At Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse in 1999, I passed two dead stores in the same building. For decades this was the flagship location of Alexander’s, the department store founded in 1928 by New Yorker Alexander Farkas. After the Grand Concourse branch opened in 1933 it became the largest company store in NYC. Farkas, who died in 1999, outlived his company, as Alexander’s went bankrupt and closed its eleven remaining stores, including this one, in 1992.
Alexander’s was succeeded on the Concourse by a Caldor department store branch. The company was founded in 1951 by Carl and Dorothy Bennett in Port Chester, NY. Like Alexander’s, it offered discounted merchandise. In 1999, Caldor followed other discounters like Hearns, Korvettes, Two Guys and W.t. Grant into extinction.
Today the building is occupied by a number of retailers including Marshalls and PC Richard.
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3/31/17