To commemorate Fortunoff Backyard Store’s 103rd Anniversary, we’re taking you back to the start.

The year was 1922. Max and Clara Fortunoff wheeled a pushcart down the streets of Brooklyn toward the Livonia Market. They called their shop-on-wheels Fortunoff, and from these humble beginnings, a family business was born.

Max began his retail journey young. After emigrating from Russia with his family in 1907, he soon joined his father’s wholesale housewares business following World War I. He met Clara Wichner during these early years, and they were married on February 19, 1922. It was a year for new families and a new business as they worked their pushcart together, selling housewares and other goods until their first child, Majorie Fortunoff, was born in 1923. And as Max and Clara's family grew, welcoming two sons: Lester in 1927 and Alan in 1932, so did their business. Despite the hardship caused by the Great Depression, Max and Clara were able to parlay their pushcart success into a brick-and-mortar storefront in Brooklyn, and now, with three children available to lend a hand, the second generation of Fortunoffs entered the market and got to work.

Lester, Marjorie, Max, Alan, and Clara Fortunoff in front of the original Fortunoff's® location.

The children swept floors, created sales displays, and tended to the windows while always keeping a keen eye on their parents’ business savvy. Max and Clara quickly expanded Fortunoff's ever-growing selection of pots, pans, and other household items as business picked up and new customers shuffled in and out. The Brooklyn store signaled a change in the Fortunoff business model as they doubled down on two key ingredients to their burgeoning success–variety and value. These two principles the Fortunoff children took to heart as they aged into adulthood and reentered the family business with spouses, college degrees, and visions for further expansion.

Majorie returned to Fortunoff a married woman with her husband, Harry Mayrock, the founder of the Mayrock Silver Company. Together, they grew the housewares selection and began to open new Fortunoff Stores in the Brooklyn area.

Customers shopping inside an early Fortunoff's® store.

Lester joined her in this endeavor, specializing in outdoor furniture and holiday decor while Alan and his wife Helene worked on elevating the Fortunoff brand from its "first discount store” moniker to something else entirely. Majorie and Clara fostered Helene’s natural buying instincts, which she perfected during her time managing the shower curtains, bathmats, and luggage department. So, with business booming and their children successfully managing their own Fortunoff departments and locations, Max and Clara eased into retirement in 1957. They left Alan and Majorie in charge of the company while Max and Cara focused on their favorite parts of the business: cookware and window accessories.

Helene Mayrock working behind the jewelry counter in a Fortunoff's® store.

Under new leadership, Fortunoff’s first act of business was expanding into the jewelry industry with Helene at the helm. She made quick work of filling showcases as customers were introduced to a new Fortunoff, one with style, taste, and diamonds. This move was a huge success for Helene and the Fortunoff brand, and the Fortunoff family pooled their resources and departments to create a shopping experience unlike anything else. In 1964, Fortunoff opened a superstore in Westbury, Long Island. The Fortunoff Mall, as the Westbury location was colloquially called, lived up to its superstore status. Boasting over 150,000 square feet of floor space, Fortunoff’s Westbury location carried everything from outdoor furniture to saucepans, blinds, and engagement rings. It provided value, variety, and a shopping experience so compelling, that customers lined up outside of the doors every Sunday to see what was in store for them. And true to the brand, the answer was and always will be: more.

The exterior of Fortunoff's® Westbury store.

The Westbury superstore brought a different kind of success to Fortunoff. It solidified the Fortunoff brand and proved the jewelry department was a successful market, so in 1969, the company expanded it. They opened a Fortunoff Jewelry store on 57th Street to cater to Manhattan’s Upper East Side clientele and another in Paramus shortly after in 1974. At this point, the jewelry department had become a brand under the Fortunoff umbrella with Helene still running the department and business with help from her daughter Esther as a third generation of Fortunoffs joined the family business. These extra hands helped foster further expansion as Fortunoff opened more full-line stores across New Jersey. However, the growth was soon met with loss when Majorie passed away in 1983, leaving Alan to lead the company with help from his children and remaining family. He launched Fortunoff’s first website in 1999 to keep up with the demands of bridal registries and the changing times. Unfortunately, the website launch was one of the last things Alan accomplished before passing away in July of 2000.

Alan Fortunoff standing in front of a sign announcing the new Fortunoff's Jewelry location.

The new millennium was ripe with opportunities. In 2001, Isadore Mayrock, son of Majorie and Harry Mayrock, took an interest in Fortunoff’s outdoor furniture department and opened showrooms dedicated specifically to patio furniture and outdoor accessories across the northeast. However, the Fortunoff family would experience more challenges as the years passed. Retail was rapidly changing. Online shopping became more commonplace, and other passions and obligations called the third generation away from the family business, leading them to sell the business and close all remaining locations.

The exterior of Fortunoff's Backyard Store® Westbury showroom.

In September 2009, David Barish, the CEO of Chair King Backyard Store, purchased the controlling share in Furniture Concepts LLC, better known in the northeast as Fortunoff Backyard Store. With this acquisition, Furniture Concepts LLC became the largest outdoor furniture retailer in America, boasting fifteen Chair King Backyard Stores in Texas and seven Fortunoff Backyard Stores set to open across the northeast by 2010.

An article that covered the purchase of Fortunoff Backyard Store® by Furniture Concepts, LLC that ran in September 2015 edition of 'Hearth & Home.'

By 2015, twelve new Fortunoff Backyard Store showrooms had opened, bringing the store count to nineteen. It was an unprecedented return for the Fortunoff Backyard Store. The communities it once called home wanted it back. They missed the quality, service, and trust the Fortunoff brand had built over the years. Fortunoff Backyard Store was a name people recognized and flocked to for our high-quality outdoor furniture, patio accessories, and holiday decor with the yearly return of Christmas at Fortunoff Backyard Store.

By 2020, Fortunoff Backyard Store opened eight more outdoor furniture showrooms, two of which were in Pennsylvania, a new frontier for the brand. It was a risk, breaking ground in an unfamiliar state and starting fresh with a different community, but it paid off and inspired further expansion. In 2024, Fortunoff Backyard Store opened three showrooms in Virginia. These openings brought our store count to thirty patio furniture showrooms across the northeast, an incredible feat by itself, only rivaled by our 103 years of business and what the next 103 years may bring.

Celebrate our 103rd Anniversary with deals on new outdoor furniture collections and enter to win our Anniversary Sale Giveaway. Do you want to learn more about Fortunoff Backyard Store’s history? Visit our About Us page and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date with the Fortunoff Backyard Store.