The Retailers Every Brand Wants to Be In

Ask AI how many men’s stores there are in the United States, and the answer is over 18,600.

But there are retailers and then there are the ones that truly matter — those that stand head and shoulders above the rest and can help make a brand because of their customer base, eye for style and quality service.

But who are they?

As Chicago Collective kicks off, WWD lists the top men’s specialty retailers from around the U.S. that brands are eager — no, desperate — to be carried by.

Northeast

Mitchells

Leadership: Bob and Russell Mitchell

With nine stores around the country under the Mitchells, Richards, Marios, Wilkes Bashford and Stanley Korshak nameplates, the Westport, Conn.-based Mitchell family has built what is arguably the most successful multibrand luxury retailer in the U.S. Its mix of high-end men’s and womenswear from such brands as Brunello Cucinelli, Zegna and Kiton, and its superior customer service are unparalleled and a model for other specialty stores hoping to replicate its success. Each of the stores — from Huntington, N.Y., to Palo Alto, Calif., counts at least one family member on its team.

Rothmans

Leadership: Ken Giddon and Jim Giddon

The New York City-based men’s specialty store is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year. But today’s Rothmans, which includes the flagship on Union Square in Manhattan as well as branches in Scarsdale and Bronxville, N.Y., is a far cry from the business Harry Rothman started in 1926. Initially a discounter, owners Ken and Jim Giddon, Harry Rothman’s grandsons, have moved away from price promotions and transitioned the chain into a full-service lifestyle men’s store with a wide range of curated brands including Canali, Jack Victor, Billy Reid and Faherty.

Mid-Atlantic

Boyds

Leadership: Kent Gushner

The Gushner family has operated a store in Philadelphia for 88 years. In that time, the business has grown from a humble men’s clothing store on Market Street to one of the finest multibrand independent retailers in the country. Its Center City flagship, located in a spectacular five-story limestone building on Chestnut Street that was built in 1907 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, underwent a $10 million renovation in 2018 that helped shine a spotlight on its growing women’s business. The company also operates a successful branch in Wayne, Pa., that opened in 2022. All told, Boyds carries some 250 of the finest high-end brands and the family’s fourth generation, Kent Gushner’s sons Alex and Andrew, have joined to ensure Boyds’ success into the future.

Midwest

Syd Jerome

Leadership: Scott Shapiro

As the story goes, Sid Shapiro and his partner Jerome “Jerry” Frishman, both of whom worked at other men’s stores in Chicago, decided to team up and open their own store in 1958 on South Clark Street. They named it Syd Jerome so it sounded a little more cosmopolitan. The strategy worked because the store, which ultimately passed to Sid Shapiro’s son, has become an institution in the Windy City. Still strictly a men’s store, Scott Shapiro has worked diligently to find new, compelling brands that are not widely distributed at the large department stores that also operate in Chicago. Tailored clothing, from brands ranging from Canali and Corneliani to Isaia and Armani, still represent the bulk of the business, although complementary elevated sportswear, or lifestyle pieces, are also offered.

Kilgore Trout

Leadership: Wally Naymon

The store’s owner, Wally Naymon, was always a huge Kurt Vonnegut fan. So on April 1, 1977, when he was preparing to open his men’s store in Cleveland, he wrote to the author to ask his permission to name the store after the fictional character featured in “Breakfast of Champions” and “Slaughterhouse Five.” He received a response from Vonnegut, who thought it was an April Fool’s joke, allowing him to use the name and asking only for a small discount on shirts should he find himself in the neighborhood. Naymon charged ahead, opening Kilgore Trout, “an alternative, hipper kind of store.” Now, nearly 50 years later, Naymon continues to service northeast Ohio’s stylish men — and now women — with brands ranging from Zegna and Canali to AG and RRL jeans.

Martin Patrick 3

Leadership: Greg Walsh and Dana Swindler

With a co-owner that boasts a background in fine art and interior design, it comes as no surprise that his store combines men’s apparel with home furnishings and an interior design studio. The business actually started in 1994 as an interior design studio called the Walsh Design Group that eventually added furniture, decorative accessories and gifts. Next up was a home store called ID, or Inside Design. It was there that they began dabbling in men’s accessories by showcasing them on a couple of bookcases, and when those sold out, it prompted them to open Martin Patrick 3 in 2008.

Walsh convinced his partner, Swindler, who had owned a civil engineering firm, to join him in the business, which would combine all three retail concepts. The origin of the name is that both Walsh’s father and grandfather were named Martin Patrick Walsh and either he or his brother was supposed to be named Martin Patrick Walsh 3^rd. So when they were pondering a name for the men’s store, that’s what they landed on. But they decided to tweak it “to make it less pretentious,” Walsh said. The rest is history and the store has become the go-to upscale lifestyle boutique in Minneapolis’ North Loop, offering everything from Belstaff and Bonobos to Eleventy, Greyson, Theory and Reigning Champ in a sprawling 30,000 square feet.

South

M. Dumas and Sons

Leadership: David Dumas and Gary Flynn

It was the fall of 1917 when Mendel Dumas, who had emigrated from Lithuania, opened a store on King Street in the growing port city of Charleston, S.C., servicing the laborers and naval officers in the city. As the years went on, the store added apparel for hunters and other sportsmen to its workwear assortment. Shortly after World War II, Mendel Dumas’ sons were the first ones in the area to bring Levi’s jeans to the assortment, beginning a shift to a more contemporary mix. In 1993, the store added Tommy Bahama, a new brand at the time, and that represented another turning point for the business, which had transitioned away from its roots in uniforms into a full lifestyle assortment. An expansion into an adjacent space in 2006 allowed for the addition of tailored clothing and furnishings.

Ten years ago, David Dumas, grandson of the founder, brought in Gary Flynn, a veteran of Nordstrom and Hugo Boss, as co-owner and chief executive officer. But while the ownership structure may have changed, M. Dumas and Sons today continues to offer men in the South an extensive assortment that ranges from Barbour — it sells more of this brand than any store in the U.S. — Johnnie-O and 34 Heritage to Eleventy, Kiton and Canali. 

Rubensteins

Leadership: Andre and David Rubenstein

The New Orleans-based retailer has survived a lot in the past 102 years, from the Great Depression to Hurricane Katrina, and everything in between. The store was established by Morris Rubenstein in 1924 as a haberdashery selling men’s shirts and ties. His brothers Sam and Elkin (father of current owners David and Andre) joined the budding business less than a year later. The sons of Russian immigrants, the Rubenstein brothers stayed afloat during the Great Depression in the 1930s by negotiating reduced rent with their landlord. During World War II, they added womenswear to help sustain business. Over the years, Rubensteins has become known for its preponderance of luxury Italian brands such as Brioni and Zegna, as well as a wide range of high-end sportswear brands. The retailer also operates the Madison Shop, a space with a separate entrance that is targeted to young men. Now, with the third generation of Rubensteins also firmly entrenched in the business — Andre’s son, Kenny Rubenstein and David’s daughter, Allison Marshall — the company has taken the plunge into hospitality. The family partnered with the late Joe Jaeger, who owned J Collection Hotels and Development, to transform the two unused floors above the store into the 40-room boutique hotel.

Oak Hall

Leadership: Bill, Bob and Will Levy

When Solomon Halle opened the doors to Oak Hall in Memphis in 1859, it was one of the first ready-to-wear men’s stores in the country — and it predated the invention of the telephone. Today, the business, which boasted Buffalo Bill Cody as a customer, is still owned and operated by the Levy family, direct descendants of the founder. It ranks as one of the oldest family-owned businesses in the country with a 17,000-square-foot flagship in Memphis and 10,000-square-foot branches in Nashville and Franklin, Tenn. In addition to a wide assortment of men’s tailored clothing, sportswear, accessories and footwear, Oak Hall carries women’s apparel and accessories. Top men’s brands include Peter Millar, Vince, Johnnie-O, Redvanly, Citizens of Humanity and Billy Reid.

Southwest

M Penner

Leadership: Murry and Karen Penner

M Penner is widely considered to be one of Houston’s most fashionable men’s stores, offering everything from blue jeans to black tie. The Penner family was already well established in the retail business in Texas when Morris “Sonny” Penner invested $50,000 and got a small business loan to open M Penner in 1974. Today, Sonny’s son Murry and his wife Karen operate the store, which is exclusively menswear. The Penners had been in the women’s business as well for around 15 years, but exited the category during the pandemic and invested its resources into building a website. Although the business has evolved over the years, its mission remains the same. One of Sonny’s sayings — “The best way to lose a customer is to bore him” — remains a hallmark of the business. “I live by it,” Murry Penner said. So in a quest to keep customers coming back, M Penner has curated a mix of some of menswear’s top brands including Zegna, Canali, Cesare Attolini, Etro, Isaia and Kiton. In sportswear, Paul & Shark, AG Jeans, Pescarolo, Georg Roth and Fedeli round out the mix.

Malouf’s

Leadership: Michael Malouf

John Malouf had a vision when he founded his men’s store in 1949 in Lubbock, Texas: to elevate Texas fashion. Fast-forward 77 years and his mission has been accomplished. Run today by his son Michael Malouf, the company at one point had three stores: one in Burlingame, Calif., on the San Francisco peninsula, and one in Southlake Town Square in Southlake, Texas, in addition to the Lubbock flagship. The California store closed in 2010 and the original store closed two years later after 75 years in business to allow the company to concentrate its efforts fully into its store in Southlake, a wealthy suburb near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Today, Malouf’s — which added womenswear, which now accounts for around half the company’s sales, in the 1970s — offers top brands to discerning men and women around the state and beyond. The assortment includes Canali, Fedeli, Luciano Barbera, Corneliani and Marco Pescarolo for men, alongside women’s brands such as TWP, Frank & Eileen, Frame, Shoshanna and Staud handbags.

Mountain West

Andrisen Morton

Leadership: Lindsay Morton Gaiser

It was 1975 when two self-professed “suit salesmen,” Craig Andrisen and Dave Morton, met when they were working at other specialty stores in the Denver area. Four years later, they took the plunge and opened their own emporium, Andrisen Morton. While money may have been tight, their vision was strong: to provide high-end merchandise with superior service to men in the Denver region and beyond. In the beginning, they focused on traditional brands such as Hickey Freeman and H. Oritsky, with a specific focus on the three-button sack suit. But slowly, they started to shift to more fashion-forward merchandise, a decision spurred on by their inclusion in the Forum Group, a group of the country’s most prestigious non-competing men’s stores, and a relocation to Cherry Creek North, the city’s premier shopping center. Today, the store carries luxury labels including Brunello Cucinelli, Canali, Isaia, Kiton and Zegna. In 2018, Andrisen stepped aside and Morton’s daughter Lindsay Morton Gaiser, who had worked in the store as a buyer for a decade, stepped up to take his place. Since she has been at the helm, the store has been given a refresh and more focus is being given to its top-tier brands.

West Coast

Garys

Leadership: John Braeger

Now located in tony Newport Beach, Calif., Garys made its debut in 1966 in a converted four-bedroom house in Brentwood, where owner Gary Wasserman sold upscale men’s apparel to the area’s high-end clientele. Dick Braeger, one of the cofunders of Cole Haan, who was working as a sales rep for a shoe manufacturer, joined Wasserman as a partner three years later, expanding the store’s mix into footwear as well. In 1984, Braeger bought Wasserman’s interest and expanded the business to three stores in Los Angeles, Marina Del Rey and Newport Beach. Today, Garys is run by Dick Braeger’s son John Braeger, who joined the family-owned business full time in 1990, and the stores have been consolidated into one 13,000-square-foot location in Newport Beach’s prestigious Fashion Island as well as a smaller offshoot, Garys Studio, in Del Mar that services customers closer to San Diego with a more-curated selection. The flagship carries luxury brands including Brunello Cucinelli, Eleventy, Isaia, Canali and Zegna along with Greyson, 34 Heritage and Patrick Assaraf on the casual side.

Wittmore

Leadership: Paul Witt and Douglas Geller

Paul Witt was a fashion industry veteran with a focus on visual merchandising, marketing, public relations and communications when he started Wittmore in 2012, billed as “a modern and approachable lifestyle shop offering clean, smartly edited clothing, accessories, grooming supplies and gifts from brands with a global perspective.” His goal is to feature a mix of established, niche and emerging brands such as Sunray, Gramicci, Relwen, Service Works, NN.07, Wax London and Velva Sheen in men’s and Donni, Closed, Toast and Il Bisonte in women’s. Today, the Los Angeles-based multibrand retailer operates five stores: men’s-only units in Larchmont Village in L.A., Malibu and Studio City, a men’s and women’s store in Silver Lake, and a womenswear, home and gift store in Larchmont Village.

Pacific Northwest

Milworks

Leadership: Jason and Jesse Meyer, Tim and Heather Ellis

The men’s store with locations in Milwaukee and Portland, Ore., started out in Milwaukee’s Third Ward in 2016 when four friends, brothers Jason and Jesse Meyer and married couple Tim and Heather Ellis, got together to open what they describe as “a thoughtfully conceived men’s lifestyle shop” that would also serve as a “warm, community-driven space rooted in craftsmanship, industrial heritage, and a ‘rugged yet refined’ philosophy that blends apparel, footwear, apothecary items, and home goods into a cohesive experience.” To create this, the Meyers drew on their experience owning and operating the Detour store in Milwaukee and an agency focusing on brand marketing and design. They expanded into Portland in 2024, bringing the same aesthetic into a larger, light-filled corner in the West End. Among the brands carried in the stores are Filson, Double RL, Imogene & Willie, Frizmworks, Wythe, Rogue Territory and Road to Nowhere which sit alongside their own Milworks label.

Michael Allen’s Clothier

Leadership: Mike Allen

It all started in 1992 with some fabric swatches, a tape measure and a phone in the spare bedroom in Mike Allen’s apartment in Northwest Portland. The bespoke tailoring expert had honed his skills at other shops and also visited people in their homes to help them create their custom wardrobes. Business was good enough to prompt him to open a store in his hometown in 1994. The first brick-and-mortar presence was just 1,500 square feet and offered both custom and off-the-rack menswear. Over the years, Allen has expanded his shop to around 5,000 square feet offering true custom — complete with paper patterns and full-canvas linings — and made-to-measure suits, sport coats, pants, outerwear and accessories, along with modern to contemporary ready-to-wear from brands such as Belstaff, Eleventy, Lardini, Marco Pescarolo, Paul Smith, Sand, Ron Dorff and Universal Works.