It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for shoppers seeking high fashion clothing at bargain-basement prices.

The collapse of the Twin Towers damaged Century 21, a department store in Lower Manhattan that sells luxury goods at a discount. Designer clothing and accessories with a retail value of $27 million were declared a loss and liquidated by the store’s insurer.

Two of the nation’s biggest salvage chains, Marden’s in Maine, and Hudson’s in Mississippi, split the claim.

Salvage stores like Marden’s that operate on the bottom rung of the retail ladder offer enticing bargains, but the industry has been shrinking because of a dwindling supply of damaged goods.

There were about 10 major salvage operations a decade ago but the number has dropped to three: Marden’s, Hudson’s and Newton Wall Co. of Shawnee, Okla., said Marden’s president, Harold “Ham” Marden.

The industry’s decline is a tribute, in part, to stringent fire protection and insurance regulations, along with changes in the way merchandise is stored and distributed.

When his father, Albion letter carrier Harold “Mickey” Marden, got into the liquidation business as a sideline in 1964, clothing, flooring and other goods were often stored in old mill buildings that were susceptible to fire or flooding from broken pipes.

Things are far different today. And it’s not just the improved quality of the buildings and fire protection, Marden said.

“Now everything’s made off-shore or for just-in-time delivery. There’s not the exposure in the buildings that would have the insurance losses.”

Aside from a slight smoky smell or debris dust on a few items, most of the Century 21 items bore no evidence of the Sept. 11 attack. Still, Marden wondered whether his company might be seen as trying to profit from tragedy.

In the end, he concluded that there was no point in having perfectly good merchandise destroyed.

“In one sense, what we really are in some of these insurance deals is just a giant recycling house,” he said.

Everything is recycled at Marden’s Portland store, down to the shopping bags that bear the name of a drugstore chain that was sold six years ago to the shopping carts from the bankrupt Ames discount chain.

By winter, garments by designers such as Armani, Versace and Joseph Abboud filled the humble store. Suits that would normally fetch $1,500 retail and $700 to $800 at Century 21 went for $350 to $400, Marden said.

Kristin Blomberg of Kennebunkport stumbled upon the bargains when she and her mother, Marie Henricksen, stopped into the Portland store.

“Our jaws hit the floor,” Blomberg recalled. The two women grabbed a cart and started picking through the bargains: Gucci coats, John-Paul Gaultier jackets, Moschino pants, Pucci dresses, Dolce & Gabbana suits, Fendi gloves, Versace scarves, Prada wallets.

Spreading the word to their friends, they returned again and again to check out new stock and add to their wardrobes at prices they never expect to see again.

The same happened at Marden’s Brewer store, where most of the Century 21 items were gone by Christmas, according to clothing assistant manager Debbie George.

“Most of the customers know the brand names and when word got out they were gone pretty quick,” said George, a Marden’s employee for 15 years. Brand names such as Liz Claiborne, Karen Scott, Amanda Smith and Celo remain in stock, but are from shipments other than Century 21. The Gucci, Armani and Prada brands, however, left the shelves quickly.

“I found quite a bit of high-end hair products,” offered Paula Codrington as she shopped the Brewer store. “The thing about Marden’s is that you can get anything, but you never know what you’re going to find until you look around.”

Codrington said she found Abba hair products that normally sell for about $100, for $3.99 at Marden’s.

Hair products, make-up, perfume, clothing and computer products were all items that came in from Manhattan stores after the Sept. 11 attacks, said Doug Staples, Brewer store manager.

While some might complain that the discount store was taking advantage of the tragedy, Staples said, “Somebody has to go in afterward and clean all of the stuff up. It would be worse to just let it all go to waste.”

Leftovers from the Century 21 shipment are likely one of the primary factors that have made this quarter’s sales better than that of recent years, Staples said.

“There’s usually a slump from January to May, but we’ve been very busy this quarter,” he said. “It never let up from our winter sales, which is usually our best quarter of the year.”

Marden’s consists of nine stores spread out throughout Maine. The largest, which measures 90,000 square feet, is in Lewiston; the smallest, at 10,000 square feet, is in Gray. The Brewer location is the second largest with 80,000 square feet of space. Other stores are in Portland, Lincoln, Sanford, Presque Isle, Calais and Waterville.

When Marden gets a call about an insurance claim or other opportunity, he can be on a plane in three hours. He used to keep a suitcase in the car back in the days when he was on the road 150 nights a year. He has cut back but still has buying trips that can turn into marathons.

Last month, he was in Annapolis, Md., to buy inventory from a fire-damaged retailer when he got a call about a huge liquidation of kids’ clothing in Mississippi. From there, he was headed to New York to look at a domestics deal arising from a fire when a call he received at Newark Airport prompted him to detour to Philadelphia to bid on a chain of dollar stores that went bust.

“It’s our goal to always have the lowest price for whatever we’ve got in the store,” Marden said.

Marden is the youngest of five siblings, four of whom work in the family business. John is the buyer for furniture, David does flooring and Nancy handles fabrics. Ham does “anything that doesn’t begin with an f.”

The dimly lit stores, with linoleum floors and plain shelving, are strictly no frills, but Marden makes no apologies.

“It’s a budget operation,” he said. “You try to have a reasonably clean, reasonably neat operation, but hey, this is what we are.”

The chain has 725 employees and an annual payroll of $12 million to $13 million and may be expanding. Marden said Maine’s high taxes and Workers’ Compensation premiums are causing him to look for the first time at expanding beyond Maine, into New Hampshire.

The stores attract customers from all income levels, Marden said, and most enter the store with no specific purchase in mind.

“Obviously, some look for certain categories,” he said. “But our perception is that the average person just comes in looking to find a deal.”

The regulars hit the store every week or two, but some – “the real addicts” – stop in every other day, he said. Others respond to ads or word of mouth.

“I try to come at least once a week,” said Codrington at the Brewer store. She said she finds it hard to leave the store once she’s there “because you want to see what’s new and get the good deals.”

Marden admits it’s not for everyone. Some people would probably never set foot in a Marden’s, even for a bargain.

Typical of many shoppers is Roger Robin of Hanover, who stops in the Lewiston store about once a month and heads downstairs to the tool department while his wife does other shopping.

“I like to go prowling around, picking up odds and ends,” he said. “The hardware prices are real good.”

Blomberg, who hit the jackpot on the designer clothing sale, said she goes into Marden’s with an open mind.

“It really depends on the shipments they get in,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a good hit, sometimes it’s not.”

Derek Breton of the Bangor Daily News contributed to this report.