Century 21 Department Stores LLC was an American chain of

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

s, headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, which had 13 locations in the northeastern United States at the time of its closing in 2020.

History

The company was founded in 1961, by

Sonny Gindi Samuel "Sonny" Gindi (1924–2012) was the co-founder of the Century 21 department store. Biography Gindi was born to a Syrian, Sephardic Jewish family. His father died when he was nine. At the age of 14, he opened his first retail store and ...

, Ralph I Gindi, and Al Gindi. The original store is located at 472 86th Street in

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and ...

. Founder Al Gindi's son, Raymond Gindi, served as Century 21's chief operating officer. The Century 21 flagship location is at 22 Cortlandt Street in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, a site of the former East River Savings Bank (eventually merged into

Marine Midland Bank Marine Midland Bank was an American bank formerly headquartered in Buffalo, New York, with several hundred branches throughout the state of New York. In 1998, branches extended to Pennsylvania. It was acquired by HSBC in 1980, and changed its na ...

and today into

KeyBank KeyBank, the primary subsidiary of KeyCorp, is a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the only major bank based in Cleveland. KeyBank is one of the largest banks in the United States. Key's customer base spans retail, small b ...

). It occupies the base of a 34-story office tower, and it has recently added a Financier Patisserie coffee shop to its third floor. The store became an emotional flashpoint during and after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. The store was evacuated after the first plane hit the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

, and the interior was significantly damaged from the collapse of the Twin Towers. Initially, it was not certain that the store would be rebuilt, but the owners opted to remain at the same site and the store was renovated and reopened on February 28, 2002, five months after the attacks. Thousands of people waited hours on the morning of the reopening so they could have a sales receipt from that day. The firm opened its first location outside of the greater

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

in October 2014, housed on two floors of the former Strawbridge's flagship on

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

Center City, Philadelphia Center City includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It comprises the area that made up the City of Philadelphia prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854, which extended the city borders to be coterminous wi ...

. The company expanded in 2016, opening at

Sawgrass Mills Sawgrass Mills is an outlet shopping mall in Sunrise, Florida within the Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area and it is one of the tourist destinations in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. With of retail selling space, it is the eleventh largest mall in ...

Sunrise, Florida Sunrise is a city in central-western Broward County, Florida, United States, and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 97,335. Sunrise was incorporated in 1961 and founded ...

. In March 2016, Century 21 announced that it would open a flagship location at American Dream. Due to Century 21 filling for chapter 11 bankruptcy, this location never opened and is now abandoned. In addition Century 21 was also supposed to open a new location at the

Staten Island Mall Staten Island Mall is a shopping mall in New Springville, Staten Island, New York City, opened in 1973. It is the only indoor shopping mall in the borough. It is the largest retail center on the island and is the site of the island's third-largest ...

New Springville, New York New Springville is a neighborhood in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA. History Located near the island's geographical center, the neighborhood was founded in 1680 in Karle's Neck, so it was later named Karle's Neck V ...

in the lower level of the former

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Store and at the

Roosevelt Field (shopping mall) Roosevelt Field is a shopping mall in East Garden City, New York and Uniondale, New York. It was designed by I. M. Pei and is the largest shopping mall on Long Island, in the state of New York, and the eighth largest shopping mall in the United ...

Garden City, New York Garden City is a village located on Long Island in Nassau County New York. It is the Greater Garden City area's anchor community. The population was 23,272 at the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within ...

which was supposed to be a relocation of their

Westbury, New York The Incorporated Village of Westbury is a Village (New York), village in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. It is located a ...

in the mall's former

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. Bloomingdale, Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the bus ...

Home Furniture location. Both of these locations are also now closed. On Thursday September 10, 2020, Century 21 filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

, as a result of

Insurance companies Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

failing to financially support the chain during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Century 21 closed all of its locations by Sunday, December 6, 2020, with a few exceptions; three locations closed on October 5, 2020, including

The Mills at Jersey Gardens The Mills at Jersey Gardens, originally and also still colloquially called Jersey Gardens, is a two-level indoor outlet mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The mall opened on October 21, 1999, and is the largest outlet mall in New Jersey, and much clo ...

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

, The

Lincoln Square, Manhattan Lincoln Square is the name of both a square and the surrounding neighborhood within the Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Lincoln Square is centered on the intersection of Broadway and Columbus Avenue, between Wes ...

location near

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

location in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

. The other exception being the

Bergen Town Center Bergen Town Center (formerly known as The Outlets at Bergen Town Center) is a shopping center located in Bergen County, New Jersey, USA. The center consists of both an indoor mall and exterior outlying stores and occupies over 105 acres split betw ...

Store in

Paramus, New Jersey Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

closed on Saturday, December 5, 2020, due the

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Blue Laws Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons ...

that prevents all non-essential retailers from operating on Sundays. On February 25, 2021, Century 21 announced it would resume operations sometime in 2021. As of 2022, Century 21 gave up control of its original location. It was announced on May 17, 2022, Century 21 will reopen the lower Manhattan location in the spring of 2023.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.c21stores.com/ Department stores of the United States Shops in New York City American companies established in 1961 Retail companies established in 1961 Commercial buildings in Manhattan 1961 establishments in New York City Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 Defunct department stores based in New York City Retail companies disestablished in 2020