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.