The > Business > The Discreet Charm of the Very Bourgeois Toy Store?

.A.O. Schwarz may be shuttered and dark, but its catalog is somersaulting back in the direction of well-heeled children and the adults who indulge them. Luxed up and revamped to appeal to its most affluent customers, the glossy new catalog will arrive at a million households this week.

Long a fall favorite for many families, the F.A.O. Schwarz catalog is a faster route to the poorhouse than ever, thanks to items like a ,000 rocking zebra and a ,000 child-size, gasoline-powered two-seater Mercedes.

Then there is a ,000 treehouse, complete with tree ("gift wrap not available"); starter jewelry, including a 0 pavé diamond bracelet; and "La Petite Maison," custom playhouses for ,000 and up, depending on size, design and what the "professional children's interior decorator" weighs in with.

"When children are used to living well," the catalog explains, "they should play like this."

Gone from its 99 pages are the playthings that you might find at, pardon the expression, Toys "R" Us or Wal-Mart Stores.

"Our catalog is very, very different this year," said Kim Richmond, the executive vice president for marketing at F.A.O. Schwarz. "And probably the most significant difference is that we do not carry the products carried in mass-market stores, the major toy brands. It is a new strategy. Our position is about things that are really spectacular and unique that you wouldn't find anyplace else, which has always been what F.A.O. Schwarz is all about."

In recent years, however, F.A.O. Schwarz, a New York institution since 1880, had drifted far from its original button-ear bear (limited edition replica, 5) and longtime association with the carriage trade. At one point, it had 14 stores, many of them relatively small and undistinguished, and scattered in shopping malls around the country.

Undermined by the discount stores and its ill-fated attempt to be all things to all toy buyers, the chain foundered. FAO Inc., the parent company of F.A.O. Schwarz, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2003. Various attempts at resuscitating the toy store, including opening boutiques in Saks department stores, failed to turn things around.

The flagship store at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street has been closed since January, when it and a sister store in Las Vegas were sold for million to a unit of D. E. Shaw Laminar Portfolios, a New York investment firm. When it acquired the F.A.O. Schwarz name and its Internet and catalog businesses, the new owner said it planned to refocus upscale. Doors were to reopen this summer.

That reopening did not occur, and Ms. Richmond declined to discuss a new timetable. "We're trying to keep things under wraps," she said.

She denied a suggestion that the venerable Fifth Avenue institution might be headed in an all-catalog direction and said that a good deal of hammering and sawing was going on behind the shrouded windows. "We are really about being a flagship store," she said.

Chris Bryne, a toy analyst in New York, had not yet seen the catalog, which was mailed on Saturday, but he said he liked the high-end sound of it. "I think luxury is the only niche available to them,'' he said. "With two retail stores, they are never going to compete in the mass market."

Still, he added: "The bad news is that those stores will be museums for the people who go there, who can't afford to buy a toy there."

This fall, the F.A.O Schwarz name will appear on six catalogs. The company plans to reach three million households this holiday season; its Web site, fao.com, is scheduled to be active in time for holiday shopping.

Catalog No. 1, ostentatiously Lego-less and Elmo-free, is packed with F.A.O. Schwarz standards like oversize stuffed animals, princess paraphernalia and magic sets. There are, of course, Steiff bears - two pages' worth - but a new entry, Steiff dogs and puppies, may give them a run for the money, at and .

These are not ordinary old Pound Puppies; they are purebreds with certificates from the American Kennel Club and A.K.C.-sanctioned accessories like collars.

Moreover, "at our New York and Las Vegas stores, you can breed dogs, then take the pick of the litter for yourself."

The stores, Ms. Richmond hastened to explain, "will have interactive kiosks where owners of the stuffed purebreds will be able to view "personality profiles" of prospective mates for their pets. Click on your choice and the resulting plush puppy will be sent to your house several weeks later, by mail.

Naturally the catalog has plenty of baby dolls to push around in that Upper West Side and Rodeo Drive must-have, a mini-Maclaren stroller (), or a Silver Cross doll pram from England (5). Madame Alexander, the venerable doll maker, is represented by, among others, an eight-inch Frodo and Arwen from "The Lord of the Rings" (0 each).

Girls can also design their "own personal fantasy dress" for 0, including "phone consultation with our couturier." But don't count on it being ready for Christmas unless you place your orders very soon.

For boys, there are innumerable remote-controlled vehicles, including a "fully functional" M5 Stuart tank for 5, and not-in-the-house-dear toys like a "hydrogen fuel" rocket (just add water) for . For family fun, the options include the Pro Bowler Shuffle Alley Game with "a kicking sound system," a snip at ,000.

Then there is baby-boomer bait like a reissued Mr. Machine for 0. ("Is it Mr. Machine from 1960 or 1968?" Mr. Bryne asked, sounding excited.)

Been there, bought that? How about an eight-seat 3-D motion simulator with a fully digital audio-visual system and ergonomic styling for 0,000? Gift wrap not included. Allow extra time for shipping.