Joseph Sitt
| Joseph J. Sitt | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1964 (age 52–53) |
| Residence | Brooklyn |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Real Estate Developer |
| Known for | Founder of Ashley Stewart Founder and President of Thor Equities |
| Spouse(s) | Betty Dayan |
| Children | Five |
Joseph J. Sitt (born 1964) is an American real estate investor, founder of the retail chain Ashley Stewart, and founder of global real estate company Thor Equities.
Sitt was born in 1964 near Coney Island, Brooklyn to a Syrian Jewish family. He began working at a young age in flea market booths at the Aqueduct and Roosevelt racetrack parking lots in the New York City area. At age 11, Sitt became interested in real estate when his only choice was to go to Manhattan to buy an Atari computer because he couldn't get one in Brooklyn. This eventually led Sitt to study business at New York University's Stern School of Business, and in 1986 he founded Thor Equities before graduating.
Sitt picked the name Thor for the company because he was an avid Thor comic book fan and thought it would fit his "concept of being the protector of the cities." His first investment was a property sold at tax auction on East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, a chronically underserved retail area, where he built a one-story retail structure with money from "family, friends, roommates, parents of roommates." He proceeded to secure national retailers Rite Aid Pharmacy, Payless Shoes, and Rainbow Shops. In 1989, partnering with Joseph Chehabar of the family that owned Rainbow Shops, he purchased for $30 million the 161-store Children’s Place retail chain and the 41-store Accessory Place retail chain from the Campeau Corporation. As part of the transaction, they then sold Accessory Place to Tribeca Corporation.
From Sitt’s early realization of the retail gap that left broad swathes of inner city consumers largely underserved by major retailers, in 1991 he founded Ashley Stewart (a name inspired by Laura Ashley and Martha Stewart), which sold modern and fashionable plus-size clothing to urban women. Each Ashley Stewart store hired from within the community, and the company was recognized by President Clinton for its large contribution to the nation’s innovative Welfare to Work program. After acquiring 98 stores for $61.25 million in 1998 from the bankrupt Petrie Retail Inc. (founded by Milton Petrie), Ashley Stewart grew to over 380 stores in more than 100 cities, which prompted many national retailers to follow suit and helped change the urban retail landscape. As part of the transaction with Petrie Retail, Sitt acquired Marianne Stores, a retail outlet specializing in clothing for Latina women. As business boomed, Sitt sold his interest in 2000 to concentrate on urban real estate through his company Thor Equities.
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