As off-price retailer Century 21 gets closer to opening its anticipated Upper West Side location, it has been quietly working to grow its Financial District flagship by about 40%. The New York City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises has approved the store's plans to add 76,200 square feet to its store at 22 Cortlandt Street by capturing the fourth, fifth and sixth floors in the building above which had been office space, but are currently empty. That would bring the store's footprint up to a whopping 196,500 square feet —sizable by anyone's standards. While the store is already pretty big, it has never been a paragon of efficient store design with merchandise crammed into every available corner. Though popular, Century 21 has traditionally offered customers a challenging, crowded shopping experience even at off-peak hours, so the additional space could change the character of the store dramatically.
As for the upcoming West Side store (above), the several months that Century 21 has been taking to gut-renovate the former Barnes & Noble's 61,000 square feet in the Lincoln Square area, suggesting that the company is paying a lot more attention to store design. Shiny new signs have recently appeared on the building, which may mean that the store's "Fall 2011" opening date is coming closer.
Century 21 Flagship Growing Up, Big Time (Crain's)








