NEW YORK, Sep 12, 2002/ --- The images of its buttoned-down shirts, still perfectly stacked yet covered in two inches of dust, are some of the more surreal that we saw in the days following last September 11, more akin to Pompeii than a shopping destination in modern Manhattan.

The Brooks Brothers store across the street from the World Trade Center was one of several retail outlets destroyed by the collapse of the Twin Towers, its windows blown out but its elegant sign still eerily preserved.

This store took on more meaning in the aftermath of the attack, however, because it was intact enough to serve as a triage center and makeshift morgue in the days following the disaster.

Yesterday at noon, Brooks Brothers reopened its store at One Liberty Plaza, twelve months after the retail space was so suddenly evacuated.

The two-level, 16,000-square-foot store on the ground floor of the 54-story building originally opened in 1976.

It had been renovated recently before it was destroyed last year.

In late April, Ann Taylor Loft became the first new brand name retail store to open in downtown Manhattan after September 11.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was there to cut the ribbon.

In February, after a $10 million renovation, designer discount mecca Century 21 reopened its flagship store on Cortlandt Street, right across from Ground Zero, and hundreds gathered for the event.

This Brooks Brothers outlet played a particularly intense role in the recovery effort, however, and its reopening today will be without fanfare.

Rather, a low-key neighborhood advertising campaign will break later this month, including posters heralding "The Return of an American Classic" that will promote the store at the Wall Street subway stop.

"We are very proud of the fact that we are able to return to our store at Liberty Plaza and to support and be a part of the redevelopment of lower Manhattan," said President and CEO Claude Del Vecchio.

"We have many loyal customers who we believe will return to the store and help with the economic revitalization of the area."

Brooks Brothers also has a flagship outlet on Madison Avenue and a store on Fifth Avenue.

It delayed the opening of its 160 outlets around the country until noon yesterday, "in remembrance of those who lost their lives for our country."