When Tom Malvino was a boy he beloved hanging out in his dad’s retail store, Louis George, owned by his father and a fantastic pal. His dad wasn’t just promoting men’s formalwear and suits. He also was hanging out with fellow musicians, conversing politics, speaking sports, dwelling life.
Louis and George ended up expert musicians who determined to go into business enterprise with each other in 1946. The store started as military surplus in San Francisco, ultimately going into better menswear and then relocating to the Corte Madera Heart in 1958. Fast forward 64 years, Tom Malvino is providing a comparable encounter at Louis Thomas. In his father’s spirit, he has carried on the family’s shop in Corte Madera for additional than 6 many years.
“My dad’s close friends would appear into the retail outlet,” Tom stated. “It felt like a men’s club. People today would not even acquire just about anything from time to time. They would just come to hold out.”
Points are distinctive in some approaches now, especially with a lot more modern-day technology. “But these reminiscences have you as a result of,” Tom recalled.
And there are however plenty of nods again to a easier time.
Tailors even now fling tape over their shoulders and measure your suit jacket to your exact technical specs. Your tuxedo pant legs even now get marked up with chalk right before they’re hemmed to the great length. The similar money register from 1952 is even now there, and if you’re blessed you can make the list to be invited to their charity golf tournament, now in its 55th yr.
And relationships are however key—and normally will be.
“Sure, it is fantastic to make that magnificent sale,” explained Tom, who started functioning at the store when he was 15, pulling pins out of the carpet. “Or accomplishing a last minute miracle to save a customer’s occasion. But what it boils down to is the interactions with the prospects that retains me coming back again.”
And it is Tom’s associations with his multitude of suppliers that preserve his prospects coming again for higher-high quality, difficult-to-obtain, specialty apparel.
“We’ve received 50 or 60 suppliers who provide this shop,” Tom mentioned. “We can get what ever our clients want, frequently times contacting the producers instantly.”
Tom is now grooming his daughter, Brianna, to choose in excess of the store if she chooses. She has a “fabulous eye”. and does most of the buying and layout of both equally merchants, Tom stated proudly. Tom opened up his next locale in Petaluma 23 years in the past on Kentucky Road.
“It’s extremely rare to have a business final this extensive,” Tom stated. “Especially retail. But you will need a excellent succession plan.”
And they do. This is a relatives affair.
Louis Thomas Wonderful Men’s Apparel
150 Kentucky St., Petaluma, CA 94952
707.765.1715
Corte Madera Town Middle, Corte Madera, CA
415.924.1715
LouisThomas.com