Bay Ridge's Old Century 21 Is Coming Back as a Grocery Block
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
The stretch of 86th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues has been a demolition site since December 2, 2025. This is the sixth holiday season since Century 21 closed its Bay Ridge store for good on December 6, 2020. That store opened in 1961 and anchored the corridor for decades. In the week it closed, Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann told the Brooklyn Reporter that the store "has served as our local mom and pop department store." She said she had been "hearing from so many who miss shopping at Century 21 during the holidays."
Most of the businesses lined up for that land are grocers. Trader Joe's is confirmed, Burlington has signed, and a SuperFresh is planned for the building behind it. A block that people used to visit for big seasonal shopping trips is being rebuilt as a place to stop every week.
Since the Trader Joe's announcement, people have been talking about "the Century 21 site" as if it were one project. It's actually two. Former Council Member Justin Brannan told Brooklyn Paper in December 2025 that the old Century 21 properties were sold separately, not as one big parcel.
The split explains a lot. Two ownership groups on the same block can run on different schedules, sign different tenants and finance their projects separately. The Gindi family, who founded Century 21 at this location in 1961, had floated plans for a sprawling retail destination before those were dropped in 2024, Brooklyn Paper reported. The two-buyer setup replaced that single plan.
When the leases were first announced in August, the grocer was unnamed, and Burlington got less attention, even though Burlington's lease is far larger. Commercial Observer reported that Burlington signed for 44,070 square feet at Century Marketplace and the grocery store for 16,042 square feet. Together those two leases bring the center to 65 percent leased. In October, Brooklyn Paper confirmed that the grocer is Trader Joe's.
That means the most talked-about tenant takes up a little over a third of the space Burlington does. Burlington is the closest thing on the block to the old Century 21: a discount retailer selling designer goods on a large floor. Trader Joe's is the weekly reason to come.
The remaining space points in the same direction. Plans include room for two junior anchors and 15,000 square feet of smaller street-facing shops. Before demolition, Amy Bonitz, managing director of community development at MCB, told Brooklyn Paper that the plan was "new retail and food spaces designed for smaller tenants." She said they would complement existing 86th Street neighbors such as Banana Republic, Sephora, Victoria's Secret and Pandora. If SuperFresh takes the ground floor at 423 88th Street, the old Century 21 footprint would hold two supermarkets, one on each side of the block.
Two full grocery stores already operate a block and a half in either direction from the Century Marketplace site, News 12 reported in September, and neither one is a chain. They are Gourmet Fresh and Uncle Steve's Marketplace. Gourmet Fresh's manager, Frank Aziz, told News 12 that his team tries "our best to run our store good and serve the customers." Steve Saglam, who owns Uncle Steve's Marketplace on the other side of the block, told the station, "Competition brings business so it's OK by me."
Joseph Callegari owns Mr. Vacuum, a family store that has been in the area for 40 years. He told News 12 that any kind of retail would mean "an increase of people walking in the neighborhood." One resident described the empty site to the station as "a blank spot like a broken tooth."
Council Member Kayla Santosuosso announced the Trader Joe's in a Facebook video posted Sunday, October 11. "It's happening," she wrote, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. "No, really. Trader Joe's coming to 86th Street." She told Brooklyn Paper she expects the store to draw shoppers who will also spend at independent shops and restaurants on Third and Fifth avenues.
Fifth Avenue is already adding the kind of independent businesses that extra foot traffic would reach. Yaffa Coffee & Kunafa opened its second location at 8405 Fifth Avenue this fall, making Palestinian kunafa to order alongside specialty drinks and pastries. A few blocks south, Sofra serves modern Egyptian shared plates at 8915 Fifth Avenue, open daily from noon to 10 p.m. Both are within a short walk of 86th Street.
This will also be the first Trader Joe's in Southern Brooklyn. Brooklyn's three current stores are at 445 Gold Street, 130 Court Street and 200 Kent Avenue. When the leases were announced, the developers called the grocer "the first national grocer to serve the immediate Southwest Brooklyn trade area," according to the Brooklyn Eagle.
How fast the block fills in depends on Century Marketplace's construction schedule, and that schedule has already moved once. Here is the project history in order:
At a 2028 opening, the main 86th Street parcel would have been empty for more than seven years, through at least seven holiday seasons. As demolition got underway, Beckmann told Brooklyn Paper that residents had asked for clarity on the separate projects. She said she believed people were pleased that projects were finally moving forward.
Until the new block opens, holiday shopping in Bay Ridge happens on the avenues around it. The St. Patrick's Church Christmas Craft Sale runs Sunday, November 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Fourth Avenue and 95th Street. Small Business Saturday falls on November 28. The Merchants of Third Avenue hold their annual tree lighting Monday, November 30, from 6 to 8 p.m. outside Brooklyn Roots on Third Avenue. Their general meeting, which is open to residents, is November 18 at Saravá Brazilian Bistro, 6819 Third Avenue.
If you own a home within walking distance of 86th Street and want to know how a grocery-anchored block a few minutes away could factor into your home's value over the next couple of years, The Valvo Team can walk you through it. Request a free home valuation, and we'll give you a straight read on where your home stands today, before Century Marketplace opens.
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