What is "fortunoff"

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 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.

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: 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; 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.

Fortunoff now does business as an online jewelry retailer, as well as operating its Backyard Stores.