I can get it for you retail...

Of course, living here, I think New York City is the center of the universe. There is just so much to do, see and experience. Although the number and variety of museums is mind boggling and even the most experienced traveler can never, perhaps in a lifetime, see them all, NYC has another facet to it like no other city I’ve ever been to, worldwide (well, maybe Paris comes close).

I refer to this phenomenon as “Retail Museums.” Upscale, but still free to even the scruffiest of passersby, these establishments are about which the phrase, “even a cat can look at a king” might have been coined. Like Holly Golightly you get it for nothing; that is, as long as you are not intimidated by disapproving door persons, smirking sales persons and the piercing stares of security persons. The focus of this bit of reality is (not surprisingly) centered on Fifth Avenue from about 45th St. up to Central Park. Forays both east and west off of Fifth (especially 57th St.) and a couple of parallel streets, (Madison Ave. mainly) can also sometimes be fruitful but, for now, take a look at this stretch of real estate and see what you get. And you don’t have to just look longingly in the windows; go inside and wander around and put fingerprints on the glass if you feel like it, because there is plenty to see and marvel at. The “museum effect” is personified by places like Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. Gucci, Tourneau, Chanel, De Beers and Saks. The list goes on and on.

Oh, sure, dropping into St. Patrick’s and St. Thomas and Rock Center should be on any tourist’s agenda but, hey, while you’re wearing out your shoe leather you might as well drop into Steuben to see just what astounding stuff can be wrought in glass. And really, they don’t need to know all you have left in your wallet is $60 in travelers checks. They can’t tell who the high rollers are any better than you or me.

This advisory is brought to you by F.A.O. Schwarz, the world famous toy store. From the day I landed permanently in New York in 1971 I treated F.A.O. as my own personal shopping consultant but I don’t recall, even once, ever buying anything there. But they had the big, cool stuff that every kid and childish adult longed for and it was presented in such a way that buying retail didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

Did you notice that I’m referring to the store in the past tense? Although continuing to fly the flag of Schwarz (for now) that corporation with the typo in its name is now running the farm. The place we used to go to for the toys we couldn’t afford on Fifth Avenue, is now on Fifth Avenue. Call out the ‘uh oh” squad! In the current dark and dreary economy one can’t help but ask, who and what is next? Plastic bangles at Cartier? Lucite at Steuben? And of course, forgive me for stating the obvious; you might really be able to get your bacon and eggs at Tiffany’s. You want hash browns with that?