Back in Harmon-y

BY DEBORAH SKOLNIK

A banner alerts passersby to the newly reopened Harmon Discount store on Quaker Ridge Road.

When the New Rochelle Harmon Face Values store closed in February 2023, it was a dispiriting loss. Gone were the chock-full aisles, which featured both typical items—cosmetics, hair appliances, over-the-counter medications—and impulse buys (think self-cleaning lint brushes and smiley-face pot scrubbers). There was nothing else quite like the one-stop shop, and its demise was yet another blow to the increasingly bleak retail landscape.

 It’s all the more astonishing, then, that Harmon has been reborn. The news seemed almost too good to be true, but a soft launch in June, followed by an official reopening on June 28th - 30th, proved the store is back—and in some ways, better than ever. The mastermind behind its triumphant return is Jonah Raskas, a New Rochelle resident whose career has spanned the investment and product industries. His acumen led him to perceive that reviving the chain would be a smart move.

“Harmon was a successful business,” Raskas explained. “It was just a casualty of war because of what Bed Bath & Beyond went through,” he added, referring to the bankruptcy of Harmon’s parent company. “I went through the diligence after they closed the business, and looked through all the filings and financials…and from there, I decided it would be a really exciting opportunity to reopen and restart it.” The grand ceremony was attended by a number of legislators, including George Latimer, who recently won the primary election for Congress.

Harmon’s great wall of small products remains: “We’re going to keep working it, because it worked really well,” says owner Jonah Raskas.

A Familiar Layout

Shoppers will get an instantaneous sense of déja vu: The wall beside the entrance still features Harmon’s distinctive baskets filled with travel-sized versions of toothpaste, deodorant, and more. Across the aisle, just as before, there are candy bars, bags of trail mix, and other snackers’ favorites (except now with the addition of trendy beverages, including Oli Pop). “We’re going to keep working it, because it worked really well,” Raskas shared. “Customers will notice the hair dryers and hair irons, and the full lineup of cosmetics. We're one of the best places to find professional haircare shampoos ranging from Paul Mitchell to Redkin to Biolage. Really, generally, we haven't looked to change much of anything at all.”

This is not to suggest that the store won’t evolve in any way. “Nowadays, it’s about having the right mix of products and keeping things always exciting and fresh and differentiated and unique and new,” Raskas noted. “If anything, we’ll lean further into that and also into the experiential. As part of our grand reopening, we had a free beauty bar, so that’s where things are headed and where they are now. But even without any of these maybe minor tweaks we’re making, Harmon has done well and will always do well.”  

The store plans to feature more customer experiences soon, including a beauty bar.

More Stores On The Way

Unsurprisingly, Raskas said he has received numerous requests to resurrect other former Harmon sites, including the two that had been located on Central Avenue. It’s within his purview, he mentioned. “I bought the rights and the name, which means we can open up Harmon anywhere. We didn’t just buy Harmon in New Rochelle, we bought the entire brand, the intellectual property, the history–anything and everything to do with Harmon.”

At the moment, however, the next stores to be revived will be situated in New Jersey. “There’s a lot of diehard fans there, which is why we’re prioritizing it next,” he explained. So, is there hope that southern Westchester will a point of focus again? “There’s no definitive yes or no,” Raskas said. “It’s definitely on our radar, and it’s definitely something we’re going to look into.”

For now, locals can simply revel in the reappearance of Harmon 2.0. The feedback has been absolutely ecstatic, Raskas shared. “People have generally been just kind of through the roof. I hear a lot of hallelujah-type phrases.”

77 Quaker Ridge Road, New Rochelle

harmondiscount.com; (914) 535-7035

Open 8 a.m.- 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday