FAO Schwarz CEO Schmults resigns; Barry Erdos takes job

* CEO Edward Schmults resigns to pursue other interests

* Barry Erdos, ex-president of Bluefly, named new CEO

NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - Specialty U.S. toy retailer FAO Schwarz said on Wednesday that its chief executive, Edward Schmults, has resigned and will be replaced by Barry Erdos.

Schmults, who has been the CEO of FAO Schwarz since September 2005, left the job to pursue other interests, the company said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the retailer declined to give further details.

Erdos was most recently the president and chief operating officer at Bluefly Inc, an online retailer of designer brands and fashion trends. He has also worked for Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW.N) and clothing retailer AnnTaylor Stores Corp (ANN.N) in the past, FAO Schwarz said.

The toy retailer has stores within Macy's Inc (M.N) department store locations and also operates separate stores in New York City and Las Vegas. (Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman; Editing by Gary Hill)