FROM OUR NOVEMBER ISSUE: MILESTONES – 60 YEARS! KEN’S MAN’S SHOP  

The entire MR team proudly presents our November 2024 issue. If you haven’t received a hard copy, please page through  our digital version, and we’ll continue to post individual stories here on  MR-mag.com. If you haven’t been getting MR in print, be sure that you are on our mailing list for future issues by completing  this form.  

Ken’s Man’s Shop

Dallas, Texas, 3300 sq. ft.
Founded by Ken Helfman in 1964, now run by his son Kory
Current team: 5 haberdashers, 1 associate, 3 tailors  

What is most unique/special about your store? Service. Quality. Community. Our team of haberdashers works together to ensure the client is always our main focus. Customers are treated like family here, and they know that each of us will go the extra mile to support them. This is also how and why we partner with certain brands. The relationship must have perfect synergy, from wholesale table to retail floor.  

Best-selling items/brands?  Spring 2024: Samuelsohn custom clothing, Eton dress shirts, Emanuel Berg dress polos. Fall 2024: Samuelsohn trunk show, Eton Dress Shirts, Marcello fusion shirts, Manto.  

Top five brands in terms of sales volume: Samuelsohn, Eton, Jack Victor, Brax, Trands. 

Your online strategy? We’ve maintained an up-to-date website since the mid ’90s. We show some product, but we don’t push online sales; less than 2 percent of our business comes from our website. Our relationships with our clients are all-important.  

How to do more business with less walk-in traffic? Everyone here at the shop is onboard with growth in all our areas. Our wedding business has grown exponentially each season thanks to the grooms and groomsmen we’ve served who refer us to others. Same with the formal business: we work with numerous charities around the metroplex. Our custom business is not just clothing-related: each department has a custom component, which gives us the opportunity to work with anyone who comes in. We’ve been networking since before Covid. These connections have created an amazing influx of new clients.

Best/worst part of your job? Best is working with my team, who are like my family. Also the customers: they too are an extension of our deep relationships. The hardest part is being so often away from my real family. I love what we’re about, but to make it all work, someone must put in the hours/days/Sundays.  

Smartest recent move? Rebranding the logo and opening up the windows were our best recent moves. Currently, we’re updating the shop: bigger dressing rooms, new front cash wrap, hospitality station, and more. We’re doing all this while staying open, which isn’t easy. But clients are commenting that they love the progress, (and that we really needed it!). Always evolve, whether it’s new brands, or the actual shop. Clients love seeing positive changes, and that we’re investing in ourselves!  

What changes are you making in your product mix? We’re concentrating more on clothing and business attire, less on active and resort travel.  

What are your top vendor partners doing right that you wish others would do? Allowing us to count and fill in inventory during the season. Too many brands are not housing the numbers they used to maintain before Covid. Understandable, but painful for the retailers.  

Greatest challenges you now face?  Finding tailors! They’re not making any new ones on a master level. We need to grow an apprentice workshop for tailoring again. It’s a dying art.  

How are you getting young guys into the store? We’ve been working with SEO and social media for a while, and it does assist in bringing in new clients to the shop. Also, donating to their charities of choice has been a plus.

What’s your secret to having reached this milestone anniversary? My father, Ken, put his entire life into this business to make it succeed. I owe everything to him. The clientele that he brought in and nurtured is still a vital part of this business. Those relationships and all the new ones have brought us to this moment. Also, the synergy within the industry, the camaraderie among merchants, wholesalers and brands, makes the wheel turn more easily. The key word: Perseverance.