![]() Its four levels are centered on a grand atrium that houses a 60-foot Ferris wheel. The self-described “World’s Greatest Toy Store®” had a strong claim to the grandiose title. In November 2001, the toy retailer opened its 110,000 square foot flagship location. TV ads featured the store’s mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, inviting kids and their parents to the world’s largest toy store. Its initially proposed 101,000 square feet would make it one third larger than the Virgin Megastore a block north. The store would anchor the rapidly growing retail district. ![]() The move to the intersection of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 44th Street would put the store in the middle of the Theater District and across the street from ABC’s Good Morning America studios, as well as the MTV music studios. At that time, Times Square was still in its active renaissance phase, rapidly shedding its notoriously seedy past in favor of a family-friendly, tourist-oriented, sanitized image. On August 1, 2000, Toys “R” Us announced its plans to build a new flagship store at the Crossroads of the World. Earlier in July, the company closed the famous FAO Schwarz store on at 767 Fifth Avenue, which had served the city since 1986. The retail giant decided not to renew the lease due to ever-rising rents in the pedestrian-heavy neighborhood. ![]() on December 30, Toys “R” Us will shut down its Times Square store at West 44th Street and Broadway. 2015 will go down in New York’s storied retail history as the year when the city lost two of its flagship toy stores.
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