Charles Cohen and Daffy’s

Discount clothing retailer Daffy’s is striking back at landlord Cohen Brothers Realty, owner of 135 East 57th Street, five months after the chain store beat back an effort by the building owner to throw it out of its basement retail space where it is paying a below-market rent.

Secaucus, N.J.-based Daffy’s accused Cohen Brothers of poor upkeep of the building resulting in water damaging the retailer’s mostly-underground 54,000 square feet of space, and is seeking more than $5 million, a suit filed in New York State Supreme Court March 10 shows. In addition, the suit claims Daffy’s has been overcharged for air conditioning, electricity and other expenses.
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Discount department store Daffy’s has inked a deal to lease 28,000 square feet in the former New York Times building in Times Square, according to the Wall Street Journal, in a coup for Africa Israel USA, which had been struggling to find tenants there since it purchased the property at the height of the market. Last year, the company changed course at the 750,000-square-foot building, at 229 West 43rd Street, moving to convert it into retail space, a hotel and condominiums instead of attempting to fill it with office tenants. [more]

Discount clothier Daffy’s has generated considerable buzz in the past several weeks with the Daffy’s apartment contest, which promises the winner a year’s lease on a 1,380-square-foot, two-bedroom West Village apartment at 1 Seventh Avenue South on the corner of Clarkson Street for just $700 (some have estimated that the unit’s real rental value is $7,000 per month). Over three weeks in July and August, Daffy’s collected 2,867 video entries and is now calling upon the public to vote for a winner amongst the five finalists. The clip above, which will air tonight at Daffy’s Fashion’s Night Out party from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., is a compilation of the many contestant submissions. An additional prize, the Daffy’s Closet, featuring $1,000 worth of clothes, will be on the block at Daffy’s Soho and Upper East Side locations. TRD

Even though the stock market is rising, national and local landlords are bearing the brunt of the recession, especially when the tenants are jewelry retailers. A National Jeweler article noted that the top 50 North American jewelry chains have closed 891 retail locations in 2009. Last week, the fine jewelry retailer, Finlay Enterprises and its subsidiary Finlay Fine Jewelry, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company had 182 department store-based jewelry departments and stand-alone jewelry stores at the end of the second quarter ending August 1, including 67 Bailey Banks & Biddle, 34 Carlyle and four Congress specialty jewelry stores and 77 licensed counters with Bon Ton department stores. [more]

To compete with luxury department stores that are now advertising lower
priced products, discount clothing chain Daffy’s is starting a contest.
The prize is a one-year lease at $700 per month for a furnished apartment at One Seventh Avenue South in the West
Village. The apartment usually rents for $7,000 per month. To win,
people must go to a Daffy’s store between July 23 and August 14 and make a 30-second video about why
they deserve to win the apartment. The company will choose five
finalists and the public will select the winner from videos posted on
the company Web site. Daffy’s has 17 stores in New York and northern
New Jersey.