In my formative college years as a student radical at Berkeley -- ed. note: I was not a radical at Berkeley, but a widespread perception tends to be that anyone at Berkeley was a radical -- I had the distinct pleasure of working at a traditional men's store called George J. Good which was considered a minor Berkeley institution. The store opened in 1930 just across the street from the campus back when young men wore three-piece suits, hats, and smoked pipes during class! The store outfit generations of students, faculty, staff, and briefly, even football coach Steve Mariucci before he left for the 49ers. The store's founder, George Good, was infamous for his three Martini lunches, and even after his passing, the store was a favorite stop for alumni, especially on game days.

For a number of reasons, including largely the shift to a more casual workplace, the store slowly deteriorated over the course of decades before finally closing in the early part of the 00's.

If you talked to loyal customers as the ship was sinking, the most common refrain was: "That was such a great store. I was so sad to see it go." Had they shopped there in the final few years? Probably not. Perhaps they shifted some of their shopping to department stores. Or the internet. Or maybe they didn't want anything else? I still have ties, sweaters, and a couple Hickey Freeman sportcoats that are 15 years old and in no danger of falling apart or going out of style. The store certainly deserved the bulk of the blame for not adapting to changing tastes, and appealing to a new generation of customers. So perhaps the market spoke, and that was that for George J. Good. 

This recession has hit many industries hard, and it has been very brutal for retailers, especially those in the mid- to high-end of the market, and then even more brutal for the independent stores. The drop in retail spending has been so severe that many icons of the retail landscape are not just struggling, but in some cases, outright disappearing. Mark Shale, a well-known chain of better men's stores in the Midwest, declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Closer to home, Malouf's, a high-end men's store in the Bay Area for almost 20 years, is closing its doors as I write (seriously, you should go to their Going Out of Business Sale if you haven't already). Perhaps most surprisingly, Wilkes Bashford, arguably one of the finest men's stores in the country, shut down their store in Carmel over the weekend after just 3 years. And there may be another shoe to drop there (no pun intended). 

Embarcadero Center, the open-air mall that houses our first store, has seen a number of departures in just the last 6 months. Coach left in May. A Verizon store closed, as did Crabtree & Evelyn. Crane's Stationery two doors down from us papered up their windows yesterday after we snatched up a beautiful guest book at half-off.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying that you should make sure to support any business that you want to see around next year. For the past few months, I have been fond of saying, "If you made it this far, you're probably going to make it." I was wrong. Almost any retail business you frequent is struggling, especially if they are independent (i.e. not a chain). That includes your dry cleaner, your nearest convenience store, a favorite local bar or restaurant, the neighborhood bookstore, and so on.

Selfishly, if there's a purchase from us that you've been considering, we'd appreciate the business. But if you shop from us regularly, and also like your nearest specialty men's shop whom you haven't visited recently, you may want to drop in there and buy a new shirt, or a handful of socks, or just replace an old belt. Show your support...while you still can.