8 SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Century 21 in Rego Center mall, located at 61-35 Junction Blvd., is among the department store’s branches closing down. Photo by Angélica Acevedo
Rego Park Center braces for Century 21’s
closure after company fi les for bankruptcy
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Century 21 Stores announced it
will be fi ling for bankruptcy
and closing all 13 of its locations,
including their only store in Queens
located in Rego Park.
The New York-based discount
department store was one of the fi rst
businesses to open within the Rego
Park Center in 2010, with 134,000
square-feet worth of space.
Century 21 is fi ling for bankruptcy
in Manhattan federal court, blaming
insurers for non-payment of $175
million they say they were due under
policies after business was interrupted
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few days after Century 21 announced
the closure, shoppers waited
to take advantage of their “going out of
business” sale with up to 30 percent in
discounts on a line that stretched from
the store’s main entrance toward the
back of the adjoining parking garage.
Queens Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO Tom Grech told
QNS the closure of Century 21 is “terrible
news for retail everywhere and
for retail in Queens.”
“It just reinforces my eff orts at the
Queens Chamber of Commerce to
truly buy and shop local whenever
people can,” said Grech. “With almost
a million New Yorkers unemployed,
every job matters and every job, now,
is essential — especially to the families
of the workers that lose their jobs
through no fault of their own.”
The store, which has been around
for nearly 60 years, has six locations
in New York City, including the store
in Rego Park, two in Brooklyn (the
original store was located in Bay
Ridge), two in Manhattan, three in
Manhattan and two on Long Island.
They also have stores in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Florida.
Century 21 told New York State’s Department
of Labor it will lay off 1,147
employees across all its stores. Rego
Park’s Century 21 had 157 employees.
Before the pandemic forced New
York City to shut down, IKEA was
slated to open at Rego Center in summer
2020. But that opening — which
would have been the fi rst branch of
the furniture giant in Queens — was
pushed down to the fall due to the
pandemic.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowed malls
to reopen at half capacity on Sept. 9,
after almost six months of being
closed.
Rego Center did not respond to QNS’
request for comment.
News of Century 21’s closure comes
as New York City and the nation face
an economic crisis as a result of the
pandemic. Within the last few months,
national chains like Lord & Taylor and
Men’s Warehouse announced they
will also shut their doors and fi le for
bankruptcy.
Small business across New York
City have also been struggling to
make ends meet, and have called for
the city and state to enact immediate
policy to prevent an economic collapse.
One of their demands includes a law
to mandate insurance companies pay
businesses the claims they are owed.
Century 21’s founders, the Gindi
family, wrote a letter to their loyal
customers, stating they did everything
they could to save the business.
“Sadly, while we have extensive
business interruption insurance –
which helped us to rebuild aft er we
suff ered the impact of 9/11 – nonpayment
by our insurers under our
policies has forced us to begin a wind
down process that we fought hard
to avoid,” their letter read. “We are
beyond proud of the pioneering role
that Century 21 has played in off -price
retail, revamping the traditional industry
model to allow those who love
fashion as much as we do to access
true designer merchandise at steep
discounts.”
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