FAO Schwarz will return to Midtown Manhattan next fall in a smaller space but one definitely big enough to accommodate its iconic Walking Piano.
The high-end toy retailer exited its flagship store in the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue over rent issues in July 2015.
Its next location will be 19,000 square feet — just about one-third the size of the 61,000 square feet it occupied in the GM building — but its location, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, will be just as distinguished.
FAO’s new lease spans the ground floor and mezzanine level in the Tishman Speyer-owned Art Deco property, according to the Commercial Observer, which first reported on the new location Thursday.
The new FAO Schwarz store will occupy the space now held by the NBC Experience Store, stretching from West 49th to West 50th streets midway between Fifth and Sixth avenues.
Plans call for the NBC store to move into the network’s lobby store at the same address.
FAO, which once boasted 40 locations, was acquired by Toys ‘R’ Us in 2009.
A year after closing FAO’s last remaining outlet — the GM Building flagship — Toys ‘R’ Us sold the fanciful retailer to ThreeSixty Group in October 2016.