The History of Alexander’s Department Stores looks back at one of the most loved department store chains to serve New Yorkers in the 20th century. While Alexander’s Department Stores eventually opened in various locations throughout the New York area, New Jersey, Connecticut, and other locations, it was the chain’s Fordham Road store in the Bronx that holds so many special memories for generations of New Yorkers.
Of course, so do many of the others. However, ask any Bronx native about their Bronx upbringing and eventually the store Alexander’s will be brought into the conversation. It was the place where so many people shopped on a constant basis. Much like the A&P, the corner candy store, Woolworth’s, and Korvettes, Alexander’s was a huge part of the daily lives of New Yorkers in the 20th century.
This article presents the history of the store followed by tales of real New Yorkers and their experiences shopping and even working at Alexander’s Department Stores. Those memories are an essential part of this story because Alexander’s was not simply a retail chain. For many families, it was part of growing up in New York.
History of Alexander’s Department Stores
The history of Alexander’s Department Stores began with George Farkas. George got his start in retail by working at his father’s dress shop in Brooklyn, New York, when he was just eight years old. After an earlier small retail venture, he founded the larger Alexander’s store in 1928 in the Bronx on Third Avenue, naming it after his late father, Alexander. George invested $7,500 in the store. Historical accounts credit the location with roughly $500,000 in sales during its first year.
Alexander’s expanded in the 1930s, adding the important Fordham Road and Grand Concourse location in the Bronx in 1933. This location would eventually become the business’s headquarters. The chain soon became a bargain hunter’s paradise. One of its famous advertising slogans was “You’ll find Alexander’s has what you’re looking for; how lucky can you get?”
George Farkas preferred purchasing property instead of leasing space for many of his stores. The real estate strategy helped control occupancy costs and became enormously important later in the company’s history. Alexander’s locations became known for extremely high sales volumes per square foot during the chain’s heyday. The company billed itself as operating the “world’s largest apparel stores” and focused on providing fashionable clothing at prices middle-class shoppers could afford.
Alexander’s stores were a unique mixture of discount and department stores. Their merchandise buyers became experts in acquiring current fashions at discount prices and passing those savings on to consumers. Some manufacturers did not want it widely known that shoppers could find merchandise comparable to goods sold by higher-priced retailers at Alexander’s for less.
Alexander’s continued expanding after World War II. New outlets opened in White Plains in 1951 and Rego Park in Queens in 1959. The company acquired property for a major Manhattan flagship near East 59th Street and Lexington Avenue in 1963, and the seven-level store opened in 1965. Other locations in Paramus, New Jersey, and Milford, Connecticut, were also added during the 1950s and 1960s.
A private holding company known as Farbro Corporation controlled Alexander’s Department Stores during the 1960s. The holding company was owned by George Farkas along with his wife and their four children. One of George’s relatives, Louis Schwadron, decided to sell his 38 percent share in Alexander’s to rival E.J. Korvette. George and his family declined the offer to sell their majority interest in the company to Korvettes, which was owned by Spartan Industries at the time.
Alexander’s went public in 1968 during the battle over control of the company. Around 40 percent of the company’s outstanding shares were sold to the public. George Farkas stepped down from active leadership later that year because of health concerns, and his son Alexander S. Farkas became chief executive.
Kmart, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, and other retailers competed increasingly for Alexander’s customers during the 1970s. Despite the competition, the company continued growing. Shopping center outlets were added in Long Island’s Garden City in 1971; Eatontown and Edison, New Jersey, in 1972; Flushing, Queens, in 1975; and Mohegan Lake and Yonkers in 1977. Alexander’s also operated at the World Trade Center during the decade.
Alexander’s primarily sold clothing and accessories during the 1970s. Customers could only pay for purchases by check or cash until credit card payments were first accepted in 1972. The company purchased the women’s apparel chain Margo’s La Mode Inc. in 1978. The retailer had approximately seventy stores across five states. Alexander’s sold the business three years later after the venture produced substantial losses.
More changes took place during the 1980s. Interstate Properties took a controlling interest in Alexander’s in 1980 following a proxy battle. Alexander S. Farkas left the company four years later, and his brother Robin became chief executive.
Alexander’s added more product lines in an effort to boost sagging sales. The company remained profitable through 1987, when annual revenue exceeded $500 million, but losses followed as the decade ended. Poor performance contributed to store closings including Eatontown, Westchester County locations, Edison, White Plains, and Milford.
Additional ownership changes complicated the company’s final retail years. Donald Trump acquired a major interest in Alexander’s in 1986. By the end of the decade, Trump and Interstate Properties were major shareholders locked in a struggle over the company and the enormous value of its real estate. Trump later lost control of his Alexander’s shares after they had been pledged in connection with a Citibank loan guarantee.
Alexander’s tried new tactics to stay afloat. A new retail store opened in the Bronx in 1990. This location had housewares, luggage, and automotive departments in addition to the traditional clothing offerings found in many Alexander’s locations. The company moved away from consumer electronics after finding it difficult to compete profitably in that category.
Why Did Alexander’s Department Stores Close?
Alexander’s retail business collapsed in 1992 after several years of heavy losses and conflict over the company’s future. On May 15, 1992, Alexander’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced the closing of its eleven remaining stores. Approximately 5,600 employees were affected.
The collapse ended sixty-four years of Alexander’s retailing, but it did not end Alexander’s as a corporation. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 1993 and increasingly concentrated on the real estate that had become more valuable than the retail stores themselves.
This is an important correction to the story often told about Alexander’s: the company did not become Vornado Realty Trust. Alexander’s, Inc. still exists. It later became a real estate investment trust and continues to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ALX. Vornado Realty Trust is a major shareholder and manages, develops, and leases Alexander’s properties.
In 2026, Alexander’s, Inc. continues to own New York City real estate, including 731 Lexington Avenue, the Rego Center complex in Queens, The Alexander apartment tower, and a retail property in Flushing. The department stores vanished in 1992, but the corporate descendant of the chain and the real estate strategy George Farkas embraced decades earlier are still very much alive.
Memories of Alexander’s Department Stores
While most people have wonderful memories of shopping at Alexander’s in the 20th century, there is a select group of people who might not necessarily agree. That would be the children of the mothers and grandmothers who dragged their kids shopping to Alexander’s Department Stores. My mom, June K, is the most wonderful, loving, caring person I have ever known, but as a young kid in the 1960s, I cringed when I heard her say, “Get on your jacket; we are going to Alexander’s.” I knew that meant getting on the bus at 206th Street in the Bronx and taking that ride to the Fordham Road Alexander’s, where it would soon become hours and hours of browsing, shopping, and pure delight and joy for my mom, and nothing but misery for me.
We would get off the bus at Fordham Road, and there would be Alexander’s Department Store standing there, waiting to engulf me for the next four hours, or maybe even more. It was amazing how big that store looked in comparison to everything else on Fordham Road. For a kid like me, it felt like Will Smith entering that Alien ship in Independence Day. As we went through the front doors, that smell of clothing and wood and plastic tables would almost knock me out instantly. It seemed like the store had thousands of moms all searching for that perfectly priced piece of clothing that they could get nowhere else. This was over 50 years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday.
Something very strange happened to many moms and grandmothers when they took their kids and grandchildren to Alexander’s. Many of them would forget they actually brought their kids with them. Now, maybe this was just because they were not worried so much about possible kidnappers or other devious older people in the 60s, but I think it was simply the fact that prices were so unbelievably low, it affected certain degrees of parental judgment. This is a phenomenon that should have actually been studied.
As my mom was browsing every single rack of clothing and looking at every wooden table for bargains, I would run into other kids in the exact situation. Alexander’s had tables with big drawers. Inside the drawers, we kids would find clear plastic clips that I guess were used to fold clothing. By taking these clips and pulling them apart quickly, the edge of the clip would shoot 20 feet into the air at supersonic speeds. We kids would play war games against each other or simply just shoot them at adults and then hide. Occasionally, the other kid I was playing war games with would get smacked in the back of their head by their mother, or I would hear the words “try this on.” This is how kids survived shopping at Alexander’s with their moms. And yes, of course, if my mom asked me to go shopping with her today, it would probably bring me right back to that experience….and I would jump at the chance to do it again.
More Memories of Alexander’s
As I was completing this History of Alexander’s Department Store article, it was clear to me that it needed the voice of others who experienced shopping or working at Alexander’s. I joined an Alexander’s Facebook Group and asked if anyone would like to share their memories of Alexander’s. I received many responses from this incredibly friendly group instantly. Below are the exact words, unedited, from those who wanted to share their experience. To me, it is not just the stories they share; it’s the desire to share them that is just as important. It’s the urge by these great people to say yes! I am a New Yorker, and I am part of the story…… the story of Alexander’s Department Stores….
To protect privacy, only first names were used
From Cristine D
We shopped in Paramus and Fordham Rd. I was the youngest of 6, I had 5 older brothers. My Mom was able to buy so much for us for so little.
My favorite story was while shopping with her in the Paramus store when I was about 4 years old and I decided to hide under a rack. This was in 1964 so my Mom never worried back then about not having hold of my hand lol
Well a nice salesman saw my feet and stopped to ask if I was lost. He then said let’s find your Mommy and put me on the sales desk until my mom saw me!
15 years later my first job in the city was in the Alexander’s Buying office on 7th avenue. Both great memories!
Linda S
My family and I would always shop there. And also I worked in Shipping and Receiving Dept on Fordham Rd this was probably around 1982.
Beverly B
I too shopped at the Fordham Road store when I was young. Even though we lived on the Lower Eastside, I always wanted my new school clothes from there. We would travel uptown to shop. It was the best thing when Lexington 59th st opened. I had to work there and did. Many stories….one that was good but so embarrassing was when Jonathan Farkas came down to the receiving department and into my Posner room. He’s looking around and being that I didn’t know who he was, I threw him out. Oh boy, that was the talk for a long time. Great that he was young and laughed about it later. It also helped that Marvin Levine was the fantastic boss that he was.
Sandy F
Anyone shop as a kid with their parents and then end up working their as an adult ? I went to white plains store with my parents and starting working at Yonkers location then transferred to Executive Personnel and to the General Office.
Nancy C
When I was about 5 a friend of the family took me to shop at the Fordham store. Her baby daughter was in a baby carriage. When we got to the store, she told me to stay outside with the carriage while she went in to buy a purse, and that she would be out in few minutes. Having little concept of time, I became scared. And decided to go in and see where she was. The sales lady put me up on the counter , while I cried! The lady showed up, we hurried outside. And little Patricia was asleep in the carriage. Those were the days………
Tom M
I worked at the Rego Park Store from 1976-1980. I worked in the Health and Beauty Aids Dept., affectionately known as the Drug Department. I was a stock boy for most of my time there. Upon graduation from college, I worked there as a manager’s assistant for 6 months. I met many of my lifetime friends there. Some of the more interesting aspects of the Rego Park store are as follows: first, the bakery. On Saturdays, we would have a volunteer named Pat who would sneak out for bagels and orange juice. I say sneak because if caught, you received a write-up. The second uniqueness of Rego Park was I believe this was the only store that had their own liquor department. Not only did they have name brands they also had Alexander private label for some liquors. Rego, also had a heliport for the executive helicopter. Not a readily known fact.
Additionally, I was friends with the carpenters and learned a lot about the inner workings of the building and was often “pulled” from my regular job to “assist” the carpenters. Alexander’s was also a great place to meet girls. Most afternoon and evening cashiers were all female students. Yes, there was a lot of dating going on within the store. The managers, in many cases, were just a few years older than us, and with many we all became friends. One of the “stress” parts for the managers was inventory night. This happened 2x a year, where we counted the entire inventory of the store on both the selling floor and stock room. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation. After this was completed, we would then go to a local pub on Queens Blvd. named Walsh’s Pub to partake in some well-earned beers and a lot of laughs. There are many more stories to talk about, but these are the fun ones. Ask former employees about Inventory night; you may get some interesting stories.
Mike D
With regard to Alexanders. It was one of the few businesses that allowed women to assume high-level management positions during the 1960s and 70s. Also, I worked security at the Fordham store from 1976-77 before transferring to Yonkers, which opened in August of 1977. I was undoubtedly the worst guard Fordham ever had. Lol. However, there was one security guard who was incredibly talented in spotting shoplifters. His name was Harvey G. He worked the main door on the corner of Fordham Rd and the Grand Concourse. Harvey could look at a customer and tell who a shoplifter was. He always got it right. At the time, uniformed guards were paid 35% of whatever they recovered on top of their hourly pay. Harvey was so efficient he was making more money than the store managers. He was truly gifted.
More New York Department Store History
Readers interested in the stores that shaped everyday shopping in New York can continue with our histories of Korvettes, Gimbels, Lord & Taylor, Sears, Roebuck and Co., and Woolworth’s.
Introductions to Memories and History sections written by Brian Kachejian. History section written by Aaron Backes.
This article is dedicated to my loving mom June and her loving mom Grandma Brophy.
Sources
Alexander’s Facebook Group
We Are New York Facebook Group
Eisenstadt, P. E. (2005). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Jackson, Kenneth T. The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
Alexander’s, Inc., current company information and SEC filings.
UPI Archives, May 15, 1992, report on Alexander’s Chapter 11 filing and store closings.
Updated August 11, 2026.
History and Tales of Alexander’s Department Stores article published on ClassicNewYorkHistory.com © 2026
