Toys R Us and FAO Schwarz May Open a Joint Store in Times Square

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Here's a fun new tidbit to add to 2015's unusually robust toy store rumor mill: Toys R Us and FAO Schwarz may have found a way for both stores to exist within the same space, therefore solving two problems at once. To refresh, Toys R Us will be giving up its Times Square flagship, while FAO Schwarz has already left its Fifth Avenue home, and is currently homeless.

Commercial Observer reports that the Brill Building, located at 1619 Broadway at West 49th Street, could be the home of both of the sister brands (Toys R Us owns FAO Schwarz), if current negotiations move forward. The two would open inside 50,000 square feet of retail space on the basement, ground, second, and third levels of the building.

The report also includes a few more details as to why the last deal, in which FAO Schwarz would take over a space at 1633 Broadway, fell through: It was because Paramount Group, the building's owners, learned that FAO was planning to open a joint store with Toys R Us, and decided they "didn't want a Toys in front of a Class A office building." Ouch.