Fortunoff
Industry | Retail |
---|---|
Founded | 1922 |
Headquarters | |
Products | Outdoor Furniture and Jewelry |
Owner | Fortunoff family |
Website | www.fortunoff.com |
Fortunoff is a New York–based retailer of outdoor furniture and jewelry.
The company started as a home, jewelry and furniture retailer founded in 1922 by Max and Clara Fortunoff. After being sold to private equity companies in 2005 and 2009, the company was re-purchased by the Fortunoff and Mayrock families, who have relaunched the outdoor furniture and jewelry categories.
Fortunoff Backyard Stores, under a license to Furniture Concepts, now operates 33 Fortunoff Backyard Stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Combined with its parent company in Texas, Chair King, it is believed to be the largest independent outdoor furniture dealer in the country.[1]
Fortunoff Fine Jewelry, licensed by Esther Fortunoff, operates a single store in Westbury, New York and online.
History
The original Fortunoff store was on Livonia Avenue in
Fortunoff had four full-line stores in the chain. In addition to the Westbury flagship, these stores were located in White Plains, New York; Woodbridge, New Jersey; and Wayne, New Jersey. In addition, Fortunoff operated 16 specialty stores:[2] Jewelry and fine gifts were offered at the chain's shops on 57th Street in Manhattan, which closed in February 2009, and were also offered at Fortunoff's Paramus Park Mall location. A clearance center was also operated in East Garden City, New York. Indoor and outdoor furniture were the focus of another 14 stores throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania; these stores were known as "Fortunoff Backyard Stores".
The following years saw Fortunoff continue to struggle, and on February 4, 2008, the chain filed for
In July 2008, NRDC Equity Partners, purchased
On February 5, 2009, Fortunoff filed for
On February 17, 2009, Fortunoff stopped accepting its gift cards as payment, angering customers. A bankruptcy auction was scheduled for February 23, 2009.[8]
The chain began liquidating all of its stores on February 25, 2009;[9] the sales concluded a little more than three months later in the first week of June 2009. When the company was in process of being liquidated, plans to brand Lord & Taylor's fine jewelry and home-furnishing departments under the Fortunoff brand were canceled. SimplexDiam Inc. of New York City was entrusted with auctioning the residual diamonds from the fine jewelry division.
Fortunoff now continues to do business as an online jewelry retailer and operates its Fortunoff Backyard Stores.
Ownership
The Fortunoff and Mayrock families, descendants of the founders, owned 100% of the company until November 2004, when a 75% interest in the company was acquired by Trimaran Capital Partners and the Kier Group.[10][11] However, several members of the founding family remained involved in the management and operation of the company. The sale, which originally was to have closed in December 2004, eventually closed in July 2005.
During the spring of 2009, CONSOR Intellectual Asset Management
Relaunch
In September 2009, the company reached an agreement with Furniture Concepts, LLC allowing Furniture Concepts to sell Fortunoff-branded outdoor furniture. As part of this agreement, Furniture Concepts reopened the chain's former Backyard Store unit.[16] As of 2018, Furniture Concepts operates Fortunoff Backyard Stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
In 2010, Esther Fortunoff launched fine jewelry online, followed by a retail store in 2014 near the site of the former location at the
References
- ^ "Chair King / Fortunoff Backyard Store Announces 50 Store Total And Consolidation Of Corporate Office". March 14, 2018.
- ^ James Covert (March 3, 2008). "FORTUNOFF IS POISED FOR TAKEOFF". New York Post. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ "Fortunoff Chapter 11 Petition" (PDF). PacerMonitor. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
- ^ "Fortunoff files bankruptcy, agrees to $100M sale to Lord & Taylor owner". Newsday. Archived from the original on 2008-03-02. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ Barbaro, Michael (January 31, 2008). "Ailing Fortunoff Attracts a Suitor". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ "NRDC Acquires Hudson's Bay Co". Chain Store Age. July 15, 2008. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ "Hudson's Bay eager to log on to new era". Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ^ Humer, Caroline (2009-02-05). "Fortunoff files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
- ^ "Fortunoff liquidation could begin this week". Feb 24, 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ [1] Archived May 4, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The domain www.jckgroup.com is registered by NetNames
- ^ CONSOR
- ^ "Press Release: Fortunoff families re-acquire the Fortunoff brand". Archived from the original on 2009-08-24. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
- ^ "Fortunoff to Re-Launch With Online E-Commerce Site". August 11, 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ "Jewelry Stores". Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
- ^ "Furniture Concepts press release". Archived from the original on 2010-02-08. Retrieved 2009-09-25.