Loehmann’s is eyeing a comeback on the web after disappearing nearly a decade ago — and the storied retail brand’s unlikely backer is former rival Century 21, The Post has learned.
New York-based Century 21 quietly scooped up the Loehmann’s name in 2020 — six years after Loehmann’s liquidated its chain with its third bankruptcy filing, according to Century 21’s chief executive Raymond Gindi.
Now, a one-page website teases that “Loehmann’s is coming back. Online.”
It also says the “Back Room is (almost) Back.”
The site, which also allows customers to submit an email address for future news, shows no indication that Century 21 is behind the launch.
“We are networking with a few partners to bring back a re-imagined Loehmann’s experience and will have more to share in the coming months,” Larry Mentzer, Century 21’s chief operating officer, told The Post.
Mentzer also said there are discussions to open bricks and mortar Loehmann’s stores but added “nothing is confirmed.”
Back in their heyday, Century 21 and Loehmann’s were fierce competitors in a niche of discounters who peddled designer duds including Filene’s Basement, Daffy’s and Syms – which all succumbed to stiff competition from the likes of bigger, better-funded rivals like TJ Maxx and Ross Stores.
Nevertheless, customers still hanker for Loehmann’s, according to Century 21.
“Loehmann’s continues to rank high as a retail destination that consumers recall, admire [and] want to patronize,” Mentzer added.
The broiling tariff war has not “factored into the decision-making process for re-launching “Loehmann’s – at this point,” Mentzer added, insisting that “product is definitely available.”
Both Century 21 and Loehmann’s thrived on the thrill of the ‘treasure hunt’ in which shoppers dig through racks and bins of designer apparel to find a gem in the rough.
But if the plans proceed, the century-old Loehmann’s brand will leapfrog Century 21 digitally.
The latter does not have an e-commerce site and is instead focused on its flagship store at 22 Cortlandt St., which was damaged and rebuilt after the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Mentzer told The Post.
The Gindi family’s interest in Loehmann’s stems from its wider brand recognition across the US, including on the West Coast, sources said.
“As other retailers contract,” Mentzer said, this is “the time for a re-imagined Loehmann’s.”
Loehmann’s was founded in Brooklyn in 1921 by Frieda Loehmann and her son Charles.
By the time it shut down in 2014 it had 39 stores nationwide, down from about 100 at its peak in the late 1990s.
The chain was famous for its ‘Back Room” where shoppers could find designer brands for less than at traditional department stores.
At its apex, it leased the building that had housed the original Barneys store at Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street.
Upon its 2014 liquidation, New York hedge fund Esopus Creek Advisors acquired the Loehmann’s name in bankruptcy court for $750,000.
Another company purchased the brand before the pandemic from Esopus but the identity of the company and purchase price wasn’t revealed.
Century 21 then scooped up the Loehmann’s label for approximately $300,000, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Mentzer and Gindi declined to comment on the price.
The 64-year-old Century 21 has had its share of drama over the past several years, including a bankruptcy filing in 2020 after which it closed its 13 stores in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida at the time.
The Gindi family blamed the filing on a beef with their insurance provider, which didn’t pay out business interruption insurance during the pandemic.
Century 21 was shuttered for two years and reopened its flagship store downtown in 2022.
Credit: Source link
