Demarcos to Close Idaho Falls Store After 28 Years; Quitting Business Sale Starts Thursday

IDAHO FALLS – Demarcos, a well-known local men’s clothier for nearly three decades and an original tenant in the Grand Teton Mall, will close its doors, president Rob Marcovitz said today.

“The people in Idaho Falls have been very good to us. We’ve had an incredible number of very loyal, long-time clients and I’ve made some wonderful friendships here,” Marcovitz said. “Unfortunately, we’re just not able to go forward where we are. What we’re seeing across the country – that consumer traffic in retail malls is way down – is very true locally. While I hate to be critical, frankly, we were put into a very bad financial spot when the mall management chose to move us around as they did.”

The store’s quitting-business sale begins for the public on Thursday. Marcovitz is extending the store’s hours from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sundays. The sale will continue until its entire stock of clothing is sold.

Marcovitz said the resulting revenue loss ultimately dragged down his family’s clothing stores in Casper, Wyo., and Bozeman, Mont. The Bozeman store closed last August. The Casper store will launch its closing sale next Thursday.

The store at Grand Teton Mall opened in 1984. Marcovitz has been working there since 1989. He acknowledged that the typical Demarcos client is “not really a mall shopper.”

“When they come here, they come to see us. Some have told us they would’ve preferred us outside the mall and in a free-standing store,” he said. “We’ve always had the opinion that we’d do whatever was in the mall’s best interest because, ultimately, it would come back to us. In the end, it didn’t work out that way for a variety of reasons.”

The economic downturn affected sales, but the business was particularly hurt by a move into a smaller space in the mall that dragged on longer than expected due to construction delays.

The Marcovitz family has had a long, successful history in the clothing business, beginning with Marcovitz’s father in the early 1960s. He was one of the four founders of chain that had outlets throughout the country. At one point in his career, the senior Marcovitz traveled the country to oversee the opening of 85 stores before coming in off the road to spend more time with his family and operate his own stores again.

Marcovitz and his brother Dave, who operates the Casper store, followed in his father’s footsteps when they began to spend time at his father’s store as youngsters. Rob Marcovitz said he has not decided on his next career move.

“Not only have we have been fortunate to have such terrific clients, but our employees have been outstanding,” Marcovitz said. “That’s the way it should be – and that’s why this process really has been such a tough one for us.”

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