I have a gift certificate to The Bell, a local men’s clothing store. But I can’t use it, because The Bell is no longer a local men’s clothing store. It’s no longer any store at all.
Paul Gordon reported Sunday that The Bell closed on August 31 — without telling anyone they were going to close.
I used to get postcards from The Bell telling me of their sales, and I’ve been meaning to get over there to buy some new shirts and use up my gift certificate. It would have been nice if I had gotten a postcard saying they were going out of business.
According to the article, the closing was due to changing clothing styles (no one dresses up anymore). That’s certainly plausible. But I can’t help but wonder if changing locations (they went from a highly visible location across the street from Sheridan Village to a more or less invisible corner near Godfather’s pizza) and a decline in good customer service didn’t take its toll as well. As for the latter issue, I’ll give you a personal example.
I went in a few month ago to buy a hat. The size I needed was a special order, which was fine. I asked if I needed to make partial or full payment for the special order, and was told no, I could pay for it when it came in. One month went by… two months…. Finally, I called to ask the status of the special order. I was told that it couldn’t be ordered unless it was prepaid. This was the same guy who had previously told me I didn’t have to pay for it in advance. I guess he really, really didn’t want to sell me that hat. I’ve never quite figured out that one.
So it didn’t surprise me when I saw that they had closed. I just thought they might have told their customers it was coming. It would have been nice to visit the store one more time, maybe get some good sale prices on shirts, and indulge in a little nostalgia of this store that had been in Peoria over 100 years. My grandfather even shopped there.
Instead, I’m left with a worthless gift certificate and a bad memory of poor service. What a shame.
UPDATE: Perhaps this is the reason they didn’t have a going-out-of-business sale:
The Bell Clothing & Shoe House Inc., 5329 N. Sherwood Ave., Peoria; liabilities $261,700; assets $23,608.
David B. Frankel, 5329 N. Sherwood Ave., Peoria; assistant manager, Walgreen’s; liabilities $386,468; assets $216,925.
Gordon’s article didn’t mention the bankruptcy. A sad end to a long-standing Peoria business.
Change with the times, Bruce… there was no sense in waiting for 1973 to arrive again… time rarely goes backwards.
They didn’t carry stuff in my size. So no loss for me.
I’m sad to hear they closed.
We tried going in to look for a wedding suit this summer. The type of suit we were looking for, the guy told us, was a summer-style suit and he had sent them all back already. This was June. If he had offered to order one, we would have gladly done business with them, if the price hadn’t been astronomical.
We prefer to support local businesses, and I’m always sad to see one go.
Just to clarify, I’m not saying the price was astronomical; we weren’t given any idea of price. He didn’t seem very interested in helping out.
Still, sad to see them go.
The Bell and Bachrachs had great ties. I own several from both and hate to see them both gone. Ties that REALLY tie, form great knots no matter what knot you use, look good and lay straight and flat.
I too am sad to read of the store’s closing. I wear many items from The Bell, including the infamous “$25 suit” – as well as one that cost many times more than that.
I cannot find a similar place here in the Springfield area – at least not at the lower price point.
David’s dad passed away not that long ago.
How many of you kids remember the Bell Clothing location on S Adams street? Probably none of you. The store had the office in the balcony. Clerks would load the sales receipts (your money) in a canister that ran on a trolley wire to the office. There the cashier would make change and send the trolley back down to the sales clerk. If you are not a kid, you also remember Andreen Nordwall and Obrien Jobst. There was also one called Johnsons. They were quality places, too, that had real sales people that knew how to make you look good. At OBJ, my favorite sales person was Ollie Grimm.
Then there was Witzigs in Morton.
Truth is I need a couple new suits and don’t know where to look.