{"id":239741,"date":"2017-12-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-rebirth-in-bankers-hill\/"},"modified":"2017-12-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T08:00:00","slug":"a-rebirth-in-bankers-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-rebirth-in-bankers-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"A rebirth in Bankers Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longtime Downtown shopkeeper continues his clothing business<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Dave Fidlin<\/p>\n

Ron Ford thought the holiday season of 2016 would be his final one working in retail.<\/p>\n

But fate had other plans for Ford, a longtime business owner who has operated men\u2019s clothier Ron Stuart in San Diego for the past three and a half decades.<\/p>\n

\"A
Ron Ford, proprietor of Ron Stuart Men\u2019s Clothing, stands with suits inside his former shop, located at 225 W. A St. (Foto por SDCNN)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A year ago, Ford was ushering in the holidays by holding a liquidation sale at his shop at 225 W. A St. It was the third location in 30 years for his venerable Downtown-based business.<\/p>\n

Ford cited a litany of reasons at the time for closing his doors, including changes in men\u2019s fashion and the retail industry as a whole. He said he also wanted to slow down and enjoy retirement.<\/p>\n

As he was in the process of shuttering, however, a new opportunity arose \u2014 one the 77-year-old businessman said was too good to pass up.<\/p>\n

In February, after a very brief respite, Ford resurrected Ron Stuart Men\u2019s Clothing \u2014 this time in a smaller space, at 2410 First Ave., in nearby Bankers Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed with good health and it\u2019s three minutes from my house,\u201d Ford said, pointing to one of the primary reasons he decided to continue on with his professional pursuits.<\/p>\n

Business, Ford said, is about 40 percent of what it was when he operated Downtown, which is a figure he is content with because of low overhead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m probably just as profitable as I was before because I don\u2019t have as much in the way of expenses,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Ron Stuart\u2019s newest location has a story unto itself. The deep-rooted old Victorian dwelling was once used as a two-story carriage house. The second story of the building, where the clothier is now located, was once purposed as a hayloft.<\/p>\n

\"A
Ford stands in front of his new shop, which is on the second floor of this Victorian home at 2410 First Ave., in Bankers Hill. (Photo by Hilda Ford)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost serendipitously, the home was on the market around the time Ford was winding down operations at his A Street location.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first saw it, I thought to myself, \u2018This is just a beautiful place,\u2019\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

A year ago, Ford bemoaned changes in menswear \u2014 shifts that meant fewer men were wearing traditional suits and more were dressing down in the professional workplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut menswear is evolving,\u201d he said. \u201cThings might be changing, but men are still going to wear clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mixed-use Bakers Hill property, which still serves as a residence on the first floor, perfectly suited what Ford said he envisioned for the future of Ron Stuart. His new business operates in a much smaller footprint than ever before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more of a showroom now,\u201d Ford said of his tweaked business plan. \u201cThis space gives me the chance to offer more of a personal experience. It\u2019s worked out very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logistically, it is also within five blocks to a number of locales, including Balboa Park and his old perch Downtown.<\/p>\n

When asked how the customer reception has been at his new location, Ford said business has been steady and that word of mouth has been the primary driver of business in the past 10 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even have anything in my windows,\u201d Ford mused, adding that he has to respect the historic integrity of the building. \u201cI have to be very specific when I tell people how to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a way, Ford said the current scenario harkens back to his earliest days in business, when he co-ran Ron Stuart with his then-business partner, Stuart Schlesinger, in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have any signs back then either,\u201d Ford said. \u201cWe even had a locked gate. But we made it work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford and Schlesinger incorporated Ron Stuart into a business in 1974 in Los Angeles and opened a San Diego location seven years later. Eventually, Ford went solo with the business, though Schlesinger\u2019s name has remained part of it ever since.<\/p>\n

Ron Stuart Men\u2019s Clothing maintained a presence in both cities for more than a decade, though Ford said he made a decision to leave Los Angeles in 1992 \u2014 the same time as the riots took place in the heart of the city \u2014 and focus his time and energy on the San Diego market.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Ford said San Diego has always been a place where he has enjoyed running a business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy,\u201d Ford said, as he looked back at how the past year has turned out. \u201cI still meet with nice, loyal followers. It\u2019s really a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on Ron Stuart\u2019s new location, visit his website, ronstuartmensclothing.com, or contact Ford at 619-232-8850 or r.ford40@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dave Fidlin es un periodista independiente con una afinidad especial por San Diego y su gente. Cont\u00e1ctelo en dave.fidlin@thinkpost.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longtime Downtown shopkeeper continues his clothing business By Dave Fidlin Ron Ford thought the holiday season of 2016 would be his final one working in retail. But fate had other plans for Ford, a longtime business owner who has operated men\u2019s clothier Ron Stuart in San Diego for the past three and a half decades.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":239742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"A rebirth in Bankers Hill","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}