Not many shopping experiences include a store owner tying a tie for a customer rushing to an important business event. 
But at Harper’s Haberdashery, owner Sam Willard goes to great lengths to satisfy the loyal customer base he built over years of service. 
A smaller store riddled with Willard’s military memorabilia, Harper’s offers an uncommon experience in shopping for today’s men. 
By loose definition, a haberdashery is a store that sells exclusively men’s clothing as well as men’s accessories such as belts, ties and often hats or hat accessories. The modern haberdashery is usually a store for more high-end men’s clothing with typically more quality customer service and tailoring. 
Willard said his store falls under the select group of men’s clothing stores selling the best possible quality products to his customers. 
“I got out of the Navy on [a] Wednesday and I started working for another store on Friday,” Willard said. “I worked there for seven years and then opened [Harper’s].”
Willard said when he originally opened his store, he tried selling the same generic brands that everyone else was selling but was immediately unsuccessful because the clothes he was selling could be found in most shopping malls. After 14 years of building his store’s reputation, Willard said the brand his customers come back for is him and his personality. 
Willard said he tries to cater to every man that comes into his store through custom clothes and fittings. 
“I’ve got an 18-inch neck and 32-inch arms, and I can’t find clothes to fit, so that’s how I got in the custom business,” Willard said. 
Harper’s distinctive sales strategy is not fitting the masses but rather the individual, he said. Custom and quality products is what he sells and preaches, Willard said. 
For instance, Willard said he sells Lucchese Boots because they are handmade in San Antonio, Texas, and in his opinion are some of the best quality boots out there. 
“I tell everybody, ‘If I can’t get it, I’ll try my best to get it,’” Willard said. 
Harper’s creates about 700 to 800 custom shirts a year plus suits, sport coats and trousers, Willard said. In addition to his custom work, Willard said his inventory is mostly made up of products that he enjoys and that his customers have gravitated to. 
One thing Willard said he does not believe in is altering. Fitting a suit, for example, is a balance between the way a man wants it to fit and the way the suit was meant to be worn, he said. It’s more important to fit the suit to the person instead of the other way around, he said. 
Unlike most generic men’s retail stores, Willard said he also makes custom belts, cufflinks and shoes. It’s all about making the customer feel comfortable and building a relationship with them, he said. 
Even when the store is closed on Sunday and Monday, Willard said he forwards calls to his cellphone in case anyone should need him for an emergency funeral or wedding fitting.
“I’ve driven across town before just to tie a bowtie, but that’s what separates me from the other guys,” Willard  said.
That sense of customer service is nonexistent in the larger retailers and most certainly not in online shopping, he said. In the past, interpersonal loyalty and customer service was the standard in men’s clothing, he said. 
Willard keeps this sense of service alive today by making a folder for each of his returning customers to keep track of their sizes and past orders. 
“My brand is Harper’s,” Willard said. “The store is the brand.”
 You can reach Michael Tarver on Twitter @michael_T16.

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Javier Fernández