Lord & Taylor Returns To Home Furnishings

Lord & Taylor has announced a plan for the overhaul of its historic Fifth Avenue flagship. Chairman of  L&T and now Fortunoff parent NRDC Equity Partners, Richard Baker announced plans to convert two floors into  a home department. Most had speculated that the flagship would be downsized with the vacated floors being turned to office space, however, the recent acquisition of Fortunoff now gives the chain easy entrée into a business it abandoned decades ago, and allows it to compete on a more even field with Bloomingdale's and Macy's.
In addition, Fortunoff will also take over Lord & Taylor's leased jewelry departments this February when their current operator's contract expires. We're not sure if any of these new departments will be co-branded with Fortunoff. While NRDC would probably love to have that kind of exposure for their new but troubled acquisition, we tend to think that L&T would be far better off as brand if the lease arrangements remained invisible to customers.
It's really all up to Baker and Jane Elfers, the chain's president and CEO. Fortunoff's home furnishings departments are to be tested in suburban Lord & Taylor branches before they are implemented in Manhattan, but we are really looking forward to see how the main store finally gets re-configured. There's no store in the city that needs it more.
L&T Considers International Growth, Fifth Ave. Flagship Renovation (WWD)