Harry Rosen is a real gentleman

Originally Posted by Albern

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Exactly. The whole sentiment in Toronto has been focused on Italy. Even when I started taking the time to better educate myself on tailored clothing I found a lot of people "in the know" to be of this belief. "What about the English?" I say, and blank stares is all I get. Oddly enough, as the phrase goes - the English want to be more like the Italians and the Italians want to be more like the English.

I too am leaning more towards the English tradition over the Italian one but I'm still having trouble grasping the distinguishing concept between the two.

The Italian style derives from flamboyance and courting woman during the passagiata and having to be a bit of a peacock to attract the women from a distance. Waist suppression...soft tailoring...silhouette, cut etc. Read the articles on FNB.

The British is the clothing of classy understatement...the City gents or country house shooting parties with all the attendant characteristics of that genre.

But then the high class Italians want to imitate the English and the English want to imitate...?

Just to update this thread: true to his word, Harry called me directly last week to let me know my jacket was ready. The tailor did an excellent job repairing the fabric and reinforcing the pocket seams. I've never been a big Rosen customer but this just demonstrates how a great service experience can go a long way to making customers feel better about the product/brand and want to buy more. Harry clearly understands this and hopefully Larry and the newer management do too.

Originally Posted by Nicola

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Is that just in suits or odd jackets to? Why didn't it fit? They didn't narrow the shoulders?

The Tramezza are the Zefer ones? Are they better or worse then Zegna labeled ones?

I just saw suits with the new cut, not sure about jacket. The coats are very suppressed at the waist so, although I'm not fat, you better be very slim for them to fit well.

Tramezza are Ferragamo while Zefer are made for Zegna. I have both and would say Tramezza are like Zegna Couture shoes in construction but different styling.

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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Scott Rivard is a pretty great guy too. Don't know if you've ever dealt with him. I actually met Harry very briefly in Montreal once. I think the store is languishing under his son. They don't take any chances and their pricing stinks. There isn't a chance in hell tramezzas are worth $1300. And their only other options near that price are crap like a.testoni. Where are the lobbs and EGs at? I'm still waiting.

Holt's has Lobbs now? Are the prices exhorbitant compared to what the go for in other cities. There's a store in Montreal that caries EGs but they mark them up heavily from the normal EG prices.

I have heard great things about Scott from Allen (zegnamtl) but never dealt directly with him. Their shoe selection sux for a store carrying Kiton and Brioni (though they do have very nice Zegna limited edition, and the Tom Ford shoes on Bloor). The best move they made was bringing in some private label shoes from Italy that didn't look half bad. There was a pair of double monks and a plain toe blucher with norvegese-like stitching. All very Italian looking and for $395 but at least something different than AE...

Holts on Bloor just started stocking Lobbs last season and only 3-4 styles. Prices are 25% markup on USD prices so better deals in the US with the loonie at $.96 now. I am waiting for the Lobbs to show up at the Last Call outlet...

Otherwise, L'Uomo is still the only place with EGs in the country afaik.

Waist suppression I can deal with. If they haven't slimmed the rest of the jacket. A milano 50 fits me well except it would benefit from that smaller waist. OTOH if they've slimmed the shoulders I'd need to size up and I'm back to square one.

Originally Posted by EL72

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Holts on Bloor just started stocking Lobbs last season and only 3-4 styles. Prices are 25% markup on USD prices so better deals in the US with the loonie at $.96 now. I am waiting for the Lobbs to show up at the Last Call outlet...

tell me if you see plz. Srsly. Keep me updated if you see Lobb's at Last Call lol. I will forever be indebted to you. I was willing to go to Hermes and have them order me a pair of Lobbs because the SA at Holt's footwear is not somebody who I would like to conduct business with.

So just to update: Harry called me yesterday to follow-up and see if I had picked up my jacket and if I was satisfied with the work.

More interesting is that he said he had a copy of this thread on his desk that someone had printed out for him. He wasn't familiar with SF but clearly people at Rosen read the forum. We chatted a bit about SF and the web and he seems to be taking the comments to heart. So if you ever doubt that what you write online is of no consequence, remember that people out there are likely watching...

Ha, I love it!

I went to go hear Mr. Rosen speak a couple weeks ago at MaRS about entrepreneurship. I definately took a few lessons about customer service from him.

Just to relate another story about their service factor... we have a family friend that recently lost a lot of weight. He took some suits that had been bought within the past year or two but clearly worn, to be taken in. The SA told him, nevermind, just go pick something else from the rack instead. I believe the suits were either given free of charge or he only had to pay the price difference or something.

PS - I've spoken with a few very good SA's, and just want to recommend "Sarah" at Yorkdale for shoes/AE's... she's a little pushy with sales but pretty well educated.

Originally Posted by EL72

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Otherwise, L'Uomo is still the only place with EGs in the country afaik.

sorta off topic, but Hilary Freeman from EG will be at Uomo tomorrow from 10:30 to 6 to show the new line, measure feet, etc.

That is some pretty phenomenal customer service. It seems to reflect an age that is all but forgotten in retail.

Originally Posted by EL72

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So just to update: Harry called me yesterday to follow-up and see if I had picked up my jacket and if I was satisfied with the work.

More interesting is that he said he had a copy of this thread on his desk that someone had printed out for him. He wasn't familiar with SF but clearly people at Rosen read the forum. We chatted a bit about SF and the web and he seems to be taking the comments to heart. So if you ever doubt that what you write online is of no consequence, remember that people out there are likely watching...

That's awesome!! It's nice to know that the man himself actually cares. One can only hope that such a sentiment can trickle down the organization.

I don't know what other members on here think, but if anyone at Harry Rosen would like to contact me about anything I've mentioned about the establishment itself feel free to send me a message. While there have been some good things to say about HR, a lot of what I've mentioned in other posts still holds true based on my experiences.

Originally Posted by Master-Classter

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Ha, I love it!

I went to go hear Mr. Rosen speak a couple weeks ago at MaRS about entrepreneurship. I definately took a few lessons about customer service from him.

Just to relate another story about their service factor... we have a family friend that recently lost a lot of weight. He took some suits that had been bought within the past year or two but clearly worn, to be taken in. The SA told him, nevermind, just go pick something else from the rack instead. I believe the suits were either given free of charge or he only had to pay the price difference or something.

PS - I've spoken with a few very good SA's, and just want to recommend "Sarah" at Yorkdale for shoes/AE's... she's a little pushy with sales but pretty well educated.

Damn, I wish I knew about that even over at MaRS. Any notes from Mr. Rosen that you can share with us?

That's a really nice story about your family friend. They must really want to keep him as a repeat customer.

Originally Posted by jefferyd

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sorta off topic, but Hilary Freeman from EG will be at Uomo tomorrow from 10:30 to 6 to show the new line, measure feet, etc.

Cool. When is the next Samuelsohn sale?

Originally Posted by EL72

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Cool. When is the next Samuelsohn sale?

Will keep you posted.....

Originally Posted by Albern

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Damn, I wish I knew about that even over at MaRS. Any notes from Mr. Rosen that you can share with us?

That's a really nice story about your family friend. They must really want to keep him as a repeat customer.

I think our friend is a pretty good customer, so they wanted to keep him for sure.

Some summary notes from the presentation:
- Customers aren't always educated. They won't tell you that though. they need to be taught and explained what the item is and why it's good. When you and them look at something, they don't see what you do because you know so much about it, they don't know what to look for. So explain to them all about it, and only then talk about the price. The features justify the price, versus telling them the price first and then either they walk away or you end up just trying to justify the price.
- get the customer involved in the process. make them just fit things on and look and feel the garment, not just stare at a mannequin. They have the experience the item
- create customer profiles to tailor services. Know their measurements, preferences, what they've already purchased, etc. (although I will say that Harry himself, even just through the few anecdotes he told, seems to have a particular knack for remembering personal details).
- use your customers as salespeople. Give them such good service that they tell others about it, or, even just ask them directly for names/numbers of their colleagues, bosses, wives, etc.
- present information/displays in a way that makes sense to the way men shop. Don't just put all the suits together, create mini collections/"looks" that create an overall style or image that can be purchased together.

Now, personally, I think that these are a few very good insights into how to be a good SA, and Mr. Rosen managed to really take these few points and turn it into quite a successful chain of stores, applying what he learned over the years as a salesmen. I will however say, that IMO I do attribute some of their "success" to a simple lack of any decent competitors... still, I have respect for the man and think the company on average does a very good job.

Originally Posted by Master-Classter

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I think our friend is a pretty good customer, so they wanted to keep him for sure.

Some summary notes from the presentation:
- Customers aren't always educated. They won't tell you that though. they need to be taught and explained what the item is and why it's good. When you and them look at something, they don't see what you do because you know so much about it, they don't know what to look for. So explain to them all about it, and only then talk about the price. The features justify the price, versus telling them the price first and then either they walk away or you end up just trying to justify the price.
- get the customer involved in the process. make them just fit things on and look and feel the garment, not just stare at a mannequin. They have the experience the item
- create customer profiles to tailor services. Know their measurements, preferences, what they've already purchased, etc. (although I will say that Harry himself, even just through the few anecdotes he told, seems to have a particular knack for remembering personal details).
- use your customers as salespeople. Give them such good service that they tell others about it, or, even just ask them directly for names/numbers of their colleagues, bosses, wives, etc.
- present information/displays in a way that makes sense to the way men shop. Don't just put all the suits together, create mini collections/"looks" that create an overall style or image that can be purchased together.

Now, personally, I think that these are a few very good insights into how to be a good SA, and Mr. Rosen managed to really take these few points and turn it into quite a successful chain of stores, applying what he learned over the years as a salesmen. I will however say, that IMO I do attribute some of their "success" to a simple lack of any decent competitors... still, I have respect for the man and think the company on average does a very good job.

Thanks D for sharing all of that. Yes, I do agree with you when you say HR has been quite successful on both fronts; the trickle down effect based on Harry's own sales principles (although not always consistent) and the fact that no other high end men's store in Canada offers the kind of variety or competitiveness that HR does. Obviously there is always room for improvement so who knows...

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