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I was sorting through some old photographs (backing them up onto archive drives), and came across some old toy store photos...thought I'd share, as they're quite impressive displays.

I took these ones in the Chicago FAO Schwarz store in March 2001.

And I took these ones in the New York FAO Schwarz around the same time (2001).

Those are great Matt. I recall walking in to an FAO Schwartz in Manhattan once during my first visit to the USA and it looking very much like your pictures. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Then I looked at the prices on the figures and almost died again!

Those were wonderful stores to visit. Going inside was like going to Disneyland in miniature. I'm sure the overwhelming atmosphere of the place helped many a parent part with cash they hadn't planned to spend. It had a great vibe. I think they're gone now aren't they? Didn't the chain close down?

Reverend Strone wrote:...Didn't the chain close down?

They did go bankrupt, but Toys'R'Us bought them out, closing many down progressively. The NYC/Manhattan store is the last one still open under the FAO name (I believe the giant piano from Tom Hanks' Big is still there).

Reverend Strone wrote:...Then I looked at the prices on the figures and almost died again!...

I happened to be there during a sale, and grabbed a Fambaa (you can see a huge stack of them behind the pit droid) for half price.

I've never been there, but working at FAO Schwarz would be a "dream job" ... once you close the doors and lock the pesky customers out!

London has a similar huge, and over-priced, toy store called Hamleys (they also have branches in other places like Dublin and Dubai).

The closest we get here is probably ToyCo. in St Lukes as the biggest toy shop. Years ago there used to be a couple of shops called Toy Warehouse (or something like that) which were bigger. Many of the good shops have been shut down thanks to the greedy "big business" style of The Warehouse / Kmart / etc. Another great shop used to be Dorothy Butler's childrens bookshop - Borders was pretty good until the recent financial problems, and now those are going to be closed down / swapped to Whitcoulls branches too.

MattG wrote:

Reverend Strone wrote:...Then I looked at the prices on the figures and almost died again!...

I happened to be there during a sale, and grabbed a Fambaa (you can see a huge stack of them behind the pit droid) for half price.

Haha, that's exactly what I purchased when I was there too, only they were full price when I visited so I paid US$80 as I recall. A week after I got home again saw online that they had just been reduced to half price.

the AT AT and snow speeder look mean! Were they custom built for the store?

Also the battle droid and pit droid looked great, I like how they got the pit droid to hold up that bar for those wee bags.

Matt do you remember if they looked like one off builds or were they more generic/ limited like the darth maul statue?

I *think* the really big vehicles like the AT-AT + Snowspeeder were custom builds, but some did show up in multiple stores, so I assume they used the same design. I don't know the story behind the Battle Droid and Pit Droid though, sorry...haven't seen anything like them elsewhere. I agree, they were particularly cool though.

I wonder where all those big props ended up?