Need to spruce up your retail business?

Retail Business Makeover
By PAULETTE THOMAS
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 3, 2005;
Page B4

THE PROBLEM: How to freshen up an old-fashioned retail business, while keeping its essence.

Trevor Furbay was in Cincinnati, the hometown of his bride-to-be, as they prepared for their New Year's Eve wedding in 1998. He was fitted for his tuxedo in the shop of Romualdo Pelle, who immigrated to the U.S. from Formia, Italy, in 1960, and started his shop in 1967. They were decades apart but had much in common -- Mr. Furbay, who lived in Baltimore, worked in sales for Haas Tailoring Co., which produces made-to-order clothing. "Romualdo sat me down, and said, 'I'm looking for someone to buy my business,' " recalls Mr. Furbay, now 31. " 'I think you are the one.' "

"Gosh, I'm getting married tomorrow," replied Mr. Furbay. "Can I get back to you?" But Mr. Furbay and his wife, Wendy, loved the idea. They borrowed money from family, hired a lawyer, and agreed to keep Mr. Pelle on as a floor salesman, and closed the deal in April 1999. Revenue was under $300,000.

So he had a shop called Romualdo full of high-end clothes, a few tailors and a salesman. Now what?

THE SOLUTION: For the first year, Mr. Furbay worked energetically alongside Mr. Pelle, making no changes. "I just wanted customers to think that Romualdo had great salesmen," he says.

But he wanted to enhance its old-fashioned tailor ambiance, which increasingly set the store apart from other men's retailers. "It felt very '80s in here," says Mr. Furbay. He replaced the red carpet and blue fixtures with hardwood floors and antiques, imbuing it with a manly, old-world feel, he believed. "If we could smoke cigars in here without ruining the fabrics, we would," he says.
While the store's focus remained on custom tailoring, he bowed to "business casual" by stocking Bill's Khakis, which brought in younger customers. "You can't believe the amount of khaki pants we sell," he says. "At least a thousand a year."
He began advertising women's alterations -- previously an afterthought at best. His wife, who formerly had her own marketing business, took space in one of the upstairs apartments, and stocked it with the distaff version of what was a floor below -- stylish, upscale women's suits. They called it Kennedy's, named after their daughter, now 5 years old. Today women's tailoring is 25% of his business.
Most importantly, he quit stocking men's suits and focused on buying the best fabrics to tailor them to order. He has no cash tied up in an inventory to maintain and sell. "That's been a huge cost savings," he says.

Sales today are closing in on $2 million. He keeps six tailors and a full-time presser busy, along with a half-dozen salespeople. As for Mr. Pelle, he's still working the sales floor. "It could not be any better," he says in his thick Italian accent. "He's like a son to me," he says of his young employer.

THE LESSON: In order to realign an established brand, take your time, and take the measure of your customers.