As with so many other retailers in Chapter 11, Fortunoff, whose assets will be auctioned, is the kind of valuable name that might find a buyer in normal times – but now, no one knows. (Court documents can be found at this site.)
One vendor raises an interesting point: “Who in their right mind will sell to [NRDC-owned] Lord and Taylor now? That’s the next one they might let go.”
He continues: “The people at Fortunoff did their best, but NRDC just pulled the rug out from under them. December sales were pretty good. They barely owned the company 11 months. They could have at least finished paying off their Christmas sales. Why hurt their vendors two years in a row?”
Whatever happens with the stores, the editor of Home Textiles Today notes there still might be bidders for the Fortunoff name. (Infomercials!?) Certainly, it’s a name known by anyone on the East Coast. I looked on youtube for the Lauren Bacall commercials for Fortunoff that aired constantly when I was growing up, but couldn’t find any. But I was, through the magic of ebay, able to find copies of the print ads. Enjoy. (It looks like there is some weird photo-doctoring in the second one.)
Follow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
