Next Thursday marks the first anniversary of the storied off-pricer’s return to business with a single site at 22 Cortlandt Street — its original flagship situated in Manhattan’s financial district.
In the following Q&A, Mentzer details how Century 21 has evolved in the year since it reopened, how it differentiates from competitors and what the future holds for the famed retailer.“While we are in the same location, the footprint is not quite half the size. It’s about 100,000 square feet, gross, with approximately 70,000 square feet selling over four floors. We don’t carry some of the categories we had in the past, specifically a lot of the home categories, children’s shoes and lingerie.
We are going after beauty in a different way, not with vendor-installed counters. We don’t think customers are coming to us for beauty per se, traditional beauty. We do offer pickup items. Every time you come into the store there are beauty and skin care items that are more like grab and go. Like our apparel offering, it’s an ever-changing beauty offering.