FAO Schwarz begins LV revival with search for creative talent

Jennifer Shubinski

Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 10:47 a.m.

Hiring a store full of new employees isn't usually fun and games -- except at FAO Schwarz.

FAO Schwarz is holding auditions -- not traditional interviews -- today and Friday to fill about 75 full- and part-time positions (21 employees who were with the company before it shut down in January will remain with FAO). Thespians, or rather prospective employees, will have one minute onstage to showcase their personalities, tell a little about themselves and yes, play with a toy.

"It all starts out with the fact that when we reopen the store this summer, the store and everything about it will be very different than before and different than other retailers," Kim Richmond, executive vice present of marketing said. "We are approaching this in a different light."

The Las Vegas FAO Schwarz store at the Forum Shops at Caesars closed in January for remodeling after the King of Prussia-based toy company was bought out of bankruptcy for $41 million by New York Investment firm D.E. Shaw & CO. Inc. FAO Schwarz liquidated its Zany Brainy toy chain after filing for bankruptcy last year.

The purchase included the FAO Schwarz stores in Las Vegas and New York, and the company's Internet and catalog businesses.

The company held its "casting call" for its New York FAO Schwarz last week, Richmond said.

"Coming up on stage is a tall order, but they really relax, they enjoy it and it's fun," she said. "It's upbeat and high energy and everyone gets a round of applause when they're done."

Auditions in New York and Las Vegas will be in front of the toy store chain's chief executive, Jerry Welsh, and other top executives.

Karen Bazar, president-elect of the Southern Nevada Human Resource Association, said the audition-interviews sounded like a novel idea, especially in a retail setting. She hasn't heard of other retailers doing similar interviews, but said the MGM Grand hotel-casino conducted audition-interviews before it opened.

"It's a great idea, to see their personalities and their creativity, especially if that is what they're doing in their job," said Bazar, managing partner of Southwest HR Consulting Inc. "You'd give a typing test from some who would be using word processing."

As far as what the remodeled Las Vegas and New York stores will look like and how the company has changed is being kept under wraps.

But one thing will stay: Las Vegas' three-story FAO Trojan horse.

"The store will be very exciting," Richmond said. "The two stores will be like no other stores anywhere."

The Las Vegas store re-opening is scheduled for August 2004.