Episode 19: Family Business Success: How Adrian Jules Built a 60-Year Custom Tailoring Legacy
"When you buy from Main Street, you're buying from the community, you're helping the community."
In this episode of Main Street Matters, host Terresa Zimmerman interviews Matthew Roides, Director of Operations at Adrian Jules. Matthew shares the inspiring 60-year journey of his family's custom tailoring business. Founded by his Italian immigrant grandfather who arrived in America with just $33, Adrian Jules has grown into a respected name in luxury menswear with both wholesale and retail operations. Matthew discusses how the business maintains its commitment to American-made craftsmanship with over 70 employees in Rochester, NY, while adapting to changing fashion trends and customer preferences. He reveals how a personal tragedy inspired him to join the family business, the challenges of finding skilled craftspeople, and how creating genuine relationships with customers has been central to their decades of success.
In this episode:
From $33 to success: How an Italian immigrant built a 60-year tailoring legacy
Maintaining American craftsmanship while balancing both retail and wholesale operations
Building a store atmosphere where customers become brand ambassadors
Evolving beyond traditional suiting to meet post-pandemic "casual luxury" demands
Why investing in quality and relationships beats competing on price
How personal loss inspired Matthew to abandon planned medical career for the family business
Are you an independent retailer looking to build your own multi-generational legacy? Subscribe to Main Street Matters for more inspiring stories and practical business advice from successful store owners. Share your thoughts on today's episode in the comments or on social media using #MainStreetMatters.
Connect With Matthew Roides:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-roides/
Adrian Jules
Retail
https://adrianjulescustomclothier.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ajcustomsuits/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-TkHdj-BqVWqvl89HmYz4g
https://www.linkedin.com/company/adrian-jules-custom-clothier/
Wholesale
https://www.adrianjulesltd.com/
https://www.instagram.com/adrianjules__ltd/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/adrian-jules-wholesale/
Stores:
Rochester
(585) 381-1111
2937 Monroe Ave., Rochester, NY 14618
Buffalo
(716) 229-0102
5436 Main St., Williamsville, NY 14221
Connect with Us:
Main Street Matters Podcast:
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YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@MainStreetMatters_MSM
Host - Terresa Zimmerman:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/terresachristensonzimmerman
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Full Transcript:
Matthew Roides:
And we have a lot of very, very talented people. And luckily, a lot of them are still have tons of experience, but are on the younger side. So we do still have a whole bunch of years of experience, but also it's getting talented people in to hopefully train them still.
Terresa Zimmerman:
This episode of Main Street Matters is brought to you by Wood Underwear, Marquesi Jin Frati Neckwear, and Inspiro Tequila. I'm your host, Terresa Zimmerman. Welcome to Main Street Matters. We have today, Matthew Roides from Adrian Jules. He's the director of operations for this family owned business. They've been around for like 60 years, retail and wholesale. And I can't wait to hear all about it. Thank you for joining us, Matthew.
Matthew Roides:
Thank you for having me, Terresa. And it's super important that this podcast is going on and I love what you're doing.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Thank you, thank you so much. I appreciate that. I love to hear it. So yeah, everybody else out there, you can tell me too. And if we need to change something, I wanna hear that as well. But I wanna hear your story. So you have Adrian Jules, it's wholesale and retail, right? So I wanna hear how that came about. It's family owned. So tell us what Adrian Jules is about.
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, so we actually, last year we just celebrated our 60th anniversary. And it was actually founded by my grandfather in 1964. So he was a tailor in Italy, and he came over in 1954. And the first day he got off the boat, he walked into Hickey Freeman's and got a job. So he worked there for nine, 10 years, and he met with another acquaintance there, another tailor, Julio Bonterre. And they started doing some side business working at Julio's house Julio would cut and my grandfather would sew them together making some suits. And they thought hey let's branch off let's make the plunge you know it's not really working when we're making you know. a couple here and there, let's go full bore into it. So that's how they came up with the name Adrian Jules, my grandfather, Adriano and his partner, Julio. But it just so happened a couple of years into that, Julio had a sickness in the family and he actually had to go back to Italy. So he sold his half of the business to my grandfather. So my grandfather, he's just starting off and he thought he had a partner and he's by himself. And they bought, they had a building on Portland Avenue in Rochester, New York. And in 69, they actually moved to the building that we're still in today.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Oh, wow.
Matthew Roides:
Yeah.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Was that all? Was it when he started, when he broke off from Hickey Freeman, was that just by appointment? He was just doing personal studio stuff? Or did he open a store right away?
Matthew Roides:
So he was actually he was still traveling I believe the first big market that he had was Detroit actually and it was it was making for other makers he was taking on back then there was a lot more people making garments and he was taking on some overflow and making for other people, private label. So he started doing some of that. And then that was slowly how it grew. It was more so a wholesale growth and manufacturing growth for other people, whether it was spillover or just making for people. And then they were out there selling, you know, when you can save time, if you're making it, you can only sell so much. But if you have someone making it for you, you can sell way more.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, yeah. So he really started Wholesale Private Label right from the very beginning.
Matthew Roides:
Yes, yeah. So it was, yeah, and he had a group of people working for him. that he was able to hand select. A lot of people, they might have still been working at Hickey's and they would come after hours, kind of moonlight. But he would really try to grow that. And he saw an opportunity, a little bit of a niche where he could offer a higher make but to, you know, less individuals. And it was more of a, you know, it was esteemed to be in an Adrian Jules garment or have Adrian Jules be your maker.
Terresa Zimmerman:
So that was, he set out on a luxury that higher end from the outset as well. Then it sounds like for sure.
Matthew Roides:
Yeah. So that was, um, and that's still to this day, our core is that niche where, you know, we still make everything in Rochester, New York, uh, proudly, uh, we have over, you know, 70 employees and we're, we're still making garments, uh, to this date, uh, his standard, uh, throughout the years, obviously we've added, uh, technology and, uh, plenty of other things to help advance that and grow it. But we still try to keep those core values and start to try to keep the handwork in the garments as much as we can and in the in the parts that we think they are most important. And to stream on that and be able to give a great product to our dealers on the wholesale side that they could be proud of and and sell and put their name on it for private label.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, on your website, I don't remember if it's the wholesale or retail site, but you've got some great video snippets of the marking and the cutting and sewing. And I love that stuff. That stuff is, it's like, you know, glue connection more and more and more.
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, yeah. And that's one of the beauties, like being here at the manufacturing that I love is I get to, I could go out in the shop, I'm out in the shop and I get to see all this, This making happening and all this artistry happening and it's I like to think of it as it's a you know it's a science or you know a math. But then, because you got all the measurements, you have all these you know the angles and everything and the curvatures that you need to keep track of, but then it's also the artistry that goes into it. Where you know you're kind of painting a picture of what your client wants and. by being able to take all these measurements and then put in the handwork and be able to make a two-dimensional piece of fabric, cut into two-dimensional pieces of a garment, and then seeing that come to shape and to become a 3D garment that someone can slip on, it's just, it's wonderful and it's a blessing. And there's not, unfortunately, there's not too many left in the States that are easy, you know, to go visit and see production, you know, firsthand.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Tell me about the retail side, how did that come about? Because that's a whole different, that's completely different than manufactured wholesale.
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, so back in the 1970s, both my uncles, my uncle Peter and my uncle Arnie, They were both working on the business. It was still manufacturing and wholesale. And then towards the late seventies, early eighties, my uncle Arnie focused on the wholesale and the manufacturing, really trying to grow that portion and try to get dealers across the country. And my uncle Peter really started trying to do the direct selling to the roster market. And we actually had in the front of our building that we're in right now is we actually had a retail store that people could stop by to and, uh, you know, and come and visit, pick out fabrics and everything, do the fittings there, which it was a unique experience because you, you know, you could open up the door and next thing you know, you're, you see, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 tailors working on garments. And, you know, one of those could be yours. So it was a really, really interesting experience. And he really. took that and ran with it, put in countless hours and, you know, working overtime, you know, every week, you know, first one in, first one out, both of them, and to grow that retail. And then in 2007, 2008, literally right before the stock market crash, and then the housing crisis, they opened up a store on Monroe Ave in Pittsburgh, probably the busiest street in the Rochester area besides, you know, in the downtown Rochester. And that, once they moved there, a couple years later, my cousin, Peter, started working for the retail. And once with the new move, and then, you know, the extra family being involved, a little extra motivation, a little extra drive. And they really have taken that to new heights. They've really been crushing it. And then in 2001, they actually moved across the street to a little bit of a bigger building, and a little bit of a better layout as well as the right next to a high end jewelry store so they've they've really you know planted some seeds and tradition in the Rochester area that people you know they come far and wide from upstate New York and across the country to come and visit that store it's they've really create a culture where it's people come there and sometimes they're not even buying they're just coming and they're hanging out and they're they're chatting and the next thing you know they're they're telling saw a new person to come in all about their experience and that's the perfect referral right there yeah you don't have to do any selling your customers are there to do it for you exactly hopefully in your clothing that they've already bought in the past oh for sure for sure they're always dressed the nines
Terresa Zimmerman:
You mentioned a whole bunch of family names when you were talking about the businesses. And did you always know? Is this just a family path, like you guys all joined the business? Or how did you decide to join the business?
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, so long, I guess long story short, I mean, it's not that long, but I actually I don't think I ever 100% knew if I would get into the business. It was always something to be proud of, though, that we had a family business, my grandfather, that story, you know, he came over on the boat with $33 and dimes, you know, the first day he, yeah, the first day, you know, he, he goes to work, you know, it's kind of like this drive and perseverance and that was something always to be proud of. And I actually went to school for, I was a bio major and a chemistry minor. So I actually envisioned going to, uh, to be a physician's assistant. And I wanted to work in the hospital and work in the medical field. And, but I always had an interest in the family business and, um, I love American made and I love, uh, being able to have a part of the community, especially in having people be able to feed families that are working here and whatnot. So that was always super important, but it was actually. When my grandfather, unfortunately, passed away in 2013, what I remember kind of the push to get into the family business was when he was in the hospital and he was about to pass, he... Hold on one second, sorry. he there was a physician assistant and they had to tell us that they had to put a magnet on his pacemaker to let him pass because it was it was literally just shocking him and I could see how hard that was for that physician assistant to tell us. And I I'm I love people and I connect people and I don't know if I would have ever been able to disconnect.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah.
Matthew Roides:
And be able to just tell, like, break news like that to people. So that semi turned me off to that. But then also it was just having, you know, see my, my grandparents and my, my grandma in the hospital. And she still, she said something that still sticks with me today. She said that, uh, when she needed time to make the decision, if she was going to put the magnet on was that, uh, she never dreams of a day without my grandpa. And, uh, that just, that hit home. Yeah. That hit home. And I, I knew that I felt a passion in me kind of light up even more that I that was always there, but it was to keep this family business alive and well and to pour everything I have into it and. to make it not just a third generation business, but to hopefully make it a fourth and a fifth. And to keep, you know, my grandfather and my grandmother's, you know, dream and their business and their spirit alive in this business, you know, as for, you know, through tooth and nail as long as I, as long as I can.
Terresa Zimmerman:
That's, that's, that's awesome. Nobody cries without me. You got me on that one. I'm sorry. Oh, no, it's okay. These are the stories we love. I mean, this is the whole reason why we do what we do.
Matthew Roides:
Exactly.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah. Yeah. So that's both a push away from what you thought you were going to do and a pull into what you're doing now at the same time.
Matthew Roides:
Yeah. Yeah. It was, um, powerful light, if that makes sense. And it felt, um, it felt like a decision that I had already maybe made, but didn't know yet. And that, uh, that really just, it, it, it hammered at home. It made it simple for me because I just knew it no longer was a question of what, like, what should I do? Should I do this or go for the family business and, and, and keep that alive. And, um, yeah, so it was, it. It was unfortunate events, but it helped. And it also, it allowed me to have, you know, a once in a lifetime opportunity as well as I was still in college for my last semester, and I was able to, I moved in with my grandmother. And then they, she, she lives five minutes away from work where the factory is. So I was able to spend every day with her, um, which was super important. And it was, it was, uh, a blessing because it was able to just to hear stories and, uh, you know, cook with her and learn recipes. And it was just, it was such a great opportunity that I don't know, uh, if, if it would ever have been able to come fruition otherwise. And, um, that was. super important for me and that was also tough when she passed too. But it was, I'm so glad that I was given that opportunity to be able to get that close with my grandma at the end.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's a treasure. Yes. So did you work in the business when you were growing up at all?
Matthew Roides:
Nothing crazy, nothing too wild or anything. But I was here a lot. I actually do know the first time I did get paid here was my aunt. She's HR now, but she was the office manager. And I remember being a little kid and she gave me a letter opener. And I opened all of the mail for her. And she gave me $5. And I was I was golden, baby. I was probably I was probably five or six. But I was I was rolling in it.
Terresa Zimmerman:
You were rich. Do you remember what you spent it on?
Matthew Roides:
I don't know, probably candy.
Terresa Zimmerman:
I was going to say candy. That's great. So you started in the mailroom. That can be part of your story... So you're director of operations. What does that mean? What do you do?
Matthew Roides:
I do a little bit of everything. So I oversee our operations on the manufacturing side. So I deal, you know, I'm in constant contact, meet every day with our foreman in the shop. I'm in the shop working with employees when there's, you know, situations that come up, we meet and we come to a game plan to deal with and fix any issues or, you know, to congratulate people or make sure we highlight, you know, achievements or whatnot. I also work a full or a large amount of my time with our head designer, Victor, which has been an absolute blast and a godsend just because of the wealth of knowledge that he has and able to, you know, pick his brain and then review things with him. and kind of a game plan for some of the things we might have in the future, as far as patterns and designs, and just being able to constantly learn from him is a great, great opportunity. And then just working with our production manager, Tim, he has worked with a lot of these people for 20, 25 years, and he's been here over 30, and it's been, a great opportunity to be able to, you know, I knew them when I was little. And then to be able to grow up and have a different connection with them when I'm older is amazing. And to be able to learn about these people and really get to, you know, it's kind of like a family a little bit. And just to be able to work with them and then I work with the cutting room in the office and then do some sales and customer satisfaction and talk and reviewing orders and design with some of our dealers and just maybe going over pictures with them. And then here or there, I'll help fix a machine or something in the shop if something goes down. So a little bit of everything.
Terresa Zimmerman:
A little mechanic work in there too. How much interaction do you do with the retail side then?
Matthew Roides:
We talk, I'll go over there, probably less than I should, I should be over there more, but you know, we're, we're a little bit, you know, making sure we're focused on everything, but we meet weekly on reviewing everything that's going over on with our retail, as well as then on our, our manufacturing side, and then our wholesale to with our private label. So we meet weekly on all that. And then we, we talked through what, uh, Some of our goals that we're going to have and then talk about some of the things that are happening that are good and then some situations that we may or may not need help navigating. or how to, you know, or some events that might be coming up and how we should game plan for them. So we're constantly, you know, constantly working together and trying to, you know, really grow that retail as well as that wholesale, and then still work together and kind of keep it intertwined as we grow.
Terresa Zimmerman:
And then, I mean, you sell to, with your wholesale business, you're selling to other retailers as well. And so how do you find that balance? I mean, is there, how does that, how do you work that?
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, we work with a large amount of dealers across the nation, some in Canada, some overseas. And yeah, that's, uh you know we're making for them and we have enough uh people and workers a very talented team here that can uh take on our retail work as well as our Um, our, our private label. And, uh, that's just like, uh, it's actually, I, I find it as a benefit because I get to hear, uh, the, the, our retail, what they're doing and some of the things that they're trying and some of the ways that they sell. And then when I'm on the phone. talking to some of our retailers across the nation, I get to hear what they're doing, maybe pass on some things that I heard from our retail or from a different retailer. And then it's actually very interesting how different people in this industry, they sell differently, as well as some of them have totally different experiences in their shop. Some people sell themselves. Some people sell the experience, some people are selling the garment, some people are selling the fabric, but they're all actually selling the same thing. But they aren't because a lot of the clients are buying you, the clothier, and what you were bringing to the table, your style, you're still gonna put them in their style, but it's your twist on it and your experience. And it's the experience that people are buying. you know you could buy clothes wherever but what we're bringing is custom clothing so it's going to fit to you you know with your shape and your size your posture your measurements but also the twist on things that we're allowed to do, as well as what some of the dealers, you know, some dealers let clients choose everything. And then some dealers, they don't let you choose anything. They let you choose the fabric and the lining, and then I'm gonna style it for you. So it's interesting to see all these different ways that people go about, and there's not a wrong way to do it. It's just, you know, it's, but that's the beauty of it, is that all these individuals have these individualized ways of selling these garments, and it's just very, very, interesting and enlightening to be able to sometimes pass on little tidbits to different retailers. Hey, I know this won't work for you, but I did hear this and I think this actually would work with you. What do you think?
Terresa Zimmerman:
It all sounds so personal. I mean, you almost would never run into a conflict if each individual person gets to make all the decisions or even make a few decisions. It's very personal.
Matthew Roides:
Oh, for sure. Yeah. And that will, and that's the name of the game in this business is, it is personal, you know, you're, you're putting your hands on somebody when you're measuring them. And you're, you're, you're gonna be a big part of their day. You're, you're their clothier, you're their tailor, quote unquote. So like you're, you're a direct part of their image and what you know their their first impression is relying on you delivering so that's something that we pride ourselves on that we both on our retail and our our wholesale manufacturing is that we we love to believe that we deliver a great garment and we pride ourselves on our fit and our design and it's it's just it's such a personal uh experience, and it's such a personal level that, you know, you're, you grow, you're not really getting clients, you're getting friends and acquaintances from this. And they just happen to buy clothes from you.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Right. How much of that made in America stuff is that message is part of your business? Have you been able to trade on that? Is that important?
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, yeah. So that's, um, you know, that's something we take big pride in. So we've always been you know, super, not pushing it, but just making sure it's well known that we make everything in Rochester, New York. And it's something that we, you know, you could see throughout the years as more and more manufacturers are moving overseas, or more and more clothing is being shipped across over to Asia or wherever, that it is harder to do. And it is, it's it's it's becoming smaller the amount of manufacturers so it's something that we're prideful in and that we're uh we really push is just something that uh is a it's part of our lifeblood we had in uh you know italian immigrant founders and then my grandfather totally taking it over but he came over for the american dream So we're keeping that American dream alive and we want people that are buying our stuff and selling our stuff to be proud that, yeah, it's made in the USA.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah. Yeah. No, that's super fun. How do you stay current?
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, that's a big thing. So that's a lot of what we do is our models and our garments that we have and our designs, they are very, very customizable. So they can be made more modern. But also what we're constantly doing is we probably release a couple new designs a year. We usually always are working on something that we're trying to bring to the forefront. and to stay current. And we usually don't try to be the first to do something because we aren't some big corporation where we have a whole bunch of R&D and we can really push the envelope on something very niche or very fashion forward. So we try to stay a little bit on the more classic side, but we wanna stay up current with the times. So we do, constantly work on current, current fashion and current, you know, hip things. And luckily, with men's fashion, it moves a little slow, it's not too fast, as well as it's kind of circular, too. So like, you know, especially see over in Europe, like pleats are pretty big over there, we're seeing a little bit of an uptick in double breasted, and it just so happens, you know, we have all those is just, we've got to dust them off, you know,
Terresa Zimmerman:
Right. Right. Yeah. And people who work in women's, I don't even know how you keep up with all that stuff. Yeah. I'm very grateful to be in the men's world where, you know, change is incremental.
Matthew Roides:
Yeah. Yeah. And we do, we do do some ladies. So we do have a couple coat base models and a couple pants some of them more hip and modern so they're you know they're very shaped and very you know they're shorter and then some of them the pants we have a high waisted and then we have a bell bottom but nothing too crazy and then we have a little bit of an old school kind of like a, you know, boyfriend coat, where it's a little bit more boxy, and not as, you know, tapered. And so that's a little bit more contemporary. But then, yeah, ladies are, it's, it's hard to keep up with the fashion and what's in style. So we thought about just this, we're gonna cover our base basics. And this is kind of like what we can, uh offer and just try to really make sure that we nail those and we can make people happy with those and that's um you know we've seen we've seen some good success with people uh you know they might have never been selling ladies or didn't even know they could and hey they don't want to they sell a husband now they can sell the wife so okay personal curiosity fabric are the fabrics the same between the men's and the women's do you bring in different fabric runs i would say it's like 50 50 so There are specific fabrics that are, you know, meant for, you know, ladies. I would say basically all men's fabrics you can use for ladies. And I would say probably predominantly what we see is ladies using, ordering the, you know, just your standard fabrics, you know, your gender neutral fabrics or whatever.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Classics. Yeah.
Matthew Roides:
But I do know there are like some books, like I know Holland and Sherry's got a book that's like a very feminine And they, I mean, they're beautiful fabrics, but like, it's not that I would ever wear, but it's, um, yeah, but there, uh, and we, we have a couple of samples that are made up with those fabrics and they, they, they make up beautiful. Um, but I would say it's probably 50, 50, whether, um, people are just going for the, you know, the, your standard fabrics or they're, they're jumping ship to the ladies fabrics.
Terresa Zimmerman:
You've, so you, you work across the business in a lot of different areas. I mean, even just when you were describing your role as director of operations, that was a lot. And then, you know, just the, the family connection and, and being part of and learning, you know, so much of the business, even outside your current role, what do you love the most?
Matthew Roides:
What do I love the most? Uh, I would say one of the things I do love the most is, uh, learning as well as, you know, the opposite of that is teaching. So, and I also think by teaching you learn and by learning you can, you can teach. So being able to work with my uncles, work with Victor, our head designer, being able to, you know, go out in the shop and learn from our tailors and our seamstresses, being able to take in that knowledge is, you know, paramount to keeping the industry alive and keeping our business alive. as well as then being able to pass that on to other people. So like actually just this past January, one of your other guests mentioned the CTDA, and it's the Custom Tailors Designers Association. I was actually fortunate enough to teach a class there. And I taught a class on blue penciling. So that's kind of the manipulations to patterns to like a customer's pattern that you would make to make that customer their own pattern. So going over some of the basics on that, to be able to teach some of the people there is, I really enjoy that. And I could only have done that by, you know, studying so much with and learning so much from our designer and being able to pass on some of that knowledge. One, in a class like that with the CTDA, but also just talking on the phone with people and growing connections, but then also uh, informing them and just being able to have an answer when they have a question. Is a super important to me as well as being able to, you know, be the, the helpful eye when they have a question on, uh, you know, pictures they might've took and they need help with some postures just to being able to go over these things with, um, individuals, uh, is super rewarding and, and it also helps, uh, you know, make sure that we're, um, you know, masters in their eye.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Mm-hmm. So have you designed your own kind of, uh, apprenticeship or your own education across your business or have you formally or informally, or have you kind of got a idea in mind what you, you know, kind of have to learn and how that path is going to work?
Matthew Roides:
Yes. Um, yeah, I, I think it was a combination of the both. There was, uh, there was a little bit of, uh, structure to that. It was, um, we're making sure I worked with certain people. I'm making sure so I when I first started, I worked in the office. I learned all the front end office things to taking all the information from the orders to the work tickets that are all the information for the shop that they need. And then going to the cutting room, I worked in the cutting room. I learned how, you know, how to put the pieces, what the pieces were, because in the beginning, you know, you don't know what they are. I learned a little bit of hand cutting not that great at it, but I know how to do it. And you know, learning all the the steps there and then working with. with Victor, our head designer and kind of really being able to work with him for a long time and really nail down a lot of those things. Cause that's, you know, that's the lifeblood of our, our business is the customization and the making of individual people's patterns is, you know, that's the most important aspect and being able to get a good foundation of that, you know, could only be done, um, by learning all the different steps that go into it and then learning that final step of creating those patterns. And then just being able to work with a whole bunch of people, it was a goal to work with people, but also it was a loose coil to also just work with as many people as I could to learn as much about the whole business so that when someone had a question, I might not be able to do it per se, but I do know how it should and could be done. So we can still talk about it and we can still go over it and we can still see where there might be room for improvement or if there's an issue or how we can fix things or make things better. So that's always the goal is to constantly be improving and constantly being able to take little things and be able to implement them.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah. So you're just diving right in.
Matthew Roides:
Oh yeah, always.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Love it. So what's your biggest challenge?
Matthew Roides:
Our biggest challenge. Our biggest challenge is probably, uh, you know, making sure our workforce, we have a great team here. Um, but as the years go by, we are lucky enough that we do have a great team and we have a lot of very, very talented people. And luckily a lot of them are. um, still have tons of experience, but are on the younger side. So we do still have a whole bunch of, you know, years of, uh, experience, but also it's getting, um, talented people in to hopefully train them still. So that, um, that pool has, you know, throughout, you know, the decades has shrank and shrank and shrank the amount of talented people were coming in. So we're lucky enough that we do have talented people. And we can, they can train people that might have some talent or people that might have the drive and the wish to get into the industry. train them, we're lucky, but it's always going to be a challenge per se, just because of the, you know, just the shrinking of the amount of people that are still interested in getting in the business.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah. So what do you do about that? Where do you, where do you find people? I mean, you know, talent and staffing is, you know, it's just kind of a constant, I mean, it's, it's all, there's always turnover. Hopefully the turnover is not the fast pace, but you always kind of have to be filling that pipeline. What do you guys do about that?
Matthew Roides:
Yeah. So we, We luckily have, we work with a lot of local companies and local like organizations. We also have like a large amount of people here that are like tons of nationalities. It's a true melting pot here. and we are able to like tap into some of their networks because a lot of them may have people that are in the industry or were in the industry or are interested because they are so we're able to tap into that kind of network and be able to work with local organizations to be able to kind of grab onto them as well as I know a couple years back we were able to work with one of the local schools and one of the local organizations to offer English classes here. And so it would be after hours English classes because we do have some people that they don't either speak great English or can't read great English and being able to have those teaching classes was special as well as, you know, it kind of opened up our pool of people that could work because they were learning English and then we could have, you know, It was amazing that there was one guy that was who couldn't really speak English that great. I would have a conversation. We would have to point at things and talk. And within a couple of months, we were having full blown conversations. And it was amazing to be able to do that and to be able to offer that was able to open up the pool of people that we were able to work with and be able to, you know, the families we were able to grow with.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, nice. That's great. That's so fun. And then what are you seeing in future? The biggest challenges you kind of are coming up in future and you pick a timeline, two years out, three years out, five years out, maybe 10. And how are you preparing for that? I know some people I've spoken with have approached that from a technology standpoint. Some are focused on a brand standpoint, but what's your thought about what you're gonna be facing future-wise?
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, I think in the, the, the future wise it's it's going to be, you know, as more and more choices out there, and a lot of those may be. um, at a lower price point. So I think, um, the, the ability to keep up with them as well as to be able to innovate, um, and keep up with the technologies, which we've been trying to make sure that we are, uh, keeping up with those and moving on those and still be able to offer, um, you know, something that's, you know, worth people's money when they're buying our garments, they're buying the technology, they're buying the our knowledge, they're buying the customer service. And, you know, we're not an expensive a garment were a costly garment meaning that you know something's expensive it means that it's uh you know it costs a lot of money but it's might be it's expensive because it's a little bit of a disappointment because it didn't deliver on what it was promising whereas costly is we're costly because there's a lot of uh research and development there's a lot of hard work there's a lot of knowledge that we've we have that we're putting into it and That's just the, you know, it's what you're paying for is to get an amazing garment. Well, it's just constantly trying to keep up with, and that's why we're constantly trying to add new designs that we offer. And we're always trying to make sure we're in touch with the technology and being able to deliver new technologies and whatnot to our dealers and then also on the retail side, our consumers.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, those consumers will certainly tell you, and you guys have your finger on the pulse on that, right?
Matthew Roides:
For sure.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah. That's great. How do, where, where best to find you? If any of our listeners out there want to reach out, where should they reach out to you?
Matthew Roides:
Yeah. Um, you, our website is agentjules.com for, um, then we have a landing page for our wholesale and then for our retail. And then, to reach me, it'd be matthew at adrianjules.com, as well as you can DM me or contact me via LinkedIn.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, we'll put all those spots in the show notes as well.
Matthew Roides:
Perfect.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, absolutely. I have one more question for you.
Matthew Roides:
Yes.
Terresa Zimmerman:
And certainly if you have anything else you wanna cover off, we should do that as well. But my last question is, why does Main Street matter?
Matthew Roides:
Yeah, so Main Street matters because it's the individuals and the personal level that Main Street brings to consumers and to the community. There's, you know, when you have these big corporations and these big box stores, you're buying what they want you to buy. Whereas when you go into these main streets, you're buying, you might be buying unique things, you might be buying, you know, creative things from individuals. And you're also getting a personal level and a personal touch that you can't get from these larger corporations, or it's a lot harder to. And these individuals get to, you know, give back to the community because they're working in their own community. And when you buy from main street, you're buying from the community, you're helping the community. And it's when if main street, you know, goes away, you are cutting off a whole amount of community. And those people give back to the community. And the level of experience that these people have is not often the repercussions that if these small stores, if they left, they're not even known because they're so important to the lifeblood of these communities and then just the collaborations that people can do with them.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, yeah, I think that's right. I think, you know, you put it a little differently than anybody else has in that if you look at a single store and they go away, you don't really realize that that would be a big deal, but it is. It's a huge deal. Yeah. And it's that impact, you know, wider impact that
Matthew Roides:
is uh you don't get to see until it actually happens and that's just a sad thing makes me sad to think about exactly yeah it's it's a shame whenever you hear about a local business you know they're you know they might be shutting their doors or um You know, it's, it's, but it's, it's a shame because a lot of times it's, you know, that, that was someone's story. That was someone's, you know, livelihood that they were their dream that, uh, you know, it might've been unfortunate that they had to close before they wanted to, or needed to. And, and then, um, you know, a lot of times you don't know what is going to be the repercussions, um, until, you know, down the road.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, and the multi-generational effect of that too compounds things, I think. I mean, you know, you're in this multi-generational business. Third generation? Yeah, third generation. Started it, right? So, and you wanna see it through to some more generations as well, and love that, the impact of that is huge. And we also like to see new people starting up, so. For sure. All that good stuff too. Thank you so much for being on, Matthew, I appreciate it.
Matthew Roides:
Thank you, it was a pleasure and thank you for having me on and I look forward to watching many more in the future and I love what you're doing. I think this is a super important for this industry to be able to put a shine on some of these small businesses and some of these people that are just starting off and some of these people that are been in it for a while and just seeing and be able to hear these backstories are, you know, some of them are very touching. And also, you know, a lot of them have experiences and hardships that they've conquered, and been able to push through and to be able to hear that, you know, a lot of times I like you aren't alone. I know a lot of people who are starting off in the industry, they, you know, there's going to be some hardships and there's going to be some tough times and to be able to hear someone's backstory and on this podcast is I think super important for the industry and just to be able to you know relate with some of these individuals is paramount.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Yeah. Well, you're welcome. And thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. Cause that is, that is part of our point. It's that we're, you know, we're not alone. None of us are alone. Just got to reach out, tap, call, whatever. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much, Matthew. Um, and, uh, appreciate you being on a main street matters.
Matthew Roides:
Thank you, Teresa.
Terresa Zimmerman:
Thank you for tuning in to Main Street Matters. I 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.
