FAO Schwarz has a second site in New York and more Nordstrom tie-ups planned.
Jack Koto Nordstrom
For more than a century, no visit to New York at Christmas felt complete without stepping inside FAO Schwarz.
It was the toy store where generations of children wandered beneath towering stuffed animals, watched toy soldiers perform and, thanks to the 1988 Tom Hanks film Big, dreamed of dancing across a giant piano keyboard.
Now the iconic retailer has opened its second Manhattan location, inside Nordstrom’s flagship store on West 57th Street, marking the first time in more than a century that the brand has operated two New York City stores simultaneously.
The opening also represents a much broader strategic partnership that will see FAO Schwarz products sold through Nordstrom’s website and eventually rolled out across the department store chain nationwide.
“Nordstrom is a perfect partner for FAO Schwarz, with its long tradition of beautiful stores, unique and quality products, and its commitment to the best in customer service,” David Niggli, chief merchandising officer at FAO Schwarz said of the initiative.
FAO Schwarz Nordstrom New York
At the new location, visitors are greeted by the familiar toy soldiers, oversized plush animals and the famous dance-on piano immortalized by Big. Interactive stations allow customers to personalize handbags, create custom makeup kits, adopt dolls complete with birth certificates and customize Brio train sets.
The partnership also arrives at an important moment for Nordstrom. After being taken private in a deal led by the Nordstrom family and Mexican retailer El Puerto de Liverpool at the end of 2024, the company has greater freedom to invest in long-term strategies without the pressure of quarterly updates.
Expanding children’s merchandise through one of retail’s most recognizable brands provides another potential reason for families to visit its stores rather than competing department stores or online marketplaces.
For FAO Schwarz, meanwhile, the agreement represents another step in its revival.
Founded by German immigrant Frederick August Otto Schwarz in Baltimore in 1862, the company moved to New York in 1870 and rapidly established itself. By the late 19th-century it was already advertizing itself as New York’s ‘Original Santa Claus Headquarters,’ publishing lavish Christmas catalogs that became holiday fixtures for affluent American families.
The flagship Manhattan concession sees FAO Schwarz with two New York locations.
Jack Koto Nordstrom
Its most famous home arrived in 1931, when the retailer moved to Fifth Avenue. That flagship became one of New York’s defining retail landmarks, attracting hordes of tourists and earning appearances in films including Big, Home Alone 2, Baby Boom and Annie. The piano scene featuring Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia became one of cinema’s most recognizable retail moments, permanently linking FAO Schwarz with New York in popular culture.
But this did not protect the business from changing economics. Rising Fifth Avenue rents, increased competition and a succession of ownership changes led to repeated bankruptcies during the early 2000s. After periods under Right Start and later Toys “R” Us ownership, the famous Fifth Avenue flagship finally closed in 2015.
FAO Schwarz Returns Online And In-Store
The turnaround began after brand management company ThreeSixty Group acquired FAO Schwarz in 2016.
Rather than attempting to recreate the enormous Fifth Avenue flagship, the company repositioned FAO Schwarz around curated locations, licensing partnerships and a new Rockefeller Center flagship opened in 2018, deliberately emphasizing demonstrations, exclusive merchandise and interactive play. The strategy has since expanded internationally with shop-in-shops in London, Dublin, Paris, Milan and Beijing, plus selective partnerships.
FAO Schwarz had previously partnered with Target to create branded toy departments beginning in 2022, helping introduce the retailer to younger families that may never have visited one of its flagships. While the future of that arrangement has not been fully detailed following the Nordstrom announcement, for the latter the attraction is equally clear.
The nationwide rollout will eventually place FAO Schwarz assortments in all Nordstrom stores, while eight locations will receive ‘The Jewel Box’, an enhanced store-within-a-store format featuring demonstrations, storytelling and branded activations that extend beyond traditional merchandizing.
These will be located in three Californian sites at Brea Mall, Brea; South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa; and Fashion Valley, San Diego; plus Aventura Mall, Miami; Oak Brook Mall, Illinois; Garden State Plaza, New Jersey; NorthPark, Dallas; and Bellevue Square, Washington.
Those will provide the testbed as FAO Schwarz attempts to introduce its brand to customers new and old and Nordstrom pitches to differentiate in a competitive department store market.
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