UPPER EAST SIDE — It's been a tough year for kid-centric big-box stores.
Within a matter of months, Toys R Us, FAO Schwarz and Build-A-Bear closed their flagship stores due to soaring rents.
Now, the do-it-yourself craft emporium Make Meaning on Third Avenue between 85th and 86th streets has become the latest victim of the trend. The store announced earlier this week that it lost its lease and its last day would be Jan. 24.
While the company's COO Amy Kotulski couldn't provide further details about the lease, she hinted that Make Meaning is facing the same fate as other stores in the industry.
"If you've been following the trends exhibited by FAO Schwarz, Toys R Us and Build-A-Bear, we are sort of a megastore, children's entertainment emporium having the same challenges," she said.
High rent is nothing new in New York City, but prices have skyrocketed within the last three years by as much as 30 to 40 percent in retail markets in SoHo, Fifth Avenue in the 40s and 50s and Times Square, according to Joseph Aquino, a real estate broker at Douglas Elliman.
That pressure, paired with competition from online retailers, is particularly crippling, he said.
“Nowadays, profit margins at toy stores are squeezed because of retailers like Kmart and Walmart and other major retailers, who are selling goods at deep discounts… and people buy their toys online and search for the best prices,” Aquino said.
“That makes it hard for these merchants in an urban setting to pay top dollar [for rent]. If you don’t have sales, how can you pay higher rent?”
Build-A-Bear Workshop closed its large Fifth Avenue shop last spring and moved to a smaller location in the Empire State Building, according to The New York Post.
Just a few months later, FAO Schwarz left its 45,000-square-foot flagship after being priced out, according to Toys R Us, which bought the company in 2009. The toy store had been around since 1880.
Then, in December, the massive Toys R Us in Times Square closed because it wanted to save money in rent, according to a spokeswoman for the company.
The closures have been eye-opening for some about the realities of doing business in the city.
“What New York property owners have to fear is that they don’t lose the texture and tapestry of what makes New York interesting,” Aquino said. “Yes, we get 54 million tourists, but during the holidays if fewer people display holiday lights and fewer stores go out, what reason is there to bring families to New York, other than to see the Christmas tree?
"People always want to squeeze every last penny of a dollar out of a property, but in certain situations, you have to look at what’s best for the overall city,” he continued.
