And why does this headline mean so much to me?
In 1995, I was living in Honolulu, HI., and 2600 miles away from the Garys store at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. This is not a typo, as there isn’t an apostrophe after the ‘y’ in Garys.
Garys was my favorite men’s clothing store, and my favorite shoe store since they carried a full line of Cole Haan footwear, which wasn’t surprising since Dick Braeger, the owner of Garys, was also the co founder of Cole Haan shoes.
I flew to Southern California sometime in March, 1995 to attend a couple of important meetings with clients in Newport Beach. I decided to take advantage of my stay in Newport Beach and drop by the Garys store as I needed some new dress slacks. Fortunately, Steve Ramenofsky, my friend, and favorite sales guy was working that day, so he helped me find some new slacks. He knew what I liked, and almost always found the right pants, the right jacket, shirts, or whatever else I might need.
Steve knew quite a bit about my retail and real estate background, and started asking me me some questions about my work in Honolulu while I was standing in front of a full length mirror asking their tailor if he needed to make any alterations to the new slacks I decided to buy when Steve looked at me and said, “Have you met Dick Braeger?” and I replied, “I don’t think that I have.”
He paused for a moment, appearing somewhat embarrassed, to tell me that Dick had plans to open a few of his new ‘Garys Island’ stores, and intended to hire a retail consultant to identify and recommend potential new retail store locations, negotiate the rent, provide market conditions, and quarterback the opening of a new store. “Isn’t that the kind of work you do, Bill?” Steve said. I said, “Absolutely.”
He apologized profusely for not thinking of mentioning my name to Dick Braeger. I said, “Steve, don’t worry about it. I’m living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in Honolulu now.” He then asked me, “Would you have time to meet with Dick while you’re in town?” I said, “Sure, I would like that.”
Evidently, Dick was interested, and asked Steve to schedule a meeting with me later that afternoon. It was exciting to finally meet the owner of the store where I’ve bought most of my clothes for years,and,of course, my favorite Cole Haan shoes too.
I came back to the store later that afternoon for my meeting with Dick. Steve introduced me, then I sat down in a comfortable chair in front of his very large, but beautiful desk. His desk was covered with fabric samples, photographs, files, papers to sign, and, yes, even a couple of Cole Haan’s newest dress shoes.
Dick was gracious, and easy to talk, and talk we did. I was interested to hear how he got started in the men’s clothing business, and also the story behind the founding of Cole Haan shoes. He asked me questions about my business background, and seemed intrigued with my knowledge of retail, fashion, and merchandising.
Guys like to talk to each other about sports, and my interview with Dick was no exception. Dick went to college at UCLA and I went to U.S.C. Everyone knows about their cross town rivalry in sports. All sports! We were both huge football fans, and reminisced about some of our favorite SC-UCLA football games – recalling the names of each teams notable quarterbacks, half backs, (They weren’t called tail backs then) and some of the memorable plays from certain games that made the difference in the final score. We both enjoyed that part of my interview.
Evidently, our first meeting went well. Well enough to be invited back to his office for two more interviews. Our third meeting took place on the same day I was scheduled to fly home to Honolulu. Dick began the meeting by saying, “I think this might be a good fit, and we would work well together.” I thanked him, and said, “I think so too.” He asked me to put a proposal together after I returned to Honolulu, and send it to him. He said, “I think we can find a way to make this work for both of us.”
I left the store that afternoon feeling pretty good about things. I was extremely interested in his new ‘Garys Island’ lifestyle store concept, because that was my lifestyle. These were the clothes I wore. It was a perfect fit, and I knew he would be successful with these new stores.
I sent my proposal to him shortly after returning to my office in Honolulu, and hoping it addressed all the issues we discussed. What about my fees? Were they too high? I didn’t know, but knew I soon would. The first ‘Garys Island’ store was just over 900 square feet square feet, and located on a prime corner across the courtyard from the Fashion Island Garys store, and featured a vast selection of multiple brand names – men’s, women’s and children’s resort apparel, sandals along with some Hawaiian table top items, and a few paintings and photographs depicting the tropical lifestyle. Brands like Reyn Spooner, Kahala, Jam’s World, Tori Richards and Tommy Bahama. In fact, Dick sold Tommy Bahama long before they opened their first retail store.
About a month later, we reached a mutual understanding of the terms and conditions of my consulting agreement, which included my scope of work, identifying our target markets to open new ‘Garys Island’ stores, our mutual obligations, and my consulting fees. We had a deal! I prepared a revised copy of my consulting agreement for both of us to date and sign.
And guess what – that agreement was never signed nor dated by either of us.
We simply looked at each other, smiled, shook hands and confirmed the confidence we had for each other. I expected for Dick to sign his name first, but it never happened, and I never had to worry about it. That’s how it happened.
In 1960, Arnold Palmer, the world famous golfer agreed to retain Mark McCormack, a lawyer, sports agent, and founder of the International Management Group to promote and market the Arnold Palmer brand. Arnold didn’t need or want a written contract with Mark, but he did make it clear to him that his integrity with the media, his fans and the public was imperative. Mark concurred. “Your word will be good enough for me,” Arnold said.
Arnold shook hands with Mark McCormack, and told him, “We have a deal,” and that deal has worked out pretty darn well for both of them.
Dick Braeger always kept his word with me. Over time, we developed a mutual trust, and respect for each other, and I never had to worry about being paid for the leases he signed. Never….
The word, ‘Aloha’ means “Hello,”and “Goodbye,” but it also means compassion, sympathy, love and affection. “The breath of life.”
Thank you, and ‘Aloha,’ Dick Braeger!
