Describe your business.
Friar Tux Shop is a suit and tuxedo specialty retailer offering tailored clothing, shoes and accessories for men, boys and women. We offer fashion-forward, modern styles at affordable prices.
Our stylists work with customers every step of the way to find their perfect look. We answer any style questions and help organize their event bookings. For groomsmen, we make the fitting process simple and manage everything online so even if they are out-of-state, they can visit one of our 900-plus fitting locations nationwide and in Canada. Rentals can be returned to any location the day following the event or shipped back.
Who are your customers?
Our core customer base is related to weddings — the groom, groomsman and wedding party. We also carry chic and on-trend women’s tuxedos and rent and sell a lot of suit and tuxedos for special events, proms or quinceañeras.
What’s the most important part of your job?
Making sure our customers look their best and go through the shopping experience with ease. We take care of all the tailoring and details. We carry slim, modern and classic fits, offer both rental and for purchase products, match bridesmaid dress colors and have expert stylists to assist in putting together the perfect look and getting the right fit for each customer.
What is the hardest part about doing business in Las Vegas?
Las Vegas is a lively and unpredictable city. We see a lot of last-minute orders, so we always have to be ready to turn around an order quickly. Unique to the Las Vegas market at Friar Tux Shop is the ability to produce same-day orders.
What is the best part about doing business in Las Vegas?
Las Vegas is the marriage capital of the world, and that is why it was the first place we opened outside of California.
What obstacles has your business overcome?
Clothing and wedding trends change, and we have adapted to fit the consumer demands in a variety of areas. While we have a nationwide fitting network available, we wanted to serve our customers outside of Las Vegas and California in a better and more personal manner. We are soon to launch stitchandtie.com, which will allow for nationwide rentals with ease. Lately, we’ve also seen many weddings featuring suits from department stores. For this reason, we revamped our offering of suits for purchase to include more than 10 colors available in sizes to fit entire wedding parties.
How can Nevada improve its business climate?
We are still learning about the Las Vegas market. We are excited to be in two newly renovated centers, as we have found that customers love shopping in modern shopping centers that offer some associated businesses (for example, we are next to a David’s Bridal in one of the centers). We are looking forward to joining local chambers of commerce and becoming partners with our community businesses.
What has been your hardest lesson in business?
We learned very early on that you are as good as your people are. Our business is dependent on our staff, who work with closely with our customers. We strongly believe in investing in our staff both in terms of their job training and personal growth. We have five certification levels that our staff are incentivized to work toward. We also offer leadership classes and group book readings on topics that encourage growth, as well as other seasonal programs requested by our team.