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New York City’s Must-Visit Toy Store

New York City’s Must-Visit Toy Store

If you’ve been reading Don’t Ever Look Back for long enough, you’ll know that the two of us are big kids at heart. We love hanging out with animals, we love our candy and chocolates and we absolutely love being silly.

So naturally when we visited New York City last year, a visit to the FAO Schwarz toy store on Fifth Avenue was a non-negotiable on our itinerary.

After a quick stop at the nearby Tiffany & Co, we headed to FAO Schwarz and after saying a friendly hello the toy soldier doorman and stepping into the store, our jaws instantly dropped.

Stuffed Animals at FAO Schwarz

We were greeted by a massive collection of larger-than-life stuffed animals. Wow!

And this was just the beginning of what we were about to experience. We saw lifelike dolls that made us look twice just to make sure they weren’t real!

Wizard of Oz Dolls at FAO Schwarz

We saw some amazing Lego art, including the Statue of Liberty replica below.

Statue of Liberty made out of Lego

There were New York themed toy cars for the boys and Barbie dolls for the girls. There was even a Barbie fashion show happening right before our eyes in which a collection of dolls rotated around a purpose-built stage (complete with strobe lights!) to show themselves off.

NYC Taxi and Barbies at FAO Schwarz

For the true Barbie collector, there was this for sale…

Barbie Foosball Table at FAO Schwarz

Yep, one of only ten in the world! As exquisite as the Barbie section of FAO Schwarz was, it was the next part of the shop that would completely blow us away.

The Newborn Nursery.

Newborn Nursery at FAO Schwarz
You’re probably thinking “what’s so special about that?”, right? Wait for it…

They have a real nurse on hand to make this a unique experience for the children who visit. Even when there was nobody around, this nurse stayed completely in-character and was attending to the needs of her patient at the time.

Nurse at FAO Schwarz

Amazing! But the highlight (and primary reason we were at FAO Schwarz to visit) was The Big Piano, made famous in the film Big starring Tom Hanks. This was tons of fun… if only we knew how to play it properly!

The Big Piano at FAO Schwarz

Want to take one home the music? A dance-on piano (22 feet x 8 feet) will only set you back a cool $250,000. Maybe one day…

The two of us had an amazing time at FAO Schwarz but unfortunately we did leave with one regret. Because we were on our around-the-world journey at the time, neither of us could take home any souvenirs from this epic toy store. Not even a cuddly little toy giraffe!  😥

Sad Amy with a Toy Giraffe

Definitely next time!

Would you ever visit a toy store on your travels?

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