Zany Brainy prepares to make first entry in local market with two stores.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Stores are about half the size of Family Toy Warehouse sites

WILKINS TOWNSHIP -- Zany Brainy, an educational toy superstore in the process of acquiring its major brain-named toy competitor, Noodle Kidoodle Inc., is entering the Pittsburgh market.

Cristina Damis, a retail leasing agent for the Soffer Organization, confirmed that Zany Brainy Inc. has signed a lease to open its first Pittsburgh-area store at Penn Center East in Wilkins Township.

At the same time, the toy company is converting the Noodle Kidoo die store on McKnight Road in the North Hills into a second Zany Brainy, location here.

Keith Spurgeon, Zany Brainy's chief executive …