven Platt, director of Platt Retail Institute, a retail industry think tank in Hinsdale, Ill.