F21 Red might be forever in Kingsbridge

Tina Sitlhou loves shopping. So much so, she follows some of her favorite big box store chains like Forever 21 and H&M on social media looking for new deals and options. 

That’s how she found out about a new F21 Red — a cheaper outlet version of Forever 21’s flagship stores — right in her own backyard.

“I go (to) Times Square’s Forever 21 or on (West) 34th Street,” Sitlhou said. But she hasn’t had too many clothing store options near her home on Cannon Place. 

That makes the new store at Broadway Plaza, on West 230th Street and Broadway, so exciting for her. 

“This is my first time,” Sitlhou said, adding she typically travels to Fifth Avenue near Bryant Park to do more of her shopping.

The store, which manager Sammy Jumbo billed as a cheaper and more navigable location than ordinary Forever 21 locations, opened officially on April 15 after a very brief period of planning and preparation. 

“It was only like two weeks from the time they started planning the store,” said Jumbo. “Everything is categorized, so if you’re a guy and you’re looking for hoodies, they are all in one location. If you’re looking for knits, they’re all in one location.”

Jumbo was transferred to the F21 Red from another Forever 21 at Bay Plaza Mall on the east side of the Bronx.

The new F21 Red adds to a somewhat limited array of clothing options in the northwest Bronx, where big names like Forever 21 seldom venture. That leaves shoppers like Sitlhou to make the trek downtown to shop. 

It’s what makes the new outlet such a welcome change of pace, said Tracy Shelton, president of the Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Village Development Corp., or KRVC. 

“I believe that the more shopping options that there are in the area brings more people and keeps more people shopping locally,” she said. 

“That means more traffic for all the local businesses.”

Getting decent clothing options on Broadway has been difficult since the close of Loehmann’s in 2014, Shelton said. 

“I would say that it would be something that the clothing owners would like because it does bring more clothing owners around,” she said. 

Business has been good in the three weeks since the store opened, Jumbo said, and it seems shoppers like Sitlhou may finally have a place to get a little of their big-box fix without having to trek all the way downtown.