For many years Pointe Orlando was a shopping, dining and entertainment complex on the less congested end of International Drive. Perhaps the best loved anchor store of the complex was Orlando’s own FAO Schwarz.
ABOVE: This is FAO Schwarz entrance at Pointe Orlando on International Drive. We visited the store in 1997, the year it opened. This is the entrance from the 2nd floor landing at Pointe Orlando showing the larger-than-life size Raggedy Ann doll.
Gracing the exterior of the building was a huge Raggedy Ann doll and FAO Schwarz’ signature giant Teddy Bear.
ABOVE: This photo is also from FAO Schwarz at Pointe Orlando on I-Drive. It was taken in November 1997.
FAO Schwarz opened at Pointe Orlando in 1997 but was closed in 2004. Even though they returned to Orlando at the Mall at Millennia, the original store with the life size Star Wars villain, huge stuffed animals and beautiful baby dolls will always be my favorite.
ABOVE: This is FAO Schwarz entrance at Pointe Orlando on International Drive. We visited the store in 1997, the year it opened.
Paul Porto created a wonderful montage of Pointe Orlando from 1997 to 2001 and shared it with Orlando Memory in October 2024.
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FAO Schwarz
This is FAO Schwarz entrance at Pointe Orlando on International Drive. We visited the store in 1997, the year it opened.
FAO Schwarz
This is FAO Schwarz entrance at Pointe Orlando on International Drive. We visited the store in 1997, the year it opened. This...
FAO Schwarz - Raggedy Ann
This photo is also from FAO Schwarz at Pointe Orlando on I-Drive. It was taken in November 1997.
Hi, I absolutely loved FAO Schwarz here at Pointe Orlando! Glad to see it here in this article! There was another store that was there at the Pointe during that time called “GLOW!”. It was on the bottom level and it was a black light, glow-in-the-dark store that I remember vividly as a kid. From doing a ton of research on this store, I have not been able to find any pictures of this store and there are barely any records. I used the Wayback machine and found its existence in the Pointe Orlando directory, but no photos. The store closed around 2005 and was actually owned by Spencer’s. I was curious if anyone had any pictures of this store or anything else related to it. This is for sure an Orlando Memory and I wanted to see if anyone here can help me? It would mean the world. I have a ton of old photos of the Pointe, but I am missing this one. Even if it’s in the background of another photo, I would love to see it. It was near the Starbucks from my memory of it.
You would you so happen to be the person I ran into on facebook looking for any record of this place?
Just in case you are not, the register line waiting area had a black light and the register booth had fake torches. I was very captivated by them.
I don’t remember more, those memories are over 20 years old already. I was like 5.
Greetings Luna! Thank you for visiting the FOA Schwarz – Pointe Orlando post on Orlando Memory and sharing your memories. We certainly hope Hagan responds! Hope you find other posts that bring back fond memories of days gone by and that you will continue to share your memories of Orlando with us all! THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
This is information from Forbes Business Magazine about Spencer Gifts: Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, Spencer Gifts is a gift and novelty retailer. The company operates more than 700 mall-based stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom under the names of Spencer Gifts, Dapy, Glow and Spirit. Formerly a unit of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, the company was sold to the investment firm GB Palladin in 2003.
Greetings Hagan!
Thank you for visiting Orlando Memory and sharing your memories of the “GLOW” store. I don’t remember it at all! Let me look around and see what we might find. Perhaps you might find it in some old home videos YouTube in the background and can grab a screenshot. We have old telephone books and city directories and newspaper microfilm here at the library that I can check, but if it was a small store, they may have not had a large advertising budget for print ads. If we find anything, we’ll post it and contact you directly! If you have any photos you’d like to share with Orlando Memory, we’d be happy to post them and credit you as the photographer! THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
Hi Kim! Thank you for checking for me! I really appreciate it. Anything you can find about GLOW! or anything from POINTE ORLANDO from the 90s/early 2000s would be awesome. I would love to see like an old directory of POINTE ORLANDO if somehow that is out there? The home videos and photos is a great idea. I’ve already searched on YouTube and beyond and have reached out to people specifically about any photos. Since a lot of people took photos of FAO Schwarz, I figured that maybe someone else would have taken photos of the rest of POINTE ORLANDO, especially with GLOW! As a kid, those two stores were a kid’s paradise. It means so much more to me now because it is a part of my past that is currently lost to time. You can email me as well if you find anything! Thank you!
Greetings! You may want to reach out to the marketing department at https://www.spencersonline.com/ and ask if they have any photos from the store’s grand opening. The original company would have probably had photos, but I doubt anyone else would. We didn’t have phones with cameras back then, so it was a bit of an ordeal to buy film and make sure you had a flash, etc. Hope you find a photo! THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
Great, thank you for all your help! I will continue the search and will let you know once I actually do find a photo. I will reach out to them directly. Thank you again! You made very good points and I appreciate the thought and energy. Ask around in Orlando and see if anyone you know may remember it? I’d love to hear other people’s memories of it.
My friend Alison and I sat in the hugh Raggedy Ann’s lap for a picture. Wonderful memories!!
Greetings Nancy! Thank you for visiting Orlando Memory and sharing your experience at FAO Schwarz at Pointe Orlando. That must have been fun! We hope you find other posts on Orlando Memory that bring back fond memories of days gone by. THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
hello im wondering if anyone has a picture of the huge cake that was made for the grand opening …i know it was shown on channel 13 news ..i helped make the cake and have lost the pictures i had taken ..i would be soooo grateful
Greetings Patricia! Thank you for visiting Orlando Memory’s post on FAO Schwarz at Pointe Orlando. They opened on Saturday, August 2, 1997, so perhaps that is the date your cake was featured? There is no mention of the cake in the Orlando Sentinel articles about the grand opening, but hopefully, someone, somewhere has a photo. Have you tried contacting https://faoschwarz.com/ marketing or advertising department. Surely they have photos of the event with the cake. THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
Pictures: https://youtu.be/RwgL2FQxHvY
Greetings Paul! All we can say is “WOW!” Thanks for sharing your cool montage of Pointe Orlando! We will certainly add it to the body of the post, as well! We hope you will continue to visit Orlando Memory and share with us all! THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
I have pictures of my kids from the Grande Opening if you would like me to share.
Hello Millicent! Thanks for visiting Orlando Memory and offering to add your family memories! We would love to add your photos and will contact you via email to make the arrangements! We hope you find more memories of Orlando to share!
I was part of the Opening Loss Prevention team at FAO in Orlando. Lots of good memories while working for the company.
Sad to see the company go. I also worked in in Chicago and traveled to the Vegas store which was equally as amazing as Orlando.
I have some great pics if you ever want to add them.
Hi Paige, do you have any photos of inside of FAO – Orlando? barely any photos of the interior seems to exist online, same with many places on I-drive which have closed e.g. Belz, Mercado.
thank you
Paige, thank you for visiting Orlando Memory and sharing your memories of FOA Schwarz at Pointe Orlando. It was an amazing store and fun to visit. We’ll be contacting you about the photos!
My dadWas part of the construction crew that built FAO Schwartz in Orlando. My dad was asked to build another large scale toy outside and raggedy and was built because it’s my favorite. It would’ve never existed if my father had and build it or brought the idea up.
Thanks for sharing this amazing story about the history of the FAO Schwartz store in Orlando! It was an amazing building and so many locals and visitors from around the world loved visiting there. My kids loved Raggedy Ann, too! Please send us your Dad’s name and the name of the construction company so we may added it to the post. If you have photos of your dad on the site, we’d love to add those too.