In the Face of a Weak Economy and Changing Consumer Trends, Big & Tall Men’s Shop in El Paso Anounces Quitting Business Sale

EL PASO – Citing the prolonged weak economy and changing consumer trends, Big & Tall Men’s Shop owner David Schecter said today that he will close his store and sell its entire inventory with a quitting-business sale that begins next week.

“It’s a really tough decision but it was one that had to be made,” Schecter said. “My father and uncle started the business in 1979 and I’ve been here since 1984. I have a lot of good relationships with clients and have made a lot of great friendships over the years but it’s one of those things where the business just can’t go on.”

The public sale of the store’s inventory will begin on Thursday, July 21. The store, 6800 Gateway Boulevard East, Suite 1B, will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. weekdays, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Sunday during the quitting-business sale.

Schecter noted the store opened in 1979 after his father and uncle closed their regular menswear store several years earlier in the wake of the 1976 devaluation of the Mexican peso, which hit the local economy hard.

“They saw the need for a big-and-tall store. At first, we were a unique business and there really wasn’t any competition so business was very good from 1979 to 1989,” Schecter explained. “We started to see the discounters and department stores moving into our market sector after that and cutting into the pie. Even then, we continued to succeed for a long time because our advantage was customer service.”

However, as the chains purchased massive lots of clothes from shops in China and India at lower prices, Schecter and other independent retailers saw their suppliers struggle and go out of business. Compounding the store’s others challenges were two national trends: more consumers are also purchasing their clothes online, and more men are wearing increasingly casual clothes in the workplace and at previously formal events such as weddings.

“Ultimately, with the economy down the past couple years, internet retailers not having the kind of overhead that we have and everyone going casual, our business has simply been down too much,” Schecter said.

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