Family-owned, New York-based discount designer clothing retailer Century 21 has signed a lease for a two-story, 100,000-square-foot space on the second floor of the former Strawbridge & Clothier store on Market Street in Philadelphia,
the
Philadelphia Inquirer
reported.
Although Century 21 does not release financial details, business-services company Manta estimates it annual revenue at $160 million, the
Inquirer
article said.
Century 21 Department Stores LLC was founded in 1961 by cousins Sonny and Al Gindi. Sonny Gindi died in 2012. Al Gindi’s son, Raymond, now runs the company.
The chain, which traditionally has not advertised, engaged a firm three years ago to help build its brand as it planned an expansion, the
Inquirer
report noted. Its flagship store is across the street from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. The store sustained damage during the 2001 terrorist attacks but was not destroyed, the article said. The Gindi family raised money to help families of those killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Century 21, which had been courted by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust for five years, had been reluctant to expand outside New York until recently, the
Inquirer
article said. It has been upgrading its existing stores, the report noted. Raymond Gindi told
Women’s Wear Daily
last year that he was thinking of growing the business from eight stores to 12 or 15, the
Inquirer
article noted.
A second
Inquirer
report
said Raymond Gindi called the expansion to Philadelphia the next logical step in the company’s growth plan. (Source:
Philadelphia Inquirer,
April 29, 2014.)
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