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Iconic New York Discount Luxury Store Reopens After Pandemic Bust 

A customers shops during the reopening of the Century 21 flagship department store in New York City on May 16, 2023. (AFP)
A customers shops during the reopening of the Century 21 flagship department store in New York City on May 16, 2023. (AFP)
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Iconic New York Discount Luxury Store Reopens After Pandemic Bust 

A customers shops during the reopening of the Century 21 flagship department store in New York City on May 16, 2023. (AFP)
A customers shops during the reopening of the Century 21 flagship department store in New York City on May 16, 2023. (AFP)

Forced to shutter during the Covid-19 pandemic, discount luxury goods store Century21 reopened its flagship location in Manhattan on Tuesday, drawing elated crowds of bargain hunters back to the New York institution.

Shoppers traversed the city and even state borders to line up from as early as 6:00 am to be some of the first to enter the legendary Big Apple department store near the World Trade Center complex in lower Manhattan.

Under red balloons and to the applause of Century21 owners the Gindi family, the first shoppers shouted with joy as they entered the store after three years of closure due to the pandemic, which brought New York to its knees in 2020 and 2021.

"It means so much to the people of New York," said 63-year-old Gale Kaplan, who traveled from Brooklyn across the East River for the reopening.

"During 9/11 it closed and when it reopened, everybody was so joyful, so to see it able to come back after Covid, it feels like a real new blossoming of New York and I'm just thrilled to be back here shopping."

Brooklyn was the home of the first iteration of Century21, founded in 1961 and decked with clothes and accessories from coveted brands such as Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Guess, Levi's, Kate Spade, Helmut Lang, but at end of stock reduced prices that defied all competition.

'The best store'

Melody White, 62, traveled from the borough of Queens to get in line by 6:00 am.

"I was really, really upset when they closed because it's the best store, you could get the best buys, nice clothes, everything."

Kaplan was "more excited standing on line to the Century21 opening than I was on line for the Sistine Chapel," she said.

"That's how happy I am."

Also all smiles, Century21 vice president Eddie Gindi said Tuesday was "an incredible day for us."

"Right now we're making history," he said, more than 20 years after almost disappearing after the September 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the twin towers at the nearby World Trade Center, and three years after the company filed for bankruptcy as New York was battered by the pandemic.

"We don't take this for granted," he said.

New York Mayor Eric Adams, who has put the economic and touristic recovery of the megalopolis at the heart of his policies -- despite inflation -- was also celebrating, hugging the Gindi family in the store, its aisles again stacked with merchandise.

"When they had to close, it just broke their hearts. And all they thought about is how do we come back?... How do we serve the people? It was a main anchor for our tourists, they would come here and line up and shop, to see the good products that we had in all places," he said.

For Gindi, the grand reopening of Century21 "is bringing back the spirit of New York City like no other company can do because we are part of the thread of New York City," one of the world's leading economic and commercial centers.

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Fashion

80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
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80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

L.L. Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it's a must-have summer fashion accessory, The Associated Press reported.

The simple, sturdy canvas bag called the Boat and Tote is having an extended moment 80 years after its introduction, thanks to a social media trend in which they're monogrammed with ironic or flashy phrases.

New Yorker Gracie Wiener helped get it started by ordering her humble bags from L.L. Bean monogrammed with “Psycho” and then “Prada,” the pricey Italian luxury brand, instead of just her name or initials, and posting about them on Instagram. Then others began showcasing their own unique bags on TikTok.

Soon, it wasn’t enough to have a bag monogrammed with “Schlepper,” “HOT MESS,” “slayyyy” or “cool mom.” Customers began testing the limits of the human censors in L.L. Bean’s monogram department, which bans profanity “or other objectionable words or phrases,” with more provocative wording like “Bite me,” “Dum Blonde” and “Ambitchous.”

Social media fueled the surge, just as it did for Stanley’s tumblers and Trader Joe’s $2.99 canvas bags, which were once selling on eBay for $200, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at Circana, which tracks consumer spending and trends.
The tote’s revival came at a time when price-conscious consumers were forgoing expensive handbags, sales of which have weakened, and L.L. Bean’s bag fit the bill as a functional item that’s trendy precisely because it’s not trendy, she said. L.L. Bean's regular bags top out at about $55, though some fancier versions cost upward of $100.
“There’s a trend toward the utilitarian, the simple things and more accessible price points,” she said, and the customization added to the appeal: “Status items don’t have to be designer price points.”

L.L. Bean’s tote was first advertised in a catalog as Bean’s Ice Carrier in 1944 during World War II, when ice chests were common. Then they disappeared before being reintroduced in 1965 as the Boat and Tote.

These days, they’re still made in Maine and are still capable of hauling 500 pounds of ice, but they are far more likely to carry laptops, headphones, groceries, books, beach gear, travel essentials and other common items.

Those snarky, pop-oriented phrases transformed them into a sassy essential and helped them spread beyond Maine, Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and other New England enclaves to places like Los Angeles and New York City, where fashionistas like Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker are toting them — but not necessarily brandished with ironic phrases.

“It’s just one of those things that makes people smile and makes people laugh, and it’s unexpected,” said Wiener, who got it all started with her @ironicboatandtote Instagram page, which she started as a fun side hustle from her job as social media manager for Air Mail, a digital publication launched by former Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter.

The folks at L.L. Bean were both stunned and pleased by the continuing growth. For the past two years, the Boat and Tote has been L.L. Bean’s No. 1 contributor to luring in new customers, and sales grew 64% from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, spokesperson Amanda Hannah said.

The surge in popularity is reminiscent of L.L. Bean’s traditional hunting shoe, the iconic staple for trudging through rain and muck, which enjoyed its own moment a few years back, driven by college students.