Episode 10: From Direct Sales to Retail Success: Ron Brodeur and Brodeur Carvell’s Continually Evolving Journey
In this episode, Terresa Zimmerman sits down with Ron Brodeur, owner of Brodeur Carvell Fine Menswear, an independent men's clothing store in Fort Myers, Florida. Ron shares his journey from direct selling to owning a brick-and-mortar store, the challenges he's faced, and his passion for custom clothing.
Their conversation digs into the world of men's fashion retail, exploring topics such as:
-Ron's 30 years background in the clothing industry, starting with direct selling and transitioning to retail, and his continual learning mindset.
-How Ron established himself in retail 22 years ago, offering ready-to-wear and custom clothing.|
-Challenges faced: From multiple stores, surviving the 2008-2009 real estate crisis, adapting to market changes and refocusing on one store.
-Ron's custom clothing process in guiding clients through fabric, button, and lining choices.
-Using point-of-sale systems, digital marketing, and exploring new tools like One Shop Retail.
-Peer group support and how and why he has engaged with other retailers.
-Community involvement by participating in charity events and local initiatives.
-Ron’s challenge of finding qualified sales associates in the current market.
-Ron's optimism about the future growth of independent retailers as traditional department stores decline.
Featured in this episode:
Ron Brodeur, Owner & Custom Clothier Brodeur Carvell Fine Menswear Website: www.brodeurcarvell.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brodeurcarvellfinemenswear/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrodeurCarvell/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-brodeur-brodeur-carvell-fine-menswear/
They are located at:
6420 Plantation Park Court #104Fort Myers, Florida 33966
Brands Mentioned:
Samuelsohn, Max Davoli, Emanuel Berg, Robert Graham, 7 Downie St, Marcello, Hagen, Peter Millar, Magnanni, 34 Heritage, Alberto, Byron
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Host - Terresa Zimmerman:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/terresachristensonzimmerman
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
RON BRODEUR:
The independent stores are doing a much better job right now, both on the women's side and the men's side, whether it's together or as a separate business, taking care of those consumers.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
When did you figure out that you loved it?
RON BRODEUR:
Getting them to say, wow, I had no idea you could do all this.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
This episode of Main Street Matters is brought to you by Wood Underwear, Marchesi Jin Frati neckwear, and Inspiro Tequila. I'm your host, Terresa Zimmerman. Welcome to Main Street Matters. I am joined today by Ron Brodeur from Brodeur Carvel in Fort Myers, Florida. Ron is the owner and custom clothier. Good morning. Thanks for joining us, Ron.
RON BRODEUR:
Good morning. Thanks for having me.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Love it. We're going to jump right in. I want you to start talking about Broder Carvel. I know we got busy days.
RON BRODEUR:
Well, thank you. So Brodeur Carvel is an independent men's store in Fort Myers. We've been, as a retailer, we've been in business for about 22 years. And prior to that, I was a direct seller for about 10 years of custom clothing. So I've been in the market for about 30 years. I cover basically Southwest Florida, At over the years we've had stores in Naples, which is a market south of us very affluent down there I still go there on the custom side once a week and see clients that I've had for 20-30 years And I'm still finding new ones here and there Our store up in Fort Myers is in a great area. It's about 1,800 square feet total about 15 to 1600 square feet retail We do, obviously, everything from ready-to-wear, sportswear, suits, sport coats, shirts, ties, shoes, all of the ready-to-wear. And then we also do a full collection of custom. On the upper end for our ready-to-wear brand, we carry Samuelson. And then we do Max Divoli for kind of our middle road. And we started a private label. moderate price point about a year ago and the kind of jury's still out on that. For sportswear, Emanuel Berg, Robert Graham has and continues to be just a great product for us. We just picked up 7 Downy, which is doing really well. Marcello has always been very good for us in Florida. Obviously being in Southwest, Florida. We don't carry hardly any heavy sportswear in the fall We just we don't have that weather and in our market. There's not a lot of Travelers there's not a lot of people coming in and out so we don't you know we don't have a lot of you know heavy coats and sweaters We carry Hagen so we do some of their sports shirts and Out of where we do carry Peter Miller small amount of it For shoes, we carry Magnani. We've been very happy with Magnani, so we're just really pleased with them as a shoe brand. We carry 34 Heritage Alberto on the casual pant side. And that's most of it. We also do Byron Sportcoats, a lot of those. Their platform and the way they do business has been very good for us.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
That's already an exhausting job as a buyer.
RON BRODEUR:
Yes, it is. I have one employee. He's been with me about two years. His name is Mike. He actually came from Tailored Brands Men's Warehouse and he is excellent. Absolutely excellent. He was ready to leave them when I found him. He's done a great job for me. My former partner, Carvel, he left me and Mike joined me. Carvel was with me for 20 years. He was a retailer. He worked at Jacobson's pre Brodeur Carvel. So he was in the market for about 40 years before he left the business.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Okay. Wow. Okay. Well, how did you decide to go from direct selling to actually opening a store? Cause that's a big leap.
RON BRODEUR:
So, you know, what happened was is my partner, Rob, he was working at Jacobson's back in the 80s and 90s. And in 2002, they went bankrupt and closed all their locations, including the one in Fort Myers. And a mutual client of ours recommended we sit down and talk. And at first he was working somewhere else already, out of retail. And when we started chatting, he kind of got the bug back and decided to join me. So we opened our first store in 2003. By two years later, we had three stores, one in Naples, one in Bonita Springs, and one in Fort Myers. And we were churning and burning at that point. But in 08 and 09, we had a national real estate crisis. It was huge here, very, very devastating. We almost lost the entire business. We went down 50% in volume in one season and we hit March of 2009 and we didn't have enough money to pay our payables and we were selling no clothes. So we ended up closing one store, both stores, two stores and remained in the third. We did a big clearance sale and that was very, very successful. a firm that's probably not even around anymore, I forget the name, Nadelson's. Anyway, they helped us through it and we kind of regrouped and made it through that time period. We've had a few of those over the last 20 years. We've had our times, good and bad. But that's the reason I went from custom to retail was to have kind of a store environment where people people trust you a little more when you're a custom direct guy when you have a location and It is proven even though it's been you know a lot of back-and-forth years of trials It's been well worth it and now that I'm in it back to my kind of my single store one location very compact size We're very profitable finally
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Awesome. That's great. So the, the store environment that you have right now, that, that trustworthiness that you talk about. So what do you do in your store to kind of create that warm, fuzzy feeling, right? When you walk in.
RON BRODEUR:
So it, you know, it's a very nice environment. We all talk in the industry about designing a store that makes them feel like home. You know, not everything is all sterile. It just, you know, you got some furniture and you got some things that look like you could put them in your house. Just very laid back and you know we're not obviously we don't pressure anybody into anything, but we we help people you know obviously we're a destination location so people don't walk into our store unless they're coming for something and My employee Mike is very low-key, but he's very good at you know suggesting and showing and presenting and building building a wardrobe either at the one outfit or multiple outfits and I You know, I do the same with custom. They might start with a, I need a suit. All right. So I get them into their fabric and get them started with the suit. And before I measure them and say, well, do you need some shirts? Oh yeah, I guess I need some shirts. All right. So then I'm, you know, we pick out, I pulled the shirt folders out and they look at shirts. And, you know, I just keep doing that until they say, OK, I got what I need. Since we've been in this location for about two years, we just continue to every summer just kind of add some some improvements to the visual of the store. We keep adding mannequins and places to put them. I just bought a brand new sales counter, which we needed like five years ago. And it's really a big improvement. It's going to allow me to add a second POS station. And if I ever do continue to grow and need a bigger store. It'll be a beautiful spot, you know, for our sales counter. Um, and, uh, so that's kinda how we do it.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
So if your customers, um, come to you as a destination, how are they finding you? Um, if you're not like in one of these traffic environments, how do they find you? Who do you serve?
RON BRODEUR:
What we have found finally that I've invested time and energy in, in dollars over the last two or three years is, is Google. We ask everybody, where'd you find us? Oh, I just, you know, Googled you. And we've continued to invest in improving our website. I have a new website that we started earlier this year. We're doing, you know, SEO optimization. I am now doing some landing pages for specific keywords. I'm just starting that, so I can't say that I know the results of that yet. But I'm just investing in, you know, digital media. I joined a, you know, a lot of men's stores are in small retail groups where they meet once or twice a year. So I'm in one now. And just in the last year, I joined a year ago, went to my first meeting, and just in the 12 months I've been with them, I've gotten probably 8 or 10 ideas, some of them marketing ideas, some of them operations ideas, some of them product ideas, and I've implemented as many of them as I can, and they're all proving very, very helpful.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
What made you decide to join that group?
RON BRODEUR:
I am not the smartest man in the room. I still am a custom guy. So, you know, my partner ran the retail side for 18, 19 years. And when I had to take it over, I knew I needed to learn. And I, you know, we finally were at a point where I thought I could spend the dollars on being in the group. And I mean, it's, it's paid for itself. No question. I wish we had done it a lot sooner, you know?
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that peer level experience, that's why I'm doing these podcasts, really. Absolutely. It's valuable. Plus telling your stories. These stories are amazing. So tell me a little bit about your customer. They're finding you a lot, a lot through Google search, right? So who are they?
RON BRODEUR:
Well, we do have, you know, 20 years of customers. So probably, you know, 70, 80% of them are repeats, uh, men in the area. Many of them, you know, shopped at Jacobson's with my partner, Rob, and just continue to buy from, from me and us. Um, the new ones, um, are a little younger, but predominantly they come in and they're looking for a suit, or they're getting married and they need to get something made, or they want something for their wedding. And we picked up rentals, so we do have some rentals now. And that kind of just fills in that gap when a groom comes in or a bride comes in and they're inquiring about what we can do. And we say, yeah, we can make you a custom suit. And if you want, we can do the rentals for your wedding party. And they're like, sure, that'd be great, you know, not have to go find another place to get them at. So that's been a really nice add-on to our service. A lot of them are regulars or, you know, are more in the age group of, you know, 40s to 60s. Most of them are professionals. Some of them are business owners. And then during season, because it's, you know, we have a season here, fall to spring, And it's a lot of retired people come here and they have homes, second homes here. And we do a lot of clothing for them. It's mostly event-driven. They're not wearing, like they'll come into the store and clients who we know are very affluent and they're dressed very casual.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Flip-flops and torn up jeans.
RON BRODEUR:
Oh yeah, they got cargo pants on and a t-shirt. But they go to events at night, a lot of them throughout the season, a lot of charity events, a lot of dinner parties, a lot of going out to dinner with friends. And so that's when they're wearing our clothes.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Right. Got it. Well, and I know you're involved in the community as well, because you were telling me about an event last night.
RON BRODEUR:
We like to do some things. So, you know, this year I've picked about eight charities that we'll participate with. We'll donate a certificate. Then we get to go attend it. And, you know, there's effort in that and work in preparing for those events. The one we were at last night was kind of like a patron party. So they let us set up a little table with some merchandise and, you know, promote our brand. So, you know, those are all good things to do, both, you know, to be recognized among those affluent that go to these events. Hey, look, Brodeur Carvel's, you know, doing some things to give back. We should support them. And that's just been building over many, many, many years of doing these kinds of things.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
So let's talk a little bit about how you do what you do. What's like the nuts and bolts of it? You know, the, is there technology you mentioned Google and you're doing SEO and you're learning all the technology side as well. Um, are there other technologies or tools that you use that are vital to your running your business day to day?
RON BRODEUR:
Uh, so I mean, you know, I use a point of sale system and we use retail pro, um, you know, Some people use certain ones. This is what we've been using forever and for now we're happy with it. I was listening to one of your previous podcasts and we just signed up for One Shop Retail.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Oh, cool.
RON BRODEUR:
We're getting that started both on my phone and Mike's phone and he's been using it and I'm hoping to use it. I think it's going to be very helpful under certain circumstances where we need to, like who has been buying Samuelson suits from us this year? Let's do a trunk show with them. And this is an app that'll really drive that knowledge down. Even my retail pro doesn't grab that information easily for me. But this one does. So we're going to be using that quite a bit. Obviously we use Constant Contact. That's our email database. We have been texting since we started digital marketing earlier this year. We found a gal through my group that I'm in that is a specialist in digital marketing. She's in Chicago, so we're long distance, but she specializes. She has a lot of men's stores that she works with. Some of them are friends of mine. One of them is in my group. And so she's been leading me down this great digital media road. I don't have to send her images for a new ad because she has all the vendors permissions already. And it just makes it so much easier to do. I can't believe I found her, but I found her because I joined that group. That was the only reason I found her. So the group has been very amazing that way. What we do is we, for me, I do most, well I do all of the custom appointments, all of it. It's all up here. I've been doing it 30 years. The vendors that I work with, I have two private label brands that do custom for me, both on the clothing side and the shirt side. We do made-to-measure shoes. We just started custom jeans. We do custom sportswear. Not a ton, but we do have it. And all of those are a platform where I have to make the sale, and then I have to go into their website and submit the order. And it's effort. It's a lot to do custom. as we all know. So I manage all of that. Obviously, like I said, I have yet to hire a bookkeeper, so I'm doing all the bookkeeping. But it's all up here. I've been doing it for so long, it's easier for me to just do it an hour a day in the morning than it is to pay somebody and spend six months teaching them. And I get it right the first time, and then it's done. Now one day I might have to bring somebody else in. Mike basically greets everybody and if they're retail or if they're rentals, I let him take care of them. He, you know, has had no problems caring right through with everybody, you know, that was shopping with my partner and he's taking care of them and, you know, we're a good team together.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
So when you brought him on board, was there some kind of training or guide that you gave him that was, hey, this is the Brodeur Carvel way.
RON BRODEUR:
You know, he, he got it very quick because he had, you know, six or eight years in the business. Yeah. And, uh, I didn't have to really teach him a lot. He had been working with a tailor and, um, he knew how to do fittings already. And so, um, you know, it was very quick and easy, you know, he just had to learn the brands a little bit.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
So you've talked a little bit about some of the challenges, but if you had to name like a day-to-day challenge, what's your biggest challenge?
RON BRODEUR:
Time. You know, I have, I want to do all these things. I want to improve this. I want to fix this. I want to make this better. I want to make this easier. And, you know, something pops into my head and I'm like, yeah, I want to do that. And that gets added onto my to-do list and just finding the time to do all these things. And, you know, it's just, so sometimes something might take a couple of months to get finished. Uh, cause I worked through a progression on it. But I have been, that is my biggest challenge. And so I work a lot of hours, but we all do. The one thing I don't do, which I know a lot of retailers, when they're in retail, they work six, seven days a week. They don't take vacations. Not everybody, but some. And I mean, that's not me. So I work five days a week. So when I'm here, I'm working 10 to 12 hours, but I'm off on Saturdays, believe it or not. I do not work on Saturdays. Mike works the Saturdays. We have somebody who's here sort of part-time, who's just more or less a host for us at the moment. We have been looking and I'm continuing to look to hire someone, another sales associate. I am desperately wanting one more employee.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
That's quite a personal discipline to not work on Saturday.
RON BRODEUR:
Well, the thing is I never have. You know, when my partner owned the business, he worked the Saturdays. So I usually work Monday through Friday and he works, you know, Mike works Tuesday through Saturday. So the only time it's really a challenge is when, you know, when it's, you know, we're small, so we don't, it's not like there's 40 people coming in on Saturdays, but a big day would be, you know, five or 10 people come in and maybe there's two or three groups at the same time. But Mike's very good at that. He, you know, he can, he can stage them and he can, flow them back and forth and get them to work. And I mean, we've, you know, it's very rare if we had, you know, 10 people, three or four groups in the store at the same time.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
We're not that big of a business yet. So where do you find staff if you're, if you're looking right now?
RON BRODEUR:
Well, I mean, like I said, I, I found him through a referral, but he was at men's warehouse. And he was ready for an elevated version of men's retail. So the timing was just absolutely perfect. But past him, I have not found anybody. I have looked in the same places. I went to department stores, went to men's warehouse, and just there's nothing left at those places that is appealing. And a lot of them are happy where they are. I've tried a few guys. One of them wouldn't return my calls. The other one came to see me once, but decided he was going to be getting promoted soon and he'd be moving on to a bigger job. So he wasn't interested. So, you know, you got to find somebody who wants to stay local, who, you know, wants to be in this business.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Yeah, that is, uh, that is tough for sure.
RON BRODEUR:
The good thing about that is there's no competition. The bad thing is I can't find any salespeople.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Trained salespeople for sure. Oh my goodness.
RON BRODEUR:
I'm willing to train somebody. My main goal right now is I want to find somebody who I can convince that custom is the right side of the business that they can go into. They basically would be learning my business and my trade and the market is growing and there's very few of us that do it either in store or by appointment on the road. And if I can find the right person to train, I could get them working a little in the store and a little on the road, and they would grow as the business grew.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Wow, that's a great opportunity for somebody.
RON BRODEUR:
It would be. It's just finding someone. I really would rather have somebody young, in their 20s, who's just getting started, who can see a career, not just, oh, this is going to be a job. Because it does take time to learn.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Yeah. I think you have to really love it.
RON BRODEUR:
You do.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
You have to love it. And I don't know if you really love it until you get into it, right?
RON BRODEUR:
But once you get into it... That's probably true. Yeah. It isn't different than, it's still a relationship business, especially on the custom side. If you are going to see somebody at their office, it's a relationship, and then they start coming to the store, it's still a relationship. Any sales job that you have, If you want to do well, you're not it's not a transactional relationship It's it's you know, it's a relationship business and you you're you're doing you're working with them over and over again Not just once and that's it Now you're in their closet sometimes physically literally. Yeah, sometimes you are in their closet literally and you have to you have to you have to know the entire business and be able to You know explain that to them why this garment? will work with that garment, you know, besides whether it's custom or not, just whether they work together, build their trust that you're looking out for what their lifestyle is and what their habits are. And, you know, if they don't want to wear jeans, they only wear khakis, all right, so then you wear khakis. I'm not going to push you to wear all jeans or I'm not going to push you to wear all suits. Whatever your lifestyle is, whatever your career is and the place you are in your life and where you want to go, we want to help you, through clothes, get there.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Yeah. So how did you get into it?
RON BRODEUR:
So I graduated college in the late 80s and I had sold books door-to-door for a sister company of Tom James.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Wow, okay.
RON BRODEUR:
So I knew about Tom James, but I went into medical sales for about six years so when I was 28 I was ready to do something different and a friend of mine that sold books with me who Had went out on his own In the South Florida area asked me he wanted me to join him forever so I did and that was over on the east side of the state, but I he wanted me to come over and check out the west side of the state, and back then it was very, very sleepy. So a little naive, instead of saying, no, I need to be in a big city to do what we do, so I can find customers, right? So I moved over here, and I liked the area a lot. I liked that it was a little smaller, and I liked that I wasn't going to drown in the size of the city. And being very young and naive about how to do this, that's what I did. And, you know, it was a long, long struggle. But year after year, I did a little better, picked up new clients each year. And then, like I said, after nine or 10 years, that's when my partner joined me and we went into retail together. So that's how I got in the business. When I was doing just custom, I always thought, man, it'd be nice if I had a store. And, you know, we always talk about be careful what you wish for. Cause, you know, who knows where I would be right now if I had kind of not gone that route, I'd probably still be doing this and I'd probably be doing very well. But my life would have been very different those, these 23 years, if I hadn't gotten into retail and had just stuck with the custom, you know, by appointment side. But then again, I wouldn't have built what I have today.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
True. Yeah. When did you, when did you figure out that you loved it?
RON BRODEUR:
Oh, well, it was pretty quick because I think if I hadn't loved it, you know, I mean, I, obviously I was good at direct sales because I had experience. I knew how to, you know, prospect people I didn't know. I wasn't afraid to do that. That was the big thing that, that, that really propelled me to do well at a direct selling job is you have to have no fear and you have to be disciplined. You know, I'm not a, I'm not like, the best salesman in the world, but I was consistent, and I went to work every day, and I did the job, and I made the phone calls, and just like I did when I was selling books, I was never the best seller, but I worked the hours, and I was always one of the top, because I worked the hours. And so that's how I've always done it, is just work the hours, and eventually it comes to you, and it did.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
What's the best part about it? What do you love most about it?
RON BRODEUR:
Well, I definitely shine the most when I sit down with a client and they give me a little freedom to use my expertise to show them what they're looking for and knowing where to find it very quickly. And then once they pick a material, I love showing buttons, thread colors. I like getting them to say, wow, I had no idea you could do all this. And sometimes I say to him, well, you know, it depends on who you go to, because not everybody's going to take the time to go through all this, because it adds time for me to stop and say, all right, what button would you like? Oh, let's pull out the buttons and pick one. What thread color would you like for the buttonholes? What lining? And linings, there's a lot of linings. So sometimes it takes 15 minutes for a guy to pick a lining. You know, sometimes it takes two seconds, and then sometimes it takes 15 minutes. But I enjoy that probably because I've been doing that for so long. And when I first started, there was no choice. The guy would pick a fabric, I would take his measurements and that was it 30 years ago. There were no choices. I mean, even the linings were just, you know, the factory picked the lining.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
That's so weird to think about from all the options available today.
RON BRODEUR:
I know, it just all started maybe 10 or 12 years ago and every vendor has to do it because if you don't have it, the clothier is going to go find a vendor that does. So they all offer it. I like styling the coat and the pant with shirts and then of course I try and show them neckwear and shoes. So I try and do the whole package and the challenge is that sometimes those appointments take two hours. And then after the appointment's over, I got to spend another hour putting the order in for a new customer. So that's a three hour project. Now, and I might've done a, you know, a four or five, $6,000 sales. So it's really worth it, but it is time consuming.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Do you have one of those wow stories maybe that you'd be comfortable sharing from a customer where, where they just looked at all that stuff or received their clothing package and went, Oh my gosh.
RON BRODEUR:
Yeah. It happens quite a bit nowadays. I mean, most of the guys that are new for me come in, and when they come in for their fitting, they're just blown away at how nice it fits. I mean, I have a lot of them, so I can't think of any. I have one just recently, a young couple. The wife has a little, maybe you've heard of this, this might be the first time, it's called the Scout Guide.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
And it's now. I saw it on your Instagram page. Yeah.
RON BRODEUR:
So there's they have one in Naples and they're just launching one in Lee County. It's it's it's a print publication with media back media support. And it's a woman who founded it. They have branches all over the U.S. now. And it's a publication that prints once a year and it's hard copy and it's very elegant and it features local businesses only. Not chains, not big departments, nothing. It's all local businesses. And so I'm doing it this year. So she wanted to get a suit for her husband for the launch, which is in December. And they came in and I took them through the process and then the garment arrived and they were both very happy with it. So there's one example. Yeah, nice. It needed a quarter inch shorter or longer on one of the sleeves and the rest of the suit fit perfectly.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Awesome. And he got a fun lining.
RON BRODEUR:
He did get a fun lining. He certainly did.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
That's cool. I know you've got to get a store open, but, um, I wanted to ask you a little bit about the future. So if you think about, you know, two to three to five years out, I don't know how far out you want to go. Um, and what you see coming, how are you, how, how might you be preparing for that now?
RON BRODEUR:
So, you know, there's no question that, that COVID changed the world in many ways. And for independent retailers, it opened the world up. Now, I know it's based on where you are in the economy in that market. But for us, Florida really never closed. And the influx in the last two years of new residents, people who don't have to work in an office anymore. So they move from the Midwest, they move from the Northeast, And they're down here and they're working out of their home. They're still making exactly the same money they were making living in Chicago or Minneapolis or wherever, but they're now living in sunny Florida. And we have seen an influx of new clients. And I think that's continuing. And then the other big change, which I mean, every independent store would admit is the department stores are falling apart. They really are. And I mean, I don't wish it on them, but that's what's happening. And they're losing their sales teams to independent stores. And the independent stores are doing a much better job right now, both on the women's side and the men's side, whether it's together or as a separate business, taking care of those consumers. And I am so excited about what might happen in our market in the next 10 years. Obviously, I just turned 60. And so I got a 10-year plan, hopefully, to keep the business alive when I'm ready to step aside. That's why I need a custom specialist to sort of take my spot. And whether I hand it over to my young son who says he doesn't want to be in the business right now, he's only 18, so that's going to be a while, or someone who joins the business, or somebody buys me buys the business and expands their current brand down the road. The reason that I didn't close the store when my partner decided to leave was the same reason I'm thinking I want to keep this going, is we are the only Better Men store in our county, which is now hitting a million in population. So it's not a small market anymore.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
No, that's big.
RON BRODEUR:
Yes, we're very casual here. Most of the seasonals don't really ever wear suits and sport coats and dress clothes unless they're going to an event. But we're growing for sure. And so my mission is really to position this store so that it's profitable and someone wants to take it in seven to 10 years or more. If it takes longer, but I can back off a little bit you know, and take a little more vacations, that might work too. I know a lot of men's retailers, they work till they're 80. You know, maybe they're not working as many hours, but they still own the business, you know?
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Yeah, well, and the idea of retirement has completely changed, or the look of retirement.
RON BRODEUR:
Well, I know, but I do have, I know that I could keep myself very busy in retirement. I love sports. I love to do athletic things. I haven't traveled a ton in the last 20 years. I did make my first trip to Italy in June. I went to Pitti, which was awesome. I went to see all the mills that I hadn't seen before. So it was a once in a lifetime trip for me to go there with my wife. But I want to travel more. So I know that if I was able to retire early, I could do it and I would stay busy.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Yeah. Awesome. All right, one final question for you, Ron. Why does Main Street matter?
RON BRODEUR:
Well, like I've described, you know, the stores that are on Main Street or that are independent do a way better job of taking care of people with the products. Usually the products are a little nicer, a little better. They're a little unique. They're not sold everywhere in the world. And they take care of their customers. They serve them. when they need to be rushed. So that's the big difference. It's a relationship, not a transaction. And I believe that's the biggest difference for main street businesses, whether you're a butcher or a hair salon or a lawn maintenance service, or if you're in the north and in the winter you're plowing streets, You know, the homeowner, you're not just because it's your business. It's not just, you know, you're, you're one of the hundred employees or 200 employees in that market. So it does matter. And people appreciate it. You know, that's why we're here.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Love it. Thank you, Ron. I appreciate you being on today.
RON BRODEUR:
You're welcome.
TERRESA ZIMMERMAN:
Thank you for tuning in to Main Street Matters. Hope you found today's episode insightful and inspiring. I'd love it if you would share Main Street Matters with fellow retail owners or anyone else who loves Main Street. And please subscribe so you know when the next episode drops.
