Fortunoff families re-acquire the Fortunoff brand

15-Jul-2009

“The start of a thoughtful strategy that honors past excellence through future opportunities.”

The Fortunoff and Mayrock families, who owned and operated Fortunoff for four generations, have purchased all of the intellectual property of Fortunoff, including the brand name and related trademarks, customer lists, software, domain names, and all copyrighted material. Their decision to purchase the brand name is part of what David Fortunoff describes as, “the start of a thoughtful strategy that honors past excellence and consumer loyalty with future retail opportunities.”

Mr. Fortunoff explained, “When the family sold the Fortunoff company in 2005 we fully expected the brand to continue far into the future. No one could envision that it would stumble, be sold and then close during the height of a stinging recession. Far more painful to us was the loss of jobs for retail professionals we had worked with for decades. We could never imagine the Fortunoff brand name going into free fall when it has served as a retail icon for as long as anyone can remember. It has been a stunning series of events and we decided to redeem the Fortunoff brand.”

How the families will move forward with the Fortunoff brand will be the subject of study and opportunity. Mr. Fortunoff continued, “It is clear that retail is a bellweather of consumer confidence and disposable income. Against that backdrop we intend to proceed with deliberate caution in determining where, when and how we utilize this powerful retail brand as the recession takes it s course.”

Isidore Mayrock explained, “For years the Fortunoff name was the envy of every other retailer. It created enormous consumer loyalty and trust. It was solidly profitable, enjoyed instant recognition far beyond our market area and was consistently innovative in its product selection and presentation. All of that was sorely tested following our sale of the company. We believe that by recapturing the brand we now have the means to appeal to a loyal consumer base through a variety of retail platforms at an appropriate time.”

Mr. Fortunoff noted, “It would be premature to speculate on what those platforms might be, but no one knows better than our family what the Fortunoff name means to generations of shoppers here and throughout the United States. It is time for us to create a thoughtful strategy that honors past excellence through future opportunities.”

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Contact: Rubenstein Associates 212 843-8010 / Gary Lewi