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Family business is in the jeans at Montreal's Pantalons Supérieur
SEAN DENNY, SPECIAL TO THE MONTREAL GAZETTE
More from Sean Denny, Special to the Montreal Gazette
Published on: March 28, 2016 | Last Updated: March 28, 2016 3:41 PM EDT
MONTREAL, QUE.: MARCH 16, 2016-- Owen Stroll irons a freshly sewn hem on a pair of jeans at Pantalons Superieur, in Montreal on Wednesday March 16, 2016. (Allen McInnis / MONTREAL GAZETTE)
Owen Stroll irons a freshly sewn hem on a pair of jeans at Pantalons Supérieur in downtown Montreal. ALLEN MCINNIS / MONTREAL GAZETTE
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He could have been a professional boxer or a full-time trainer of racehorses, two of his lifelong passions.
But Sam Stroll ultimately chose to make jeans his livelihood, and they’ve been that for almost 75 years.
At 88, Stroll remains a fixture at Superior Pants, the family business started in 1924 by his father Charlie and now known officially as Pantalons Supérieur and run by his son Owen on Ste-Catherine St. (just east of St-Laurent Blvd.).
He started working in the store at age 14, initially as a tailor, then serving customers.
“I didn’t want to go to school and I was too young to go to war. My father was a sick man and I stayed in the store to help him out. By the time I was 17, the war was over and I started working full-time.
“Back then we didn’t sell jeans, just pants. The only ones who wore jeans were workers on the railroad tracks and farmers. People who bought suits usually only bought one pair of pants, so we’d take the vests to the cloth suppliers and match the cloth to the vest – then we’d make the pants. We’d sell them for around $2 or $2.50 and make about 25 cents profit. That was a lot of money in those days.”
Long days at the store didn’t stop him from pursuing his other passions.
In the 1940s, Stroll was a busy semi-professional boxer with bouts at venues across the province. On one memorable night at the old Montreal Forum, he fought four times.
He also trained and owned a stable of racehorses that competed at Blue Bonnets until the track discontinued thoroughbred racing in 1973.
When his father died in 1952, at age 56, Stroll took the helm at Superior Pants, a name copied from a store his father had seen, and liked, during a visit to Detroit.
That decade brought major change to clothing trends thanks to cultural icons like Marlon Brando (The Wild One) and James Dean (Rebel Without a Cause). Suddenly, jeans weren’t just for farmers anymore.
“In the 1950s, everybody started wearing jeans. We’d sell nine to ten pairs for every one pair of pants,” Stroll said.
MONTREAL, QUE.: MARCH 16, 2016-- Rows of jeans are displayed at Pantalons Superieur, in Montreal on Wednesday March 16, 2016. (Allen McInnis / MONTREAL GAZETTE)
Jeans upon jeans at Montreal’s Pantalons Supérieur. ALLEN MCINNIS / MONTREAL GAZETTE
“Girls also started coming in to buy them. One thing we did that no one else was doing was to make the bottoms and hips slim and the girls used to like it. Whatever style they want, we fix them the way they want them.”
The store is known for its large selection of Levi’s but carries a number of other brands as well. “Men, women and children of all shapes and sizes come to get the right fit at the right price,” Stroll said.
You’d expect a downtown jeans store to have had a few brushes with fame, and Superior Pants is no exception. Members of the Montreal Expos and visiting Grand Prix teams have graced its changing rooms. Rock star Alice Cooper popped in for a pair of jeans before performing at the Metropolis music venue next door.
Through 92 years of evolving tastes and trends, Superior Pants and its minders have had a front-row seat for the transformation of a neighbourhood once considered rather infamous. Bikers and street walkers of the lower Main, two-way traffic on Ste-Catherine St. and thumping nightclubs and bars eventually have given way to the quieter and tourist-friendly Quartier des Spectacles.
Stroll says the business landscape also has changed.
The heyday for the jeans business was 1980 to 2000. Sales at their store have slipped over the last decade, reflecting the tough retail climate that has caused many clothing stores to close, independents and chains alike.
“It’s hard to do business downtown right now. Municipal taxes have gone up dramatically, there are fewer parking spaces and the price of parking has gone up as well. Customers are going to out-of-town shopping centres with free parking and new developments are going up all of the time.”
Competition from online shopping, however, isn’t keeping them up nights.
“Nobody can really shop for jeans online,” Owen said. “You can take 32 in one fit and then you need a 34 in another one. It’s too tight on the leg and your calves. You don’t know the fabric and the colours aren’t the same as you see on the screen. Also, we tailor the jeans to the customers requirements…for free.”
On any given day Stroll, Owen, grandson Mitch and 40-year veteran employee Paul are on hand to serve customers, often with their no-nonsense, Schwartz’s-like approach.
“We are,” Stroll said, “one of the oldest family businesses still running in Montreal.”
When asked about the future of the business and if he thinks they will reach their 100th anniversary, Stroll says “I’ll probably be pushing up daisies within the next 10 years, but it will be the original principles that we had when the store was founded that will help us moving forward. People can get a personalised service from people you know and remember, free tailoring while you wait and a great price. Try getting that kind of service from a major retailer in a shopping centre.”
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