Detroit Clothing Store Closing Doors After 96 Years Of Business
DETROIT (WWJ) - After nearly a century of service, a downtown Detroit clothing store is closing its doors.
WWJ City Beat Reporter Vickie Thomas caught up with Steven Ross, owner of Serman's Clothes Shop on Randolph and Macomb streets. Ross said shutting the store's doors after 96 years of business gives him mixed emotions.
"It's happy and sad, I have a lot of wonderful memories over the years. I've been here since I was 12 and I'm 66-years-old so, my grandfather took me here in 1958," he said.
Serman's Clothes Shop has outfitted every Detroit mayor for the last 50 years, according to Ross, who has a VIP customer list of over 10,000 people. Those customers, like Ross himself, have been patronizing the business since they were little kids.
"They're having a difficult time with the fact that we're closing," he said.
As to why the business is closing, Ross said Dan Gilbert made him an offer he couldn't refuse, but that's not the only factor he considered.
"It's time. Men aren't dressing like they used to. It started about 15 years ago when corporate America relaxed the dress code and then it filtered down into the churches and if you go to church today, you'll see the people aren't as dressed as they used to be," he said.
Ross anticipates the business will be closed by the end of the month. Until then, the store is running a going out of business sale to get rid of their inventory.
