defunct 2009 2009 headquarters uniondale long island new york products bedding furniture jewelry and housewares owner formerly nrdc equity partners via hudson s bay trading company website www.fortunoff.com fortunoff was a new york based retailer of home jewelry and furniture stores founded in 1922 by max and clara fortunoff . the original fortunoff store was on livonia avenue in brownsville brooklyn new york . the chain s flagship store was in westbury long island ; the store opened in 1964 and anchored the mall at the source which was built around the fortunoff store from 1997 until fortunoff s closing in 2009 . 1 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 . this portion of the fortunoff chain was revived in february 2010 although not all former fortunoff backyard stores have reopened . the chain began liquidating all of its stores on february 25 2009 ; 3 the sales concluded a little more than three months later in the first week of june 2009 . in july 2009 following company dissolution the descendants of max and clara fortunoff reacquired the intellectual property and website . 4 5 fortunoff now does business as an online jewelry retailer as well as operating its backyard stores . contents 1 ownership 2 liquidation 3 2010 relaunch 4 references ownership edit 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 . 6 7 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 . the following years saw fortunoff continue to struggle and on february 4 2008 the chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy along with accepting the 100 million sale to nrdc equity partners 8 9 the parent company of longtime new york retailer lord & taylor . the sale was estimated to include fortunoff s debt of approximately 60 million . 10 industry analysts speculated that a likely result of the buyout by nrdc would bring fortunoff branded jewelry and home furnishings departments into most if not all of the 47 current lord & taylor locations . this list includes the department store s flagship fifth avenue location where such holdings could exceed 100 000 square feet 9 300 m2 in sales floor area approximately one sixth of the total area of the store . the nrdc deal closed in march 2008 . nrdc also released statements about intentions of infusing an additional 100 million in capital to fortunoff and expanding the chain to over 50 stores . nrdc never followed through investing the planned capital needed to rescue the brand . in july 2008 nrdc equity partners purchased canada s 338 year old retailer the hudson s bay company . 11 the new combined company called hudson s bay trading company was composed of fortunoff lord & taylor creative design studios and the hbc s divisions the bay zellers home outfitters and fields . 12 on february 5 2009 fortunoff filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy citing a weak 2008 holiday season ballooning costs in its partnership with lord & taylor and reduced borrowing capacity due to the recession . officials at fortunoff originally hoped to sell the luxury goods chain . finding no takers layoffs began on february 12 2009 at the fortunoff headquarters in uniondale new york . a class action lawsuit against fortunoff was filed by laid off employees who alleged violations for federal and state warn act laws . it was further alleged that many of fortunoff s vendors were lured into shipping increased consignments of merchandise and goods for the fortunoff lord and taylor venture prior to the abrupt bankruptcy filing one year and a day after nrdc s purchase of the company . the timing of the filing allowed nrdc s fortunoff shell companies created during the initial purchase a secured creditor position above other creditors . citation needed on february 17 2009 fortunoff stopped accepting its gift cards as payment angering customers . a bankruptcy auction was scheduled for february 23 2009 . liquidation edit on february 25 reuters announced that the bankruptcy auction for fortunoff resulted in the chain being sold to a group of seven liquidators and that going out of business sales would begin immediately . fortunoff stopped accepting returns at that time and declared that any purchase made after february 16 was considered to be final . simplexdiam inc. of new york city was entrusted with auctioning the residual diamonds from the fine jewelry division . 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 . during the spring of 2009 consor intellectual asset management 13 was retained to sell the fortunoff brand intellectual property and related intangible assets . as a result of that effort in july 2009 the fortunoff brand and intellectual property were reacquired by david fortunoff and members of the fortunoff and mayrock families with the possibility of relaunching the brand . 14 2010 relaunch edit 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 the new owners of fortunoff are reopening the chain s former backyard store unit with six locations to open in february 2010 . 15 fortunoff said that most of the stores will be located at or near former locations including in the mall at the source . 16 as of 2016 furniture concepts operates 28 fortunoff backyard stores in new york new jersey connecticut delaware pennsylvania and florida . references edit debra winters july 28 2014 . wayne towne center construction ramps up with two additions . northjersey.com . retrieved 17 august 2014 . james covert march 3 2008 . fortunoff is poised for takeoff . new york post . retrieved 17 august 2014 . fortunoff liquidation could begin this week . feb 24 2009 . retrieved 17 august 2014 . fortunoff to re launch with online e commerce site . august 11 2010 . retrieved 17 august 2014 . jewelry stores . retrieved 17 august 2014 . 1 archived may 4 2006 at the wayback machine . the domain www.jckgroup.com is registered by netnames fortunoff chapter 11 petition pdf . pacermonitor . 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 . retrieved 17 august 2014 . http www.financialpost.com story.html id 428721 consor press release fortunoff families re acquire the fortunoff brand furniture concepts press release . http fortunoffbys.com fortunoff bys locations.html v t e hudson s bay company canadian holdings hudson s bay zellers home outfitters u.s. holdings creative design studios lord & taylor saks fifth avenue former holdings north west company 1779 1821 g.w. robinson 1972 1980 shop rite 1972 1982 marshall wells 1976 1985 designer depot 2004 2008 fortunoff 2008 2009 fields 1978 2012 markborough properties to 1996 just kids acquired folded in i. g. baker company 1891 j. f. cairns ltd. 1918 smallman and ingram 1944 federal stores ltd 1952 via zellers freimans 1972 morgan s 1972 simpsons 1991 towers 1991 via zellers woodward s 1993 kmart canada 1998 related topics hudson s bay rewards hudson s bay company archives nrdc equity partners rupert s land saks inc. retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title fortunoff & oldid 742609178 categories companies established in 1922companies disestablished in 2009defunct department stores of the united statesprivate equity portfolio companiesshops in new york citycompanies based in nassau county new yorkcompanies that have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcyhidden categories articles with wayback machine linksall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 4 october 2016 at 18 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view