In the highly competitive business of toy retailing, where discount prices and special promotions are part of the gamesmanship, New York's F.A.O. Schwarz prospers by clinging to merchandising methods as staid as those of nearby Tiffany's. Century-old Schwarz has never had a sale in its famed Fifth Avenue store, where two spacious floors are packed with 12,000 toys, and prices range from 15ยข for a whistle to $2,000 for a furnished, four-room puppet theater. The store has refused to hire a costumed Santa at Christmas ever since Founder Frederick Schwarz ruled that...
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