.......And Then There Was One

Upon entering FAO Schwarz's Manhattan store, the iconic wonderland of specialty toys, you are greeted by a 3-story clock tower singing "Welcome to Our World of Toys. The adventure is about to begin."

Well, maybe now you'll have to fight your way past the goofy-looking Geoffrey the giraffe, because the magical adventure of the oldest toy retailer in the country is about to change for the worse. Yup, Toys R Us announced they are gobbling up FAO, immortalized in the 1988 Tom Hanks movie, "Big."

Why should we be surprised? Since the early 1990s toy stores have been squeezed continuously by the Monster Marts. First there was Child's World, Child Palace,and Circus World, then Zany Brainy, and more recently KB Toys. All are gone from the scene.

Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch says, "We will work tirelessly to preserve the distinctiveness and integrity of the FAO Schwarz stores and brand as we grow the business and, indeed, take the brand to even greater heights.”

Excuse us? This is the same Toys R Us charged with anti-trust violations for trying to muscle out the competition? The same Toys R Us that squandered its leadership in the toy industry and has seen its market share fall from 25% to 16%? The same Toys R Us that had to be bailed out by a real estate holding company in order to survive?

So now there is basically one major toy retailer which, along with the Big Box giants, Walmart and Target, can dictate even more to toy manufacturers who are already reeling from the soft economy and dramatically increased costs.

In one sense, there's really nothing new here. Independent, mom and pop retail stores across the spectrum of products have been zapped from the marketplace by the mammoth corporate reatilers for the last three decades. Our community of Carbondale, IL, a heartland university town of 25,000 permanent residents, has felt the pinch of the loss of hometown, local retailers just as other communities across the country.

Fortunately there are still mom and pop toy stores with heart and soul, customer service, and creative, educational and silly toys you won't find at the MonsterMarts.

My Favorite Toys at University Mall in Carbondale is one of those stores, and we work hard to instill the same spirit into our web store, www.MyFavToys.com. We enjoy knowing many of our customers by name, and we're delighted to watch the youngsters who visit us grow up right before our eyes. We're proud to hear middle-aged and senior shoppers exclaim, "I haven't see this toy since I was a child," or hear a young adult say, "I wish there was a toy store like this when I was a kid."

We do all of our own buying, instead of our stock coming from a mega distribution center. We can listen to our customers and try to find items on special order. We can take time to visit a bit with customers and get to know them. We can provide more customer service than, "Oh yeah, I think the toys are in aisle 87."

We so much appreciate the strong base of customers who share our passion for constructive toys, puppets, puzzles and games. We pledge our very best efforts to maintaining the quality and spirit of My Favorite Toys, despite the threat of a continuing march toward the faceless monopoly of the mass market!