 10/29/2003
Web Wear
Click
here to watch this story(Windows Media)
Have
you ordered something off the Internet this
week? More and more people skip the mall and
head online to do their shopping these days.
It's forced many retailers to change the way
they do business, even the small ones.
That's
changing the life of a third-generation clothing
store owner in KELOLAND. Robert Talbott clothing
is high quality and high priced. It's popular
on the coasts. But for years now it's also
been available on main street Spencer, Iowa.
"People say gosh as old as you are you
ought to quit."
Duane
Hansen is the third generation of Hansens
to run the clothing store. His Grandfather
Ole started the business back in 1902. And
you take step back in time thirty years when
you step into this little shop. "Back
then, wearing a suit was big business. Everybody
wore a suit up and down street. Businessmen
wore a suit to work, " says Hansen.
Back
in the 1930's Duane's Dad Ole added on the
dry cleaning business and this is where he
got his start. "That was before the days
of plastic bags. That was my first job to
make up a stack of those folding cardboard
boxes to get prepared for the weekend,"
says Hansen. But after working in the store
for more than sixty years, Hansen was ready
to bring it into the new millennium.
"And
I wondered if there was some way I could make
the Internet work," Hansen says. "He
actually called me one day and said I heard
how well you're doing with one of the shoe
stores in town and is there any way we could
do something here. I said sure," says
Tim Frank.
Tim
Frank (of Emagine
Marketing) puts businesses online. In
the first month of Hansen's Clothing Internet
store, seven thousand people checked it out.
And he's getting 2 to 3 orders a day. "Everyday
is a surprise," says Hansen. "I
thought to myself if I guy like that is getting
on the Internet the world is now in cyberspace,"
says Frank.
Besides
Robert Talbott shirts, Hansen sells the popular
Bill's Khakis which
start at $100 a pair. "Yesterday I shipped
pants to Harvard and Georgetown in Washington.
So we've got some upscale intellectuals wearing
our pants," says Hansen.
He's
taken to mapping out his sales, with the Khakis
in the red. "I did sell a lady from St.
Louis, she ordered some underwear
from Robert Talbott," he laughes.
"I put her in as yellow."
Hansen's
even got New York beat for one customer calling
for a specific tie. "And he said how
come you've got it and I called Robert Talbott
shop in NY and they don't have it?"
It's
those kind of stories that have breathed new
life into this old shop and it's tailor. "It's
a lot of fun. Gets the old adrenaline going
again." Hansen himself is a bit overwhelmed
by his overnight success in cyberspace.
"For
me to sell a shirt to a man in Brooklyn NY
who needed it for Sunday afternoon!"
But while Hansen's Clothing online may be
high tech, business in the store is still
done the old fashioned way. It's a place where
trust hasn't been replaced by our need for
instant gratification. And where as long as
Duane Hansen's around, high quality clothes
will be too.
Another
thing that sets Hansen apart on the Internet
and fuels his sales: free shipping and he
tailors the length on his Bill's Khakis free
of charge.
Angela
Kennecke
© 2003 KELOLAND TV. All Rights Reserved.
|
