By Dave Fidlin

Longtime retailer closing his Downtown-based men’s clothing store

As he looks back at a milestone year in business, veteran retailer Ron Ford said he cannot help but wax nostalgic.

Ford’s sense of reflection is serving a dual purpose as he enters the bustling holiday season. His store, Ron Stuart, a longtime staple in Downtown San Diego, celebrated its 35th year in business in this city in 2016. But this year also is marking the shop’s swan song.

Located at 225 W. A St., Ron Stuart represents an increasingly rare glimpse into the types of shops and services that once permeated the marketplace from one city to the next.

Mom-and-pop clothing stores with in-house tailors — the retail category Ron Stuart falls within — are an endangered species.

As Ford notes, online shopping has proven a formidable force. Mass-market retailers, which typically order their wares in large volume, have also posed a challenge in more recent years.

But one of the store’s greatest challenges, Ford said, is an overall shift in men’s fashion in the past three and a half decades. This is especially true in the professional working world, where cultural norms have called for trading in suits, ties and blazers for jeans and polo shirts.

“When we opened up here, every professional working man wore a suit and tie,” Ford said. “But today, the casual trend is getting stronger and stronger.”

In the early 1980s, Ford said business within his Downtown storefront had been so strong that he employed numerous tailors. Today, Ford does most of the work himself, though a few part-time employees — including tailor Joe LaFata, a 22-year veteran — have stayed on as well.

Although business is a fraction of what it once was, Ford said he still has a regular stream of customers and about half of that clientele works in the legal profession.

“I think this is a good time to end it,” said Ford, 76. “The prices [on garments] have been going up, and running a mom-and-pop type of store has been getting more and more challenging.”

Ron Stuart’s roots actually predate San Diego. The shop’s name is a nod to Ford and his former business partner, Stuart Schlesinger. The two incorporated their business in 1974 and created a storefront in Los Angeles before Ford went solo in his entrepreneurial endeavors.

For more than a decade, Ford operated Ron Stuart stores in San Diego and Los Angeles. He decided to leave the Los Angeles market after the rioting that took place in 1992 and focus his attention solely on San Diego.

Ford, who attended college in the Midwest at Southern Illinois University, majored in marketing and said he aspired to work as a clothier at a young age.

His foray into the industry began in the early 1960s when he worked for Bullock’s, a now-defunct department store chain that once blanketed the Los Angeles area. Ford later worked on the wholesale side of men’s clothing for about a decade before launching Ron Stuart.

Ron Stuart’s San Diego store has been located Downtown throughout its 35-year existence, though it has occupied three locations. The first, at the Scripps Building at C Street and Sixth Avenue, was birthed as a small operation as Ford and a few investors sought to rehab the building in the early 1980s.

Eventually, Ford moved his store to C Street and Fifth Avenue before eventually settling at the current location within the Centre City Building on West A Street for the past dozen years.

“Although we moved around, we’ve always operated within the same five blocks,” Ford said. “It always made sense to have the store right here, in Downtown.”

Ford said he plans to keep the doors open at Ron Stuart through at least the end of the year as he sells through his remaining merchandise, though he said the store could continue operations into January.

“We’ll see how things go in December,” he said. “I might wind up selling some of the unsold merchandise to friends and other retailers I know.”

In addition to his small part-time staff, Ford has brought in a Denver-based sales consultant, Richard Cobb, to help wind down operations. Cobb has expertise in helping to close small, independent retailers, such as Ron Stuart.

Though quick to point out that he is not a liquidator, Cobb — who is technically retired, periodically comes out of retirement to work with professionals such as Ford — said he has been impressed with Ford’s store operation and is honored to help see the store through its final chapter.

“I’ve been in the business for 50 years,” Cobb said. “I enjoy working with smaller, independent stores.”

Though Ford is soon closing up his shop, his work in men’s clothing is not finished. He said he will continue supplying red blazers to football bowl officials and green blazers to members of the fraternal organization Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

“I’ve been working with them for many years, and that’s something I can do out of my house,” Ford said.

Post-retirement, Ford said he plans to enjoy traveling, one of his favorite pastimes, and hold onto the many good memories he has collected throughout his tenure as a local businessman.

“There are a lot of nice people in San Diego,” he said. “I’ve met some really incredible people doing this.”

For updated information on Ron Stuart’s closing sale, visit ronstuartmensclothing.com or call 619-232-8850.

—Dave Fidlin is a freelance journalist with a special affinity for San Diego and its people. Contact him at [email protected].