sad very sad!!!!

[the Disemboweler]

By Carlyn Kolker, Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Jonathan Keehner

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Fortunoff Fine Jewelry & Silverware LLC closed its flagship Manhattan store and is in talks with companies to liquidate most of its merchandise, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The jewelry-store chain, started in 1922 in Brooklyn, New York, may file for bankruptcy protection soon, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. Arlene Putterman, a spokeswoman for Fortunoff, didn’t return messages. Lori Rhodes, a spokeswoman for Fortunoff owner NRDC Equity Partners LLC, declined to comment.

Liquidation would come one year after Fortunoff last sought bankruptcy protection and was purchased by NRDC, owner of the Lord & Taylor department-store chain. Retailers such as J.C. Penney Co. have cited jewelry among their worst-performing products as consumers abandon discretionary purchases to contend with rising joblessness and plunging home values.

Jewelry chains have also had to compete with department stores discounting at a “phenomenally high level,” said Patricia Edwards, a retail analyst and founder of Storehouse Partners LLC in Seattle.

Fortunoff was started as a neighborhood housewares store by Max and Clara Fortunoff, and later started selling fine jewelry and watches. The company’s Web site lists 20 remaining stores, including four carrying a full collection of jewelry, gifts and home goods, and 14 selling outdoor furniture.

“If you’re worried about keeping your house, you’re less worried about what’s on the patio,” Edwards said.

Lease Expired

The lease on the company’s flagship store at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue expired Jan. 31, said David Mark at Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP, a law firm representing the landlord.

The Fortunoff store is next to Bergdorf Goodman and near Prada, Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton. The interior is now empty except for dollies, ladders and a fake tree branch. A holiday sale sign lies on the carpet in the foyer.

Circuit City Stores Inc. and Linens ‘n Things Inc. are among companies that have liquidated amid the absence of financing and buyers prepared to operate a retailer during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Total bankruptcy filings for companies rose 50 percent last year to 64,318, according to data compiled by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a service of Jupiter ESources LLC in Oklahoma City.

NRDC, based in Purchase, New York, bought Fortunoff for $110 million, including $80 million in cash in March 2008. The firm is a venture between Robert C. Baker and Richard A. Baker, principals of National Realty & Development and Corp., and William Mack and Lee Neibart, partners of Apollo Real Estate Advisors LP.

To contact the reporters on this story: Carlyn Kolker in New York t ckolker@bloomberg.net; Lauren Coleman-Lochner in New York at llochner@bloomberg.net; Jonathan Keehner in New York jkeehner@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 3, 2009 15:05 EST

[the Disemboweler]

my father was born in 1922....

[andyzee]

A lot of stores and businesses closing up in the past few months. What makes this any sadder then Linens and Things, Circuit City, KB Toys, CompUSA, etc...?

[Stache]

A lot of stores and businesses closing up in the past few months. What makes this any sadder then Linens and Things, Circuit City, KB Toys, CompUSA, etc...?

I guess cause this one made it through the last Great Depression.

Nothing against any kids of any age on here but...

If it was the last "Great Depression" that gave us "The Greatest Generation", then maybe it is time for another Great Depression (or Correction).

[kvtskibum]

A lot of stores and businesses closing up in the past few months. What makes this any sadder then Linens and Things, Circuit City, KB Toys, CompUSA, etc...?

I guess cause this one made it through the last Great Depression.

Nothing against any kids of any age on here but...

If it was the last "Great Depression" that gave us "The Greatest Generation", then maybe it is time for another Great Depression (or Correction).

That last sentence is priceless.

[SnoBrdr]

A lot of stores and businesses closing up in the past few months. What makes this any sadder then Linens and Things, Circuit City, KB Toys, CompUSA, etc...?

I guess cause this one made it through the last Great Depression.

Nothing against any kids of any age on here but...

If it was the last "Great Depression" that gave us "The Greatest Generation", then maybe it is time for another Great Depression (or Correction).

I guess I lost my Stupid Quote of the Day title.

I believe with this statement that you have retired the trophy.

[the Disemboweler]

A lot of stores and businesses closing up in the past few months. What makes this any sadder then Linens and Things, Circuit City, KB Toys, CompUSA, etc...?

u $ucking monkey!!!!


July 26, 1987
Max Fortunoff, 89, Is Dead; Headed Specialty Store Chain
By EDWARD HUDSON
LEAD: Max Fortunoff, founder and chairman of the New York specialty stores that bear his name, died yesterday at his home in Old Westbury, L.I., after a long illness. He was 89 years old.

Max Fortunoff, founder and chairman of the New York specialty stores that bear his name, died yesterday at his home in Old Westbury, L.I., after a long illness. He was 89 years old.

Mr. Fortunoff and his wife, Clara, went into retailing in 1922 in a store in the East New York section of Brooklyn that had been described as the first discount store in the New York metropolitan area.

That outlet, ''under the El'' on Livonia Avenue, grew into a complex of six stores within a two-block radius and for four decades was a big draw on Sundays for customers from Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

Since the stores were closed on Saturdays they were legally allowed to be open on Sundays, as were other stores in Brooklyn, and the scene was usually one of crowds and traffic. Trading and Grading Up

Starting in the 1960's the business was expanded geographically, first to Westbury then to Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and to Paramus and Wayne, N.J. Around the mid-1960's the Brooklyn stores were closed.

Mr. Fortunoff said years later that the move out of Brooklyn was more than geographical and marked ''a trading up and grading up'' of merchandise that the younger members of the Fortunoff family had wanted.

Fortunoff's became one of the largest specialty home furnishings stores in the region, selling jewelry, silverware, china and crystal, as well as rugs, outdoor furniture and small appliances.

Mr. Fortunoff was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1907. Shortly after World War I he left school to join his father's wholesale housewares business.
He, his wife, and their three children lived in an apartment behind the Livonia Avenue store and from the beginning his children were involved in the business.

When they became adults they and their spouses assumed top management posts.

''We have no expensive hierarchy in our business, only the family,'' Mr. Fortunoff said in a 1969 interview, ''and we make decisions fast and on the spot.''

Mr. Fortunoff was a benefactor of Brookdale Hospital and Dowling College. He founded the Max and Clara Fortunoff Foundation to support local educational and charitable causes.

He is survived by a son, Alan of Old Westbury; 13 grandchildren, and two great grandchldren.

[andyzee]

What a crock of sh*t. If I'm working for a company, such as Linens and Things, and loose my job, you think I give a rat's ass about Fortunoff's history. Any business closing is sad, end of story.

[icedtea]

When you see pillars of American consumerism falling I guess it strikes a little harder.


All this stuff is crap anyway... American consumerism is not sustainable.

[SnoBrdr]

When you see pillars of American consumerism falling I guess it strikes a little harder.


All this stuff is crap anyway... American consumerism is not sustainable.

And what exactly does this mean?

[icedtea]

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[Bubba]

I guess I lost my Stupid Quote of the Day title.

I believe with this statement that you have retired the trophy.

It took all day but you were nosed out in the end.

[SnoBrdr]

I guess I lost my Stupid Quote of the Day title.

I believe with this statement that you have retired the trophy.

It took all day but you were nosed out in the end.

I think Stache may be the all time winner with this from today.

If it was the last "Great Depression" that gave us "The Greatest Generation", then maybe it is time for another Great Depression (or Correction).

From the Sad Very Sad discussion.