Coming to Town

KB Toys (Pittsfield, Mass.) has announced that it will test the Manhattan market by opening a full-line superstore on New York's Fifth Avenue just for the 2002 holiday season. The store is scheduled to open in mid-October and close on December 24.

“KB Toys is taking advantage of a timely real estate opportunity in order to showcase our renewed emphasis on the customer in this landmark location,” said executive vp Mark Scott. “New York City's Fifth Avenue is perhaps the nation's premier shopping destination. If our customers respond favorably to our presence here, we will explore opening similar permanent stores both here in New York and in other major markets.”

The three-story, 20,000-square-foot store at Fifth Avenue and 51st Street will be nearly six times larger than the average KB Toys store. The retailer said the store will feature “an exciting array of attention-getting window displays, in-store shops and engaging product demonstrations and events.”

On the store's second floor will be a shop for KB Toys'online brand, eToys, dedicated exclusively to specialty and learning toys. This new in-store eToys department will mark the first time that KB Toys has marketed the eToys brand in a store and will be part of a larger initiative to integrate eToys shops in 80 KB Toys locations throughout the United States.