Nearby, next to Arhaus, Jos. A. Bank opened last August. It’s just now entering its high season, when graduating seniors begin hitting menswear departments everywhere to buy suits for job interviews, and manager Ashley Wexler is looking forward to helping them.
“I started out dressing my brother, and helped all his guy friends,” says Wexler, who majored in marketing at CMU. The tiny, trim twenty-six-year-old loves men’s clothing and looks like she’d be wearing it herself if Jos. A. Bank carried her size. She’s wearing elegant, severely tailored trousers and a sweater in shades of slate and charcoal gray. (She says she buys her own clothes at Ann Taylor.)
Though abbreviated, “Jos.” is always pronounced “Joseph,” and Wexler says even most first-time customers seem to know that. “They often say ‘Joseph! A! Bank!’ when they come in,” imitating the measured, stentorian tones of the store’s television commercials. Jos. A. Bank is over a hundred years old, with 550 stores nationwide.
Wexler explains how she helps young men who are often buying their first suit, or at least “their first grown-up suit,” put together a look for a job interview. She begins by taking measurements and establishing a size, then asks what field the customer is in. If you’re a doctor, she says, you don’t even need a suit. “Believe me, I know. My father’s a doctor. They’re in scrubs all the time. A doctor going to an interview can wear a sports jacket.”
For a hypothetical accountant, she pulls a black suit with a subtle herringbone weave off the rack, then slides a white shirt under it and selects a black tie with tiny white dots. When our hypothetical accountant complains that it’s a little too grim, even for him, she substitutes a burgundy-and-charcoal striped tie. For another hypothetical customer (“I’m going to say he’s artsy”), she chooses a glen plaid suit with a faint blue stripe, a blue shirt, and a black, gray, and blue paisley tie. Both ensembles would run about $1,000 at full price, but Jos. A. Bank, as its TV commercials make clear, is all about sales.
Wexler will even choose socks, belts, and shoes if the customer wants. She’ll discuss types of collars, knots, and the merits of two-button versus three-button. And of course, it’s also prom season, with wedding season on its heels, and Jos. A. Bank rents and sells tuxes too.
Jos. A. Bank, 3783 Washtenaw Ave. (Arborland), 973-0013. Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. noon-6 p.m. www.
