Hoffritz for Cutlery

Hoffritz for Cutlery was a specialty retail chain selling cutlery, primarily in the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1932 in New York City, it grew slowly into a 23 store chain by the mid-1970s. After being bought out of the Federal's bankruptcy in 1975, it grew further, reaching a peak in the early 1990s of 110 stores in 33 states. But the rapid expansion, and a failed attempt to go public, led to the company's bankruptcy in 1994.

Hoffritz for Cutlery
SuccessorLifetime Hoan
Founded1932
Defunct1996
HeadquartersNew York
Key people
Edwin Jay Hoffritz (founder), Federal's chain, Leonard and Joel Silver (owners 1975-end)
ProductsCutlery, Swiss army knifes, scissors, specialty retail
Underground location at 33rd St in Manhattan, 1948
A Hoffritz branded straight edge razor.

History

Edwin Jay Hoffritz (1895-1973), born in Ridgewood, Queens, got his first job as a cleaner at a Manhattan cutlery business, and became a cutlery expert. He would travel to Europe annually as a buyer for a department store. Eventually, he left the store around 1928 and started a cutlery business as "Hoffritz & Boschen", located in the Hotel McAlpin at 1292 Broadway.[1] By 1932, the store was just Hoffritz. A 1941 profile of Hoffritz in the Brooklyn Eagle, when he now had three locations, wrote that "hundreds in all walks of life now beat a track daily to his shops at 551 Fifth Ave., 331 Madison Ave., and 1292 Broadway. He has any kind of scissors from a dainty silver one-inch blade affair with which proud clumsy fathers can safely trim the fragile pink nails of a new-born baby, to the fierce-looking machete or dagger. As for knives: housewives can stock a kitchen with dozens of styles of paring, peeling and slicing knives" among many others.[2] He also offered countless types of pocketknives as well.[2][3][4][5][6]

By 1951, the business had grown to six retail locations.[7][8]

The Federal's chain eventually acquired Hoffritz. Federal's filed for bankrtupcy in 1972, at which time the Hoffitz chain consisted of 23 stores: 16 in New York, three in New Jersey, and one store each in Connecticut, Florida, Texas, and Wisconsin.[9]

In 1975, brothers Joel and Leonard Silver bought Hoffritz out of the Federal's bankruptcy proceedings in a leveraged buyout.[3] Growth then continued. As of February 1984, the chain had 52 locations in 15 states.[10] By 1990, the chain was up to 81 stores.[3] It also bought the assets of Cutlery World, Inc., a 95-store chain (mostly in California and Florida) that had gone into bankruptcy.[3]

And soon after, at its peak, it had grown to 110 stores in 33 states, with sales of nearly $50 million per year.[3] But expansion plans went awry, and a planned public stock offering was rejected. In 1992, the company had sales of $18.4 million, and reported a loss of $2.6 million.[3] Complaints were made that the Silvers paid themselves too handsomely.[3] The chain filed for bankruptcy in August 1994.[11] By December 1994, only five stores remained, all in the New York City metropolitan area.[3]

In September 1995, Lifetime Hoan acquired the rights to the Hoffritz name, planning to market products under the name in other stores and via catalogs. The remaining Hoffritz stores were required to close or change their name by January 31, 1996.[11]

Products

Hoffritz was well known for selling Swiss Army knives. Near Hoffritz's end in 1993-94, its Swiss Army knife suppliers cut them off for non-payment. Precise International resumed supplying them on a "pay as you go" basis (despite still being owed a significant sum), knowing it was their only chance. Precise's president said "the names of Hoffritz and Swiss Army knives are synonymous, so if we had decided not to ship to them, they would die.[3]

References
  1. Hoffritz & Boschen Start Cutlery Store, The American Cutler (1928) ("who have signed a ten-year lease for a store located on the Broadway side of the McAlpin Hotel, New York City, to conduct a high-grade cutlery store ...")
  2. Meet Leading Authority on Cutlery, Brooklyn Daily Eagle (April 1, 1941, p. 15, evening edition)
  3. Trying a Jump-Start at Hoffritz, The New York Times (December 17, 1994)
  4. Expanding Firms Get Quarters in Midtown, The New York Times (May 7, 1936) ("Hoffritz, Inc., a cutlery firm with a store in the McAlpin Hotel, leased for a new unit space in the Prudence Building at Madison Avenue and Forty-third Street.")
  5. Mrs. Edward Hoffritz (death notice), The New York Times (April 20, 1951) (Notes death of Emma Mattes Hoffritz of Franklin Square, Long Island, mother of Edwin Hoffritz, owner of Hoffritz Cutlery shops, at age 80. Widow of Edward Hoffritz)
  6. Business Leases, The New York Times (October 11, 1937) (notes "Hoffritz for cutlery store" leasing basement and mezzanine space in the Fred F. French Building at 551 5th Ave.)
  7. <Hoffitz Opening Sixth Shop, The New York Times (October 25, 1951)
  8. Hoffritz Acquires East Side Building, The New York Times (October 27, 1944)
  9. Federal's Inc., Lancaster Eagle-Gazette (September 9, 1972)
  10. PHILIP H. DOUGHERTY (February 14, 1984). "Symon Adds Hoffritz". The New York Times. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
  11. "LIFETIME HOAN BUYS HOFFRITZ CUTLERY BRAND NAME". The New York Times. September 21, 1995. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
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