Century 21 to return to South Korea in late 2021

The New York based discounted price department store has announced it will return to South Korea this autumn.

The quintessentially New Yorker chain went bankrupt in September and liquidated its 13 stores in New York, Florida and Pennsylvania. Now, it is reported to be working on its comeback to the Asian country, reports the ‘New York Post’.

The Gindi family operated department store chain would have secured a licensing deal to open a nine-story, 100,000-square-foot store in the city of Busan, in South Korea, where it had a strong following, according to Women’s Wear Daily (WWD).

Recently, the Gindis hired an ex-Coach and ex-Kenneth Cole executive, Marc Benitez, as president of the company.

In an interview with WWD, Benitez told the publication that the Gindi’s will likely open another New York City store but for now they are in conversations to open stores overseas first. “International expansion, including but not limited to Asia, has always been a part of our long term strategic plans prior to the pandemic,” said Benitez.

It’s worth recalling that in December, the Gindi family, along with a private investor, purchased the intellectual property for the brand for 9 million dollars after 34 rounds of bidding, which opened at 800,000 dollars, per court documents.