Business Notes RETAILING

Conspicuous consumption, that signature vice of the 1980s, was rarely more evident than at the 17 toy stores of Manhattan-based F.A.O. Schwarz, where toddlers of the rich and famous could acquire an 8-ft. stuffed giraffe ($4,500) or a child-size Jaguar sedan ($6,000). Now the 128-year-old retailer has joined still another trend: foreign ownership. A Dutch department-store conglomerate, Koninklijke Bijenkorf Beheer (KBB), has agreed to buy the toy retailer from the Morse-Harris Group, owners since 1985. Estimated price: $40 million. Once America's top toy merchant, Schwarz was - losing customers by the early 1980s to competitors like Toys "R" Us. But Morse-Harris revived the firm by closing unprofitable locations, moving the flagship store to grander quarters farther up Fifth Avenue and boosting catalog sales. KBB's plans for Schwarz include its first European and Japanese outlets.