Clothes better suited for previous generation
By PATRICK KINMARTIN Special to the Daily Press
After 59 years in the Santa Monica clothing business, Mike Caruso Menswear is hanging it up permanently.
Store owner Jack Caruso told hundreds of customers this week through a blast e-mail that unfavorable economic conditions made his decision to close the family business unavoidable.
Caruso, whose grandfather, Mike, founded the business in 1944, said he will close the store at 631 Wilshire Blvd. this month and begin work with another retailer in September.
“This is the right time to move on,” Caruso said. “Ending such a wonderful era obviously isn’t easy, but it’s necessary. We’ve just been spinning our wheels financially over the past couple of years, struggling to break even. Eventually, the difficulties of being a small business owner in today’s market were insurmountable.”
For Caruso, the toughest of those difficulties was keeping up with current fashion trends while offering customers competitive prices. Because many men no longer dress as formally as they used to, the store was not selling as much as it had in the past.
“Who wears nice suits everyday anymore?” Jack Caruso said. “Casual is the way to go now and although we’ve tried to keep up with the trend, no one is going to think of Mike Caruso’s when they go looking for T-shirts and jeans.”
“Casual is the way to go now and although we’ve tried to keep up with the trend, no one is going to think of Mike Caruso’s when they go looking for T-shirts and jeans.” — — JACK CARUSO Store owner
While the store’s income decreased, expenses like workmen’s compensation insurance and its rent increased. As a result, Jack Caruso could no longer afford to pay part-time workers, forcing him to work overtime.
“I was virtually running the business by myself,” he said. “After a while, it burnt me out. I realized I needed to be spending more time with my wife and son. I would never quit on this store if I didn’t have to, but business was dying off and it became obvious it just won’t survive over the next few years in this day and age.”
Jack Caruso is not the only local business owner to buckle under the pressure of heavy financial burdens. Many smaller, privately-owned businesses have closed their doors in Santa Monica in recent years while corporate-owned stores that can afford to pay high rent prices have opened up.
City officials have recognized that the trend appears to be growing and said they are concerned about the future of independent businesses here. City Councilman Kevin McKeown attributes the increases in rent to landlords pursuing short-term profits while ignoring the long-term benefits of a solid local business community.
“Santa Monica has always been a city with a lot of community character,” McKeown said. “But lately, it seems that the flavor of local business has had more of a cookie-cutter taste to it. That’s fine if you like your cookies cut. But if you prefer them to be more natural, then it’s a problem.”
Caruso’s opened in 1944 when 31-year-old retailer Mike Caruso took a gamble and leased a store on Wilshire Boulevard and Fourth Street, which was tucked far away from most of the business activity on Third Street and Santa Monica Boulevard. With the help of his son, Dick, the Carusos were able to grow with the area and settle in.
By the time the store celebrated its 25th anniversary, it had become a fixture in Santa Monica. Actor Richard Burton and Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chic Hearn were among a list of celebrities who shopped at Caruso’s. More impressive, said Dick Caruso, was the loyalty of local customers in the area.
“We had men who would come in to get their wedding tuxes from us because they had also gotten their prom tuxes from us when they were in high school,” said Dick Caruso, who retired in 2000 and has since moved to Palm Springs.
When Mike Caruso passed away in 1985, Dick Caruso took over as the store continued to flourish in the 1990s. But after suffering structural damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Caruso’s building condition was not conducive for daily operation. For years, they tried to work around the city’s slow remodeling plans.
480,“It was taking too long,” Jack Caruso said. “That building meant so much to us, but we knew it would be too much time and money to wait for them to completely remodel it, so we decided to take off.”
In 1998, the Carusos moved up the street to their current location on 6th Street and Wilshire Boulevard. They realized that changing venues would be the least of their problems as the new millennium approached.
Jack Caruso also feels increases in parking fees and the homeless population around Wilshire Boulevard have kept some customers from coming in.
He begins work in September with Carroll & Company, a men’s specialty store in Beverly Hills, where he plans to work less hours and spend more time with his 14-year old son, Kyle. The going out of business sale, which started Wednesday, will be on for two more weeks before the store closes its doors for good.
“It’s been an amazing run for all of us,” Dick Caruso said. “It’s sad that it’s now over, but we made a lot of friendships and had great times we are thankful for. It’s like the ole’ saying goes: ‘All good things must come to an end.’”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 7, 2003. Read the original PDF.