Timing Is No Coincidence: “The store, shuttered since January – when the remnants of the failing company were purchased for $41 million by D. E. Shaw Laminar Portfolios – is scheduled to reopen on Thanksgiving at 10 a.m., a day ahead of the usual kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

Redesigned by Rockwell Partners, the store will offer 65,000 square feet of catnip for children and all but the most Scrooge-like of grownups. Tons of plush – an F. A. O. hallmark – is to be expected. But the look of the store will be totally new. Like a child mindful of the countdown to Christmas, F. A. O. Schwarz has cleaned up its act.” (New York Times )