From Uniforms To Luxury: The 108-Year Evolution Of M. Dumas & Sons

Some stores sell product. M. Dumas & Sons sells want—crafted through people, place, and a century of smart reinvention. We sit with co‑owner Gary Flynn to explore how a 1917 military uniform shop became Charleston’s menswear destination, why customers still cross town for an in‑store experience, and what it takes to keep a legacy brand modern without losing its soul.

Gary traces his path from Nordstrom’s merchandising ranks to Hugo Boss and Samsung before landing in Charleston, where he learned the art of specialty retail: knowing the regulars, serving visitors so well they become remote clients, and designing a store that tells stories instead of stacking tables high. We dig into the M. Dumas timeline—from early Levi’s dominance to spotting Tommy Bahama before it broke big—and the moves that kept momentum: a major renovation, premium tailoring, and, just in time for COVID, an e‑commerce launch that paired with doorstep delivery and constant outreach.

Charleston’s style scene gets a closer look. Surprise: it’s dressier than many expect. Gary breaks down a go‑to uniform for today—sport coat, open‑collar shirt, five‑pocket pants, and a sharp sneaker—and explains why color thrives here year‑round. We talk Mount Pleasant Towne Centre and the strategy behind shop‑in‑shops from Barbour, Johnnie‑O, Duck Head, and Faherty to make outfitting intuitive. Then we go inside the service playbook: stylists who build wardrobes, label outfits for a colorblind client, host trunk shows, and even stage an annual Italian dinner pairing regions, wines, and makers.

Along the way, Gary shares why he pays people well, collaborates with neighboring independents on King Street, experiments with influencers, and takes Dumas on the road with pop‑ups in DC, Florida, and Dallas. If you care about retail strategy, community, or simply looking great without overthinking it, this conversation delivers practical insight and plenty of Charleston flavor.

Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend who loves great shops and good stories.

Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce

Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions

Expo Podcast Sponsor: ‪@PollenSocial‬

Production Sponsor: RMBO.co

Design Sponsor: DK Design

Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Immediate Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Ben Nesvold | Co-host | In-coming President | Edward Jones

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:02):
Well, hello, and welcome to the Building a
Business Podcast, powered by theMount Liverpool Chamber of
Commerce.
We are recording in theCharleston Media Solutions
studio.
They are huge supporters of theChamber, so we thank you for
recording us today.
And another huge thank you andshout out to our podcast
sponsor, DK Designs.

(00:23):
My name is Kathy Herman.
I am your immediate pastpresident of the Mount Pleasant
Chamber of Commerce, and I'malso the marketing director for
Mount Pleasant Town Center.
If you've been listening to us,I'm joined today by my favorite
co-host, Mike Compton.

SPEAKER_03 (00:40):
Favorite.
Favorite and special and youknow, all the all those good
things.
Yeah, Mike Compton here.

SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
Just keep going back and listening.
How many times I called him myfavorite?
Owner of Roombo Advertising andthe chair of the Mount Pleasant
Chamber of Commerce MarketingCommittee.
That's right.
Welcome back, Mike.

SPEAKER_03 (00:56):
Hey, it's always good to be here.
We've got a really cool guesttoday.
Um, actually, it took me a whileto figure out what I was gonna
wear today.
And on my way here, I'm like,hmm, I'm just gonna have to keep
it simple because this guy'sgonna be judging me the entire
time.
I'm wearing a little combo ofLululemon and Costco.

SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Oh, that's the perfect combination.
That works.

SPEAKER_03 (01:19):
That works.
Uh we've got Gary Flynn on theshow of M Dumas and Sons.
Am I saying Doumas right?

SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
Yeah, Doomus.
Yes.
Doomist.
You got it.
That's amazing.
A lot of people say a lot ofother things, but doomus is the
right word.
Dumbass part of that.
It is.
Yeah, I'm glad you said it.
I wasn't sure I was allowed to,but yes, that comes up all the
time.
Doumas, doomus.

SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
Um also if you don't know um about M.
Doumas and Sons, they are theiconic men's specialty retailer
from downtown Charleston,founded in 1917 as a military
uniform outfitter.
We'll talk a little bit moreabout that.
Interesting.
Um and then after that, if wewant to understand 1960, they
became known for their fashiondenim and in 93 for the addition

(02:05):
of the Tommy Bahama line.
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (02:07):
Did I get that all right?
You got it.
Okay.
You did do homework.

SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
I did.
Um, and then we're off course,you know, me being the marketing
director for Town Center, veryexcited that also M Dumas and
Sons and Southern Tide by M.
Dumas and Sons are open now atMount Pleasant Town Center.
Um 108 years in business.
We'll talk about that.
Yep.
Um, he is a veteran of theretail industry.
We are so happy to have youhere, Gary.

(02:30):
Thank you for being here today.
Thanks for the time.
Um we're gonna talk about thebusiness, we're gonna talk about
um what inspires you to dobusiness in Charleston and how
Charleston inspires thebusiness, moving to Mount
Pleasant, of course, MountPleasant Chamber of Commerce.
But let's talk about you first.
Let's give a quick background,if you wouldn't mind, of um what
you've been doing to get tobeing such a figure in the

(02:53):
fashion industry.

SPEAKER_00 (02:56):
Yeah, yeah, third generation.

SPEAKER_03 (02:57):
My gosh.
Oh, so you this a family thing?

SPEAKER_00 (02:59):
Yes, sir.
Nice.
Um, so my background, I've I'veI've now been with Doom is for
nine years.
Prior to that, um, I I grew upin retail.
Um I started working atNordstrom uh in Southern
California when I was uh 18, putmyself through college and
worked part-time there for awhile, kind of fell in love with

(03:19):
the the brand, uh uh Nordstrom,and decided to see where I could
take my career.
And I'd be able I was able to bethere for 27 years, kind of
working my way all the waythrough the ladder, all the way
up to uh I ran a uh uhmerchandising division for the
company uh for the last sixyears of my time there.
Um from there I left and went touh New York City and I ran

(03:41):
retail merchandising for HugoBoss, uh based there in New York
for North America and SouthAmerica, which was very
interesting.
Um and then from there uh I wentto Samsung and ran retail
merchandising for the UnitedStates.
That was a big change uh as faras you know product category
goes.
Went from clothing into TVs andcell phones and washers and

(04:01):
dryers and all that stuff.
Wow.
It was very challenging.
Um and then I got a call from aheadhunter to come interview for
a job down in Charleston, andthat's uh that's what got me
here.
So I've been here now for nineyears, like I said, and enjoying
every minute of it.
And uh thankfully uh David and Ihave been working uh well
together for these not last nineyears, David Dumas, um there's

(04:22):
the third generation, um, thatwe're now um co-owners together.
Yeah, I own half the half of it,he owns half of it, and uh it's
been working out great for us, Ithink.

SPEAKER_03 (04:33):
Holy smokes.
It's really cool getting to knowthe different people that live
here in Mount Pleasant that havesuch huge great like
backgrounds, you know, andworking for these giant
corporations that you've beenworking for.
Nobody really understands that.
Like there's a lot of greatpeople that live here uh that

(04:53):
have done huge things elsewhere,and then they're still living
here and still doing huge thingsyou know, in in town and
elsewhere.

SPEAKER_01 (05:00):
Well, I I also think that it's great here because we
have I think we have theopportunity to um start that
second I I hate to use the wordsecond chapter, but that second
chapter in life, we've alwayssaid a lot of our chamber
members were bigwigs up in NewYork City and they were
executives, and then they camedown here and opened a hot dog
stand or whatever it might be.
You know, we have the you knowpeople want to be here so bad,

(05:21):
and then we have all theseamazing opportunities to start
over.

SPEAKER_03 (05:25):
What led you to like did you just visit?
You so you got the headhunter,headhunter calls you and you're
like, oh, you've been yeah, hadyou been to Charleston before?

SPEAKER_00 (05:31):
I had not actually.
And and I'd been to a lot ofstates because I was you know
running a uh national businessfor a couple of different
companies.
So I got to a lot of yeah, yeah,yeah.
Got to a lot of the states, butI had never gotten to South
Carolina because Nordstromdidn't have a store in South
Carolina.
We haven't fixed that.
Yeah, we still haven't fixedthat, have we?
Uh I I I can't I I try to playthat role now.
I'm the Nordstrom of uh ofCharleston.

(05:52):
That's what I like to think Iam.
Um so no, I had not come to theto to Charleston before and in
anticipation of coming, and Iknew the job sounded really
good, but what was gonna sell mewas to get my wife and daughter
to fall in love with it as well.
So I brought them with me, anduh we spent a long weekend here,
and we hadn't gotten from theairport to downtown.
We're like, oh yeah, we can dothis.

(06:14):
Yeah, it was super easy to fallin love with Charleston.
Isn't it?
Yeah, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (06:19):
Same.
I agree a hundred percent.
So I mean, I know I mean, I'm inretail property management.
Um one of the first names Iheard when I moved here, I've
been here nine years myself, wasthis men's store downtown.
I'm doing and so the reputationis really kind of precedes
itself.
Um tell you know, tell us astory a little bit more about

(06:41):
the story and the history of umof such a well-known name.

SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
Yeah, Dave and his family have done a outstanding
job um building a greatreputation over the over the
decades.
Um his uh uh grandparentsstarted the job, uh started the
the store.
M.
Dumas and Sons actually standsfor Mendel Dumas, and Sons are
Abe and Joe Doomas.
And so it was the three of themthat really kind of took this

(07:06):
business on.
Um and it was pretty small for along time, uh, you know, a
small-ish type business.
Um and then the third generationgot involved, uh, David and his
brother, um, and they wererunning it next at that this
next chapter, and and David'sthe one who found Tommy Bahama
before Tommy Bahama was knownacross the country.

(07:27):
And he he was the first personin the southeast to carry it.
Um, and he turned it into avery, very big business in the
store.
It was over a million dollars atone point.
Um, and then they um they justsaw how great it was doing that
they decided to open their ownstore on King Street, and so
that was kind of the end ofTommy Bahama and and M.
Dumas and Sons.

SPEAKER_01 (07:46):
Well, that I hopefully they give you guys
credit for that.
Nah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (07:50):
I don't see any royalty checks coming through.
I was kind of hoping.
But yeah, the the family, Iwould say one of the things that
stands out to me over the courseof all this time is how
important evolution has been inthe story of Dumas.
You know, starting, as you said,as a uniform type business and
evolving into a workwearbusiness.

(08:11):
You know, there's stories ofpeople coming home from World
War II and they, you know,coming from the West Coast back
to the East Coast, and they'relike, there's this little brand
that we found out there that wefell in love with.
You might not have heard of ityet, but it's called Levi
Strauss.
You might want to look intothat.
And so they decided to look intothat and became the biggest
dealer of Levi Strauss in thestate of South Carolina.

(08:33):
So they they don't do anythingsmall.
Like that.
Right?
When they get into something,they do it big.
And those that remember and haveshopped there for a long time,
you'll you'll know that thetables are always stacked high.
You know, we always call itstack it high, watch it fly.
And that was definitely the umthe DNA of the business for a
long time.
Um, they finally moved into abig enough space back in 1973,

(08:57):
which is our current location,um, and that allowed them to
spread out a little bit and andstart you know really growing a
bigger business.
Um, they they bought out thewhole building at one time that
was a Havertz furniture store.
And if you come to the frontentrance of the store, our Dumas
rug is over the top of a big Hin the marble for Havertes, so

(09:17):
that's still there.
Yeah, yeah.
That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 (09:19):
It's almost like luck, a little luck charm or a
little private inside channel.
You don't want to mess with it,right?
Like I agree.

SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
It served us well so far.
So we like to try to keep ourheritage stuff uh uh around when
we can.
Um another thing that they'vedone, um they put a right before
I got there, they went through atwo million dollar renovation of
the space.
Um so we expanded to the nextside next building um and got
into the tailored clothingbusiness about 20 years ago and

(09:45):
then had a big renovation tokind of just take the the the
experience up a notch, whichallowed us to really start
carrying more premium brandstoo.
So it's just been evolutionafter evolution after evolution.
That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 (09:59):
What was it like taking over such a historic
business like this?

SPEAKER_00 (10:03):
Yeah, it's a little bit daunting.

SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
Um, you know, I did come with especially if you're
not from Charleston, too, right?
I can only imagine.

SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
Yeah, I didn't really know anybody.
Um, but I did know the business,and thankfully I grew up in the
business, and there are a lot ofsimilarities to Nordstrom and M.
Dumason Sons.
Um, Nordstrom is also thirdgeneration, also founded in
1917.
Um, and so they're verysynergistic that way.
Um, and the fact that it was allmen's and men's clothing, which

(10:30):
is what I grew up in, you know,I I I um it was easy for me to
fall in step with that.
What I needed to learn, though,was a specialty store
environment, uh, a one-storeenvironment, um, a a town, um, a
tourist business.
You know, we had to reallyunderstand how this business
worked, and it was daunting.
Um, but I, you know, the onlyway to do something is to get in

(10:52):
there and do it.
And so you roll up your sleevesand you spend every day in the
store talking to everybody thatyou can, and you try to learn,
you know, what's worked, what'snot worked, um, what customers
want to see from us, what theydon't want to see from us, what
our competitors are doing, whatother stores on the street are
doing, and really try to analyzewhat where our point of
difference is.
And that's something I do tothis day.

(11:12):
I mean, I've been there nineyears and I keep looking for you
know what what's next?
What are we gonna do next that'sgonna make us unique and
different?

SPEAKER_03 (11:18):
What's next?

SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
I think that every single I can't tell you that
yet.
I think that every kind of everybusiness, retailer not, should
be doing that.
Oh, of course.
You know, you can't I one of thethings I've always said is you
can't you can't just build itand expect everyone to show up.
No.
You know, you need to make surethis is ever-changing times, you
need to see what your customerswant.
Um, and so great piece of advicefor everyone who runs a business
here, um, especially retail orcustomer relations, um, listen

(11:43):
to what Gary just said becauseit it makes a difference.

SPEAKER_00 (11:46):
Yeah, I tell my team all the time no one needs a
thing that we sell really.
Needs at the end of the day.
The need is not what we'reselling.
We're selling want.
And you gotta remember that.
So you gotta remember that whenthat customer walks through the
door, it's a treat that theycame to visit us.
And it's not an expectation thatthey're gonna buy something just
because they walk through thedoor.
We we need to make them fall inlove with the store, with the

(12:08):
environment, with you, with theproduct, with the lighting, with
the music, with the beer thatwe're gonna hand you, what
whatever it is.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
We gotta go down there if you'renot gonna go.
That's a party.
It can be a party for sure.

SPEAKER_03 (12:20):
It can be a party.
I love that.
Um, so nine years.
So part of that nine years wasCOVID.
Um any pivots that you can talkto, and you know, and how
difficult is is a brick andmortar?

SPEAKER_00 (12:32):
Yeah, it was uh certainly challenging, as
everybody knows.
Um we thankfully Charlestonclosed but opened up relatively
quickly.
Um we were down, we were darkfor six weeks.
Um and thankfully, literallythree months before that, I
plugged in an online store.
And so we had some I got lucky.

(12:52):
Uh I knew it was something weneeded to do, and it just so
happened that COVID happenedright after that.
So it it made it um it helped usquite a bit.
Um and we were doing anything wecould think to do, you know,
delivering stuff to people'shomes, what whatever, whatever
they wanted us to do, we weredoing it.
Um but yeah, that was that wasdefinitely challenging.
And and I thankfully, you know,the way that the um the

(13:15):
government funding came throughmade us be able to get through
that time, um, made me allowedme to not have to lay anybody
off or let anybody go.
That's great.
Um we were able to keepeverybody on staff.
I uh and because we were onlyclosed the six weeks, I I was
able to bring people into work.
You know, they worked less thanthey normally do, but we paid
them as if they were workingfull time, and it um it was uh

(13:37):
something I never hoped torepeat, but we did learn a lot
of stuff through through thattime frame.

SPEAKER_03 (13:42):
How is the online presence how is that?

SPEAKER_00 (13:44):
I'd say it's good.
I think it can be better.
Growing.
Yeah, it's growing, yeah.
For sure it's growing.

SPEAKER_03 (13:49):
Is it is it a priority though?
I feel like more of yours, moreof an experience, and where the
online is more of people who'vealready come there to have the
experience, already fell inlove.

SPEAKER_00 (13:56):
Is that that's a very accurate way of looking at
it.
Um you know, I but I also thinkthat um I the visitors that come
with us, we want to be theirlocal store.
So if you're in Cincinnati,Ohio, or Kentucky somewhere,
wherever you're from and youcome to Charleston, hopefully
you fall you discover us and youfall in love with the experience
and you buy some stuff from us.
We want to keep that connectionalive with you.

(14:17):
Um and so we reach out uh allthe time on the phone, uh text
message, sending pictures backand forth on the phone, talking
to people about what their needsare.
And thankfully the websiteallows us to facilitate a lot of
that too.

SPEAKER_03 (14:30):
Are your employees more like personal buyers type
of thing?

SPEAKER_00 (14:34):
Yeah, yeah, stylists or personal shoppers or however
you want to phrase it.
Yeah, that what I what I try totell teach each of my team
members to think of is this isyour store.
Doom is happens to be the nameon the on the building, but I
want you to come to work everyday thinking this is Gary's
store, this is Joe's store, thisis my business that I'm running.
And the customers I'm workingwith are my customers, and I'm

(14:56):
gonna work on developing themand trying to create a great
relationship with them so thatyou know it can turn into
ideally more business.
Um you know, people shop withpeople is another great thing
that I've heard when I was youngin the business and keep saying
over and over again.
People don't necessarily shopwith stores or with brands, they
shop with people.

(15:16):
And you know, there's a lot ofstores on King Street that are
mono brand, like there's a youknow, there's a uh Lululemon
store and there's a Viore storeopening up soon, and there's
these all these stores, but notthat many people dress head to
toe in one brand all the time.
Right?
Like me right now.
Yeah, exactly.
Like me right now.
Nice mix there, Mike.
That is a good one.
I haven't heard that one before.

(15:37):
Um, but um uh so that's thatthat's just another thing that I
think our store provides.
Um, people coming from othertowns go into that store, and
it's a pretty big store that hasa lot of product, and we hear
that all the time.
And I and that's veryintentional.
I want to hit them in theforehead with how much product
we have and how many differentbrands that we have where they
go, holy moly, there's a lot ofplaces to shop on King Street,

(15:58):
but I don't have to go anywhereelse.
I can get everything I needunder under one roof.

unknown (16:02):
Nice.

SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
And and speaking of fashion, we have to give some
mics some tips.
Nice.
What do you mean?
I'm kidding.
Um, Charleston is is an amazingplace, as we all know.
Um, what makes the Charlestonfashion scene unique?
Because you know, I we've got alot of things that we're known
for.
Me not so necessarily fashion,but and when I walk into your

(16:25):
store, I'm like, I I feel likeI'm in a New York boutique.
So, you know, what makes itunique and and kind of how do
you keep up with that in yourcollections?

SPEAKER_00 (16:33):
Yeah, I think one of the things that surprises a lot
of people when they come toCharleston is actually how
dressy downtown Charleston canbe.
Um, going to dinner, there's alot of fine dining in
Charleston, a lot of highquality restaurants, high
quality uh hotels.
And so people tend to umdownplay how dressed up they
should be when they're here.

(16:53):
And then when they're here for acouple days, they're like, hmm,
I feel a little underdressedhere.
So uh maybe I need to buy asport coat to go to dinner with
tonight.
And that's actually a pretty bgood business for us, is um
people wearing things whilethey're here, and so we try to
turn that stuff around quitequickly in the in the tailor
shop.

SPEAKER_03 (17:11):
That's funny because Charleston and Mount Pleasant is
it is a lot of it is come as youare.
Uh business casual, isn't thatsuity, isn't it?
Isn't it right?
So it's a very it's onlyspecific kind of fashion style
here.
And you're right, when peoplecome here like they can be
dressed down or you can dress asnice as you really want to.

SPEAKER_00 (17:31):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 (17:32):
You're right next to a dude in the in, you know,
whatever, beachware or what haveyou.
Uh it's it's a lot of fashionhere.

SPEAKER_00 (17:38):
Yeah, it's a that's a melting pot that way.
And and you know, and that andthat's uh something that has
evolved the styling ofCharleston fashion too, is
people coming from all otherplaces.
You know, you you could go backand say, Oh yeah, the seersucker
suit, that was one of the thingsthat we were very well known
for, and that was veryCharleston.
Um but that's a much smallerpart of the business now because

(17:59):
so many people have moved herefrom New York City or from
Cleveland, Ohio, or fromwherever they're from, where
seersucker isn't a thing.
And you know what?
I'm not gonna change my style.
This is who I am, I'm this ishow I want to dress.
And so we had to evolve what wecarried to to meet um multiple
looks.
And um, but one of the thingsthat I would say is a big part
of Charleston fashion is color.

(18:21):
Um you know, it the there arethe color um dark navy and black
and charcoal gray, those are allgreat for city areas.
Like that's a New York thing,it's a Chicago thing, it's it's
a bigger market kind of thing.
But in Charleston, you know,stone is a color that we wear in
your in your wardrobeyear-round.
It's a it's a light tan, lightbeige color, and a lot of people

(18:45):
up north would never wear thatyear-round, but down here we we
certainly do.
Um white.
I like the bright colors too.
There's a lot of bright colors.
I pinks and purples.
I wish.

SPEAKER_03 (18:54):
My nine-year-old loves pink.
He wears pink all the time.
This is great.

SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (18:58):
I wish my husband would wear cool clothes like
that.

SPEAKER_00 (19:01):
Yeah, it's so funny how certain guys um view the
view color in their wardrobe uhas um almost uh like a sign of
weakness or something, like uhit's not manly enough or
whatever.
It's that's and that's notanything to do with it.
Um uh it's all in how you wearit.
And if it's uh if it's not you,that's fine.

(19:21):
You know, you don't want to wearsomething that you don't feel
comfortable in.
And that's another thing I tellmy team is like try try not ask
them the question, like, do yousee yourself pulling this out of
the closet and wearing it?
Because it's not gonna do me anygood if it just sits in your
closet.
Because then every time you lookat that thing and you don't wear
it, you're gonna remember thatDumas sold that thing to me and
I never wore it.
Maybe I won't go back to thatstore, you know.
They they don't know whatthey're doing or whatever.

(19:42):
So you know, it's fun to sellsomebody color or something
that's pushes them a little bit,but you just gotta be careful
about how how far to push themto.

SPEAKER_03 (19:50):
That's great.
You're not just selling fabric,you're selling an experience and
you're selling emotion.
That's pretty cool.
I like it.

SPEAKER_01 (19:55):
Yeah, I mean the customer experience when you
walk in that store is justthere's nothing there's nothing
like it.

SPEAKER_03 (20:00):
I gotta go.
I haven't I haven't been yet.
I gotta definitely uh still kindof ask you.

SPEAKER_00 (20:04):
Well, start with the Mount Pleasant store, right?
And then and then we'll workright downtown.
Correct.

SPEAKER_01 (20:08):
Yes, of course.
Well, since you brought that up,let's talk about we'll skip to
that question and talk aboutthat for a minute.
So now you have your iconicdowntown store, and then you
have um a full M Dumas and Sonsat Town Center, and then a
Southern Tide by M Dumas andSons at Mount Pleasant.
So let's talk about those umthose stores real quick, how you
chose the location, lucky us.

(20:30):
Um, and you know, let's promotethem.
Let's remind people that you andI don't hate to say this, you
don't have to go downtown for MDumas and Sons anymore.

SPEAKER_00 (20:38):
It's a reality, yeah.
Yeah.
Uh so there's a lot in what youjust said there.
Um so when we opened theSouthern Tide store, that was
the first thing that we did thatwas um new when I got there.
Um we had been carrying SouthernTide in the downtown store from
day one of Southern Tide being abrand.
Literally, the founder came inwith a polo and said, Would you

(21:00):
please buy this polo from me?
Cool.
And uh David and his brothersaid, Sure, yeah, let's let's
put it in the store and helpthem grow a brand into something
that was very, very big andpowerful in our store.

SPEAKER_01 (21:10):
Again, another one.

SPEAKER_00 (21:13):
Tia Bahamas, Levi's.
Yeah, oh yeah, no, it keepskeeps happening.
Wow.
Um so but we wanted to be a partof the expansion.
They said, Hey, we want to put astore in the Charleston area,
but you've been so good to us asa as a store, we would really
like to partner with you to doit, which we were thankful to
hear that.
And so we decided to do it withthem.
And uh it was a natural to landin Mount Pleasant, I think.

(21:36):
Uh we didn't want to put itdowntown because we didn't want
to really hurt the downtownstore.
Um, but we knew, and it's evenmore so today, that you don't
have to go downtown anymore ifyou live in Mount Pleasant.
You do not.
You've got everything that youneed is there.
Um, you just have to, you know,just know where it is.
And so we didn't want to missout on a customer that was

(21:58):
living in Mount Pleasant butdeciding not to come downtown
any longer.
Um, so we thought let's bringDumas to them.
And since Southern Tide wantedto partner with us, we did that
first.
And that was a really good proofof concept to David and I that
our brand uh resonated and wouldwould stand alone on itself as
well.
So after uh seven years ofhaving it uh the Southern Tide

(22:20):
store in town center, uh, theopportunity to do a Dumas store
um seemed like the right thingto do, and it seemed like the
the center was the right placeto do it in.
And thankfully the the rightspace opened up, the right size,
it felt right.
Um, all the numbers m worked,and um it was it was pretty
seamless.
Out of all the stores I'veopened in my career, with
Nordstrom or with Hugo Boss, uh,or we even with Samsung, uh this

(22:45):
was kind of the easiest store Iever had to open.
Oh, that's well, thank you.
I'll pat on my back.

SPEAKER_01 (22:50):
I had nothing to do with it, but I'll pat myself on
the back for it anyway.
You should.
I'll actually let our team knowthat, Gary.
But um yeah, I mean the store isabsolutely breathtaking.
Yeah, we've we're we're superhappy there.

SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
And it was a concept that was different than what we
were doing downtown.
So here I am.
I I live in Mount Pleasantmyself.
I live out in town, uh, out inPark West.
So I drive by town center on myway to work and on my way home.
So I know that center very well.
Um and um, but I wanted to bringsomething when we we decided to
bring Dumas to the center, Iwanted to do it in a way that

(23:21):
was different than what we weredoing downtown because I wanted
to feel like a differentexperience, yet the same brand.
And the thing I can't dodowntown as much as I'd like to
do, just because of how muchvolume that we do in that store
and how many units that we carryand sell in that store, is I I I
don't storytell as well as I'dlike to.
Merchandising is this is tellingstories, and so how do I wear

(23:42):
this?
Show me the whole outfit.
I want mannequins, I want alittle bit of space to be able
to shop in.
I want to be able to see the thewhole outfit together.
And so we decided to do morekind of shop and shop approach
uh in that store.
So I went to Barber and theyagreed to put a shop and shop in
there, and then I went to JohnnyO and they decided to put a shop
and shop in and went to Duckheadand they decided to put their

(24:04):
first shop and shop in the worldin in our store.
Uh Fardy put a shop and shop inthere.
And so once those were alldecided upon, the rest of it was
super easy to fill in theblanks, kind of fill in the
other white spaces around it.
But I think what I what I reallylike about it is it's not stack
it high and watch it fly.
It's more, it's um, it's it'smore approachable, it's it's

(24:26):
it's um and it's a little bitmore um directional.
It shows you how things worktogether in a way that we we
can't do downtown.
So that was something I wasreally proud of um when it came
together.

SPEAKER_01 (24:36):
And your staff is very dedicated to you, aren't
they?
Because um I know that um thethe the store manager that
opened Southern Tide seven yearsago.
Yep, yeah, um, Scott, shout outto you, um, is now the manager
over at M Dumas.
So that me, I mean, and I knowhe worked for you before.
I mean, he's just been around,they've been around for they
just stay.
Yeah, Scott.
That's such yeah, that's acompliment these days, Gary,

(24:58):
when people are just going in ornot even showing up for
interviews to be able to havethat um loyalty.

SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
Yeah, it's it's it's paramount to what we do because
it's you know, w there'sturnover in retail all the time.
But at the at the leadershiplevel, we've been very sound and
uh it matters.
You know, what you learned lastyear, you can apply to this
year.
And uh thankfully, Scott and Igo back way, way back to
Nordstrom days.
Um, when I was a three-storebuyer for the men's furnishings

(25:26):
department, uh he was uh anassistant manager in one of
those stores of the floors thatI was buying the product for.
So we we got to know each otherthen.
And then you know, my careerwent its way and his went its
way.
And about 20 some years later,um well, yeah, almost 20 years
later, um, I was I'd put out onLinkedIn that I had a store that

(25:47):
we we needed a store manager inin town center for the Southern
Tide store.
And Scott of all the peoplereached out and said, Hey, I
want to talk to you.

unknown (25:55):
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (25:56):
He said, uh Yes?

SPEAKER_01 (26:00):
Yeah he just said yes.
No, sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah,yes.

SPEAKER_00 (26:04):
And I said yes, that's exactly right.
And uh I was glad to have himand uh he's he's been great to
work with.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (26:10):
Well he's great.
I mean, uh from from from myperspective, he's um one of the
my favorite managers um at towncenter, and I will say that
again.
He's one of my favorite managersat town center.
Uh no, he's just one is againjust wonderful to work with.
Um he's a good guy.
But that's it's hard.
It's hard to find.
I think one of the big one ofthe biggest issues at town
center, which I'm sure you'veyou've had unfortunately had to

(26:31):
deal with, is finding help.
Sure.
Um but uh having that, like yousaid, the manager level.
Um we've been blessed at towncenters.
There's so many stores that havehad the same managers since I've
been there nine years.
That's great.
Um I always you know that thatmakes it um that makes it so
much easier to be successful.

SPEAKER_00 (26:49):
Well we were lucky enough to keep uh the Southern
Tour Tide store in the family aswell.
So Scott's wife runs theSouthern Tide store now.
So uh yeah, it's uh it's afamily.
Which I did not know about untilthe grand opening party of M
Doom as well we didn't want tonecessarily shout about it, but
exactly.
It was not nothing we werehiding either.
She's she's awesome and we'rewe're glad to have her.

(27:10):
She's got a great backgroundherself and she brings a lot to
the table.
We'll do a shout-out to Susantoo, okay?
Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 (27:16):
Yeah, for sure.
How do you stay motivated andinspired in leading this legacy
brand?

SPEAKER_00 (27:23):
Uh, you know, I don't think about that that
much.
I just it just is.
Like I I get up every day and Iwant to go in and go hard
charging every day.
And uh I I don't know if that'sjust how I'm built, but I I
think it's a a uh a tell thatI'm doing what I want to be
doing.
You know, it's not what I'mdoing to pay the bills or do it
just till I can retire orwhatever.

(27:44):
It's it's really what I lovedoing.
And uh so you know, there'splenty of corny sayings around
that, you know.
Sure.
Um you never work a day in alife if you do what you love or
whatever that is.
Um I'm I I'm sure I butcheredthat, but um but that's kind of
how I feel about it.
And and I get inspired.
One of the things that reallydoes inspire me is when I go to
market.
When I go to New York to go lookat the new collections and look

(28:08):
at the next season, and I lovegoing out and shopping and
looking for the new things andtrying to find a new brand to
bring to the store uh to theteam that that they can get
excited about.
Um always trying to find thatnext, find that next, find that
next.
That's uh that's a big part ofmy motivation, is it's it's a
game for me to go out there andand really dig dig around and
find some cool new stuff.

SPEAKER_03 (28:29):
It sounds like these brands are finding you as well,
but it takes a lot of work toget to that, I'm sure.
Right?
Yeah.
Kathy, is that what you're gonnasay?

SPEAKER_01 (28:36):
No, I was gonna say that this probably, you know,
I'm not I wouldn't be surprisedif there's some brands out there
knocking down.

SPEAKER_03 (28:41):
Yeah.
Please, please, please featureme, feature me.
That had to be put in to get tothat point and and then to
delete that.
Do you have any advice for uhother folks that have worked
with big brands like you haveand coming into more of a
smaller uh you know communitylike Charles and Mount Pleasant?

SPEAKER_00 (28:59):
Uh yeah, I think it it is you know, in when you get
into those bigger corporations,which you know I was lucky to be
a part of them for as long as Iwas, um you do get further and
further away from the customeras you go up the ladder or down
the ladder or however you wantto look at the ha look at that.
You get further or further awayfrom the day in, day out

(29:19):
customer, and it's it's possiblethat you will lose sight of who
the most important people inyour organization are, and those
are the people who touch thecustomer every single day.
You know, I don't I I don'tbelieve that I'm the most
important person in thebuilding.
I'm not.
It's the person who's there onthe floor working with the
customer that that makes it allmakes the magic happen.

(29:43):
And so I think remembering thatand or re-remembering that if
you've been in a corporate worldand you've gotten away from the
customer a bit, um the customerhas so many choices.
Again, they don't need anythingthat we have, they don't even
need to leave their house to doa good job shopping anymore,
right?
They they can just sit on theirCouch and surf from their phone
and they don't have to go out.

(30:03):
So, what is going to make themwant to, you know, get out of
their house, drive downtownthrough the traffic, right,
through the tourists, find aparking lot, find a place to pay
way too much for parking, walkinto the store, and then decide
to shop with you in your store.
Like that's that's the magicright there.
Is you remember remembering thatit's their decision to shop with

(30:24):
you that matters.
Because they can shop anywherethey want to.
Why you?
So if you can remember why youand create a why you, then
they'll find you.
And uh uh because the customer'slooking for that.
They they want inspiration, theywant to be wowed, they want to
see something they've never seenbefore.
You know, like that's that'sthat's their mentality, that's

(30:45):
my mentality, and so trying toremember to provide that is is
critical.

SPEAKER_03 (30:49):
Love that.
It's great advice.
Um, especially the the journeyit takes from couch to to front
of your uh to your rug over thelong journey.

SPEAKER_00 (30:58):
It is, it is, and there's a lot of turns there
that they can make and go adifferent direction.
So you gotta say thank you quitea lot, quite a lot to make sure
that they know they'reappreciated.
That's huge.

SPEAKER_01 (31:07):
And then speaking of your customers, is there some
favorite customer story orcustomer moment that you could
share with us?

SPEAKER_00 (31:14):
Oh wow.
Uh there's there's plenty, butum one one comes to mind.
Um we've got a customer that'sbeen with us a long time, well
before I got there.
He's decades long.
Um uh but he's not necessarily aclothes horse, or like he's not
a clothes person necessarily,but he just likes Doumas and

(31:34):
likes to look okay, and he knowsthat we're gonna try to take
care of him.
But we didn't know this for along time, but it turns out we
learned that he was actuallycolorblind, and that was part of
why he didn't really get it allthat well.
So, but the only reason we foundthat out is once he he got a
good enough relationship withone of the guys that he asked
him to come to his home and helphim go through his current

(31:57):
wardrobe and match things up forhim so that he could figure out
what outfits to put together inthe morning so he didn't look
bad when he left left the storeor left the house.
Um, and so not only was that anopportunity to you know kind of
help him get organized, but alsohelp him kind of weed out some
stuff that maybe needed to goaway, which created a little bit

(32:17):
of a room for us to actuallysell him a few more things, but
he was super appreciative andand happy to do it.
And the the salesperson did anamazing job and you know tried
to make it almost likegaranimals for adults.
Right.
He literally put he put an A onthe inside of a waistband of a
pant and an A on the inside ofthe collar of a shirt.
These two things work welltogether.

(32:38):
No way, yeah, swear to God.
That's never happened anywhereelse.
He never got that from me.
Yeah, he just came up on it withthis well, he said, if I I want
to help this guy, what's thebest way I can help him?
Right.
And that kind of ownership, youcan't you can't teach that.

SPEAKER_01 (32:52):
Um Mike, I told you they're about service, right?
I mean that's insane.
That is above and beyond.

SPEAKER_03 (32:58):
You can't find that anywhere else.
You should that's that's a coolthing we should talk about, too.

SPEAKER_00 (33:04):
We should actually.

SPEAKER_03 (33:05):
Yeah.
Um lettering your alphalettering your wardrobe for
people who are colorblind.

SPEAKER_01 (33:12):
What a cool thing.
Yeah, makes perfect sense to me.
I well, I think thatunfortunately, I think a lot of
retail has has has lost allcustomer experience.
So um, you know, I'm I'm I'mproud and honored that you guys
have just continued to getbetter and better with it after
even after all this time.

SPEAKER_00 (33:30):
Yeah, I mean the the employee line, a lot of big
corporations see that as an abig overhead number.
And it's a number that they needto manage and bring down.
Um and we think of it kind ofthe opposite.
I don't I don't we we pay ourpeople pretty well, which is
also part of the reason theystay with us for a while.
But that's intentional.
We want them to stay with us fora while.
If if they're doomus if they'redoomus type people, we want to

(33:54):
keep them.
Um and the way you keep them isyou you reward 'em.
Um and so you know, we're knownto to pay pretty well.
Um and I think it's the the bestmoney that we can spend.
You know, I'll I'll cut back ontape or something else, or boxes
or something else, but I'm notgonna cut back on people.

SPEAKER_01 (34:11):
No, that's um the people are your business.
And I and like you said, I thinkthere's uh unfortunately too
many businesses out there thatdon't focus on that and just
focus on cutting the bottomline.
Um as far as what I've seen inmy business is that it just
hurts it hurts everything.
People start to complain, peoplesay I'll just go somewhere else.

(34:33):
People go back to their pajamasand don't get in the car, right?

SPEAKER_00 (34:38):
You don't want to go to a store where you know more
about the the product thatyou're gonna try to buy than the
person that's there trying tosell it to you, right?

SPEAKER_01 (34:44):
I mean Yeah, I mean to me customer service is
everything, and I really wish wecould get some of it back.

SPEAKER_03 (34:50):
Here's a question for you, Gary.
Um, what role do you think thelegacy businesses like uh Dumas?
Am I saying that right again?
Dumas?
Oh my gosh, I'm such a dumbass.
Think French.
Think about it.
Oh, he did it.
He did it, he pulled it in.
Nice.
Um supporting the local economy.

SPEAKER_00 (35:07):
Yeah, I think it's it is important.
Um, you know, King Street is avery unique street.
There aren't very many KingStreets in America.
And what makes it unique is it'snot just a bunch of mall brands
up and down the street.
There is some of that for sure,but it's a mixture of local
brands along with these big boxbrands or these you know
national brands that make itunique.

(35:29):
And I think the the specialtystores that are homegrown here,
like a Krogan's, like aBerlin's, or like you know,
there's a I can go down thelist, there's a ton of them on
King Street.
You don't see that in othermarkets very much.
It most of the time um the rentgets too expensive for locals to
be able to fill the space, andso then it's only the national

(35:52):
brands that have the money to beable to do that.
And um thankfully there's enoughsmaller sized storefronts on
King Street that a smaller, youknow, more more local company
can afford to make it work.
And that's I think the secretsauce of Charleston.
Um it's the great restaurants,it's the great hotels, and it's

(36:14):
the great shopping all together,and it's access to you know the
beaches and everything else.
It's just a very unique umenvironment that is almost
impossible to replicate anywhereelse.
Um, so and I think that thatlocal flavor is what people want
to take home with them when theycome.
True.
Because they can go shop atLululemon anywhere.

(36:34):
It's there in every singlemonth.
Unto it, they got it.

SPEAKER_03 (36:36):
Like all these new things coming up, too.
It's gotta be every new fashionwhatever comes into play, you've
got to be like, are youcombating that?
Are you just you're just doingyou?
You don't really listen to thenoise outside around these other
products, that's a goodquestion.

SPEAKER_00 (36:51):
Because you you can go down a rabbit hole worried
about everybody else and whateverybody else is doing, and oh
by that could have been my saleor that could have been my
customer or whatever.
You can you can definitely godown that rabbit hole.
I just think that if we're thebest doomist that we can be,
we're gonna be okay.
And I think that Charleston isunique enough that all um high

(37:12):
tide rides all rises all boats,or however that saying is.
I totally believe that too.
I'm really butchering.
I'm butchering everything, andI'm known for that.
That's only two, don't worry.

SPEAKER_01 (37:21):
We'll see if we can get a third in before we end up.

SPEAKER_00 (37:23):
Sure.
So I just yeah, it and we'vewe've changed that perspective.
Like we used to be very much umthe big bad guy on the street.
Oh um, we you know, we we hadthe biggest volume business and
we could do kind of what wewanted to do.
We could get the brands that wewanted to get, we could get the
salespeople that we wanted toget, and we we did that.

(37:45):
Um and it made a lot of peopleupset with us.
And I've worked the last nineyears on trying to kind of
become more friendly with ourcompetitors and our friends on
the street, and to the pointwhere if I'm not carrying
something that I know that thisperson wants and I'm not gonna
be able to solve it for them,I'll move out and say, Hey, you
know what?
Grady Irvin carries that brand.
Why don't you go see them?
They'll they'll take good careof you.

(38:06):
Or Steve Berlin's got a tuxedothat's hanging there right now
in your size.
I'm sure of it.
Why don't you go down and seeSteve?
You know, the end at the end ofthe day, you're still trying to
take care of the customer, andeventually you hope that that
comes back and people will dothat for you too.
Um, so I I think that localflavor um is much better when
we're banded together.

(38:26):
And one of the things that we gogoing back to COVID for a
second, one of the ways we gotthrough that was we tried we
created a locals group um onKing Street, and it included
Krogan's and us and a bunch ofother stores that were local
that we banded together and wetried to create uh uh a social
media presence of localCharleston businesses that um

(38:49):
needed to survive, right?

SPEAKER_03 (38:51):
Smart.
What role do influencers play inyour marketing?
And are you are you going downthat road?

SPEAKER_00 (38:59):
Yeah, yeah.
Um I'm a bit old schoolpersonally, you know, just I am
almost 60.
I am too.
The the influencer thing took mea while to get my arms around,
but um we are playing that gamequite a bit, uh, more so now
than ever.
Um I've thankfully have got someuh younger-minded people on my
team that uh I get out of theirway and let them do their thing.

(39:23):
And part of that is gettinginfluencers in them in in the
store, um, you know, gettingthem to have an experience in
your store that they feel goodenough that they want to shout
about for you.
And people really do um listento that.
It's uh harder to find a maleinfluencer than it is a female

(39:44):
influencer because not as manyguys are taking advice from
somebody they don't know, but itit does help.
It helps to get the word outthere.
Anytime somebody say somethinggood about you or uh pushing
your name out there, it's it'sworth doing.
Um even though you you can'tnecessarily draw a line return
on investment wise, like okay, Ispent a hundred dollars on that
person to come in and shop.

(40:05):
How do I know that they actuallydid anything for me?
That sounds like you hope itworks and you hope it's
worthwhile.
And and and I I know it is, uh,so it's just hard to quantify.
Are there any fashion shows thatwe can talk to, or is there any
kind of events that you have onyour uh so we do a lot of events
in the store, um, especially inthe peak of spring and the peak

(40:29):
of fall, we do a lot of what wecall trunk shows.
Um so we have vendors that cometo town that we've been doing
business with, and they come infor a weekend and set up shop at
our store, and they'll bringadditional product in that we
didn't buy for the storepotentially, or you know, we'll
do custom made things for peopleand we'll do custom
measurements, and you can comein and create your own that way.

(40:50):
Um, so that's a big part of whatwe we do um marketing-wise and
event-wise in the store.
But then we do other things.
Um we have we have something I'msuper proud of is once once a
year we have an Italian dinnerserved in the store for some of
our best customers.
And we literally have to go shopthere first.
You said best customers.

(41:11):
I missed that part.
Or our our best friends, youknow.
Thank you.
Um, but yeah, that we we sat 50people uh for dinner in the
store um and turned it into afun thing.
We had uh Graf come in and dothe wine for it, and so we we
took a kind of an interestingapproach to it.

(41:31):
We we said, okay, what brand,what what part of the region of
Italy is this brand from thatwe're doing business with?
Now, what's that region knownfor for food, and what's that
region known for for wine?
And let's pair all three ofthose things together and make
it educational but also fun.
And it was was something I'msuper, super proud of.
Um, customers look forward toit, um, and our team really

(41:52):
enjoys it.
So you know, we're alwayslooking to try new things, um,
and that's just an ex oneexample of them.
Um, but we don't we haven't hadmuch success doing fashion
shows.
Yeah.
Um, you know, we we were part ofCharleston Fashion Week uh one
time, and I did that because Ithought it was the right thing
to do, and it was a lot of funto do, but it didn't really move
our needle all that much.

(42:13):
And I don't know if that's ourguy who's a fashion show guy.
Um our guy's a guy that justwants to wear nice clothes, but
isn't so tied to runway or to umdesigner.
There's a big difference betweendesigner and luxury goods.
Designer is very cutting edgeand on the run on the runway,

(42:33):
and you know, try to push theenvelope and push your
sensibilities as far as you cango, and always showing you
something out there.
Luxury is kind of quieter.
Um it's still just as expensiveas designer, but it's it's it's
a softer way of coming across.
It's about the quality and it'sabout how you feel in the
clothes, and it's about um theexclusivity of it.

(42:54):
Um so that's the approach thatwe take and and that seems to
work for a lot of guys.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (42:59):
Well, half the stuff that I see on a designer runway,
I you couldn't wear in publicanyway.
It's laughable.

SPEAKER_00 (43:05):
Some of it's like, what who would who would wear
that?

SPEAKER_01 (43:08):
A lot of memes made from some of the things that
people are wearing on thosefashion shows.
That's funny.
Um so what's in style right now?
Like so, if I was gonna actuallyget my husband to go shopping to
um dress like he wasn't from1969, what am I telling him to
get?
Like what is what is hot rightnow?

SPEAKER_00 (43:25):
Uh so right now we're kind of in a sports uh
sport coat cycle uh as opposedto a suit cycle.
Um so it's a good sport coat, apattern of some sort that is
timeless almost, you know,something you can wear
throughout the seasons.
Ideally, I want to sell you onefor spring and one for fall, but
there's a way to buy somethingthat works the year round.

(43:46):
Um and it's something so that,and then um just a nice
open-collar uh dress shirt orsport shirt underneath it that
complements it, and then afive-pocket pant, uh, which is
called a five-pocket pantbecause it's like a jean model,
which with that fifth pocket isthat little coin pocket that's
there.
Um so it's a more casual model,but it's in something that is

(44:08):
wearable with a sport coat.
So you can kind of dress up anddress down, is kind of a thing
that's going on right now.
Um, and again, color.
I would think put those togetherand you're gonna be appropriate.
Um, a nice shoe of some sort,whether that's a it can be a
sneaker even now.
You can wear a sneaker with asport coat and get away with it
and be comfortable, um, butstill stylish.

(44:30):
So yeah, I that's my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 (44:32):
I love that.
Yeah, apparently.
Take it easy, lady.
He's got it on right now.

SPEAKER_01 (44:38):
I'm very no, I'm very impressed that you're
wearing Lululemon if you want toknow the sport.
Oh, thanks.

SPEAKER_03 (44:43):
I don't own anything from Lululemon.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The pants are unbelievable.
A lot of the comforts.
That's what I've heard.
Comfort.
That's what I've heard.

SPEAKER_01 (44:49):
Yep.
So then um what's what's next?
What's next for um M Dumas?
I mean, you've opened now havethree stores.

SPEAKER_00 (44:55):
Four.

SPEAKER_01 (44:56):
Oh, that's right.
The one in the uh we opened theJohnny O store in Charleston
Place.
Yeah, that's where Megan works,right?

SPEAKER_00 (45:01):
Yes, that's exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
Old friend.
Yeah, yeah.
There's another Mount Pleasantconnection.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, so I think this yearis the year that I we breathe.
Um we've been running prettyhard.
Um, and there's a lot ofinteresting noise out in the
marketplace right now of overthat customers have to navigate
um with the economy and all lotsof other things.

(45:23):
And so I I think we're we're nowjust gonna focus on being the
best that we can be in the fourstores that we have and our
online store.
I do think that the onlinebusiness can be um better and
bigger, and so we're we'reinvesting in that right now.
Um and then we'll see wherethings go.
Um I'm never gonna say never.
Uh we really could put a Dumasin a lot of different towns.

(45:44):
It just depends.
You know, I'm I'm not gettingany younger, and uh I gotta
start thinking about transitionand who's gonna take over for me
when it's time for me to ri youknow retire, and when David
turned turn to retire.
Um De Rillis isn't a fourthgeneration Doomist, so maybe the
fourth generation will be aFlynn.
So we'll see.
I don't know.
We'll see.
Try to figure that out.
I've got a daughter that's kindof showing some interest, so uh

(46:06):
we'll see we'll see where thingsgo there.
But for now, I'm just gonna workon trying to just continue to be
the best doomist we can be andsee where things go.

SPEAKER_01 (46:13):
That's pretty awesome.
I also forgot to mention, andRebecca's gonna kill me, is um
thank you for your membership inthe Mount Pleasant Chamber of
Commerce.
Yeah, happy since this is achamber.
I was so excited to talk to himabout it, I completely forgot
about that.
Um but thank you for yoursupport on, of course, with the
chamber and all that.
Um we have some fun questions,if you don't mind.

(46:33):
Just a few more before we letyou go.
Sure.
If that's all right.
Um what is the most Charlestonthing a customer has ever asked
for?

SPEAKER_00 (46:44):
Um well, an oyster shucker might count.
That that's something that a lotof people come, we carry some
and they're at the counter, andbut most most people who are not
from here look at that and go,excuse me, what is this?
Um so that that would be one.
And uh a pink seersucker suit.
That's that's another one.

SPEAKER_01 (47:03):
Um you couldn't find that anywhere?

SPEAKER_00 (47:05):
It was I did find it.
Uh of course you did.
But I had to have it made forhim.
Um but yeah, it wasn't somethingI could just I I didn't have
just hanging in the ra in therack.
Yeah, I thought those are thethings that come to mind.

SPEAKER_01 (47:16):
I'm sure there's something else, but what's one
fashion trend you secretly lovebut you would never admit to
your customers?

SPEAKER_00 (47:27):
Um That's a good one.
Uh so actually, performancefabrics in dress clothing is
something that has been a trend,and true purists of the of of
this business don't l appreciatethat.
They like they want cotton, theywant it to be you know all

(47:47):
natural, all but theseperformance fabrics are so
great.
They I mean they they theystretch, they breathe, they they
make you comfortable.
You know, you can wear somethingthat's a little bit more
form-fitting, and yet becausethey're stretched, it's not
uncomfortable.
So I've I've I've unfortunatelyhad to use the comfort of
stretch quite a bit in the lastfive years or so as I've gained

(48:07):
some weight.
So um, yeah, I'd that that'ssomething I would say.

SPEAKER_01 (48:11):
And then what is your favorite Charleston event
to dress people for?

SPEAKER_00 (48:15):
You know, it's a new one for us.
Uh I think it's only had itssecond year this uh last fall,
but the Gibbs street party is somuch fun.
Um, they do a great job.
Um, we've got friends that areon the board of the Gibbs, and
they asked us to kind of helpsponsor and be a part of it.
And uh our customers were comingto us saying, hey, I'm going to

(48:36):
this party and I need somethingto wear because it's going to be
a thing.
And so we have outfitted a tonof different people at that for
that event.
And so this year I went for thefirst time, and I couldn't
believe how many localCharleston people I saw that
were wearing Dumas.
We we have a little hashtagdressed in Dumas and they were
posting about that for us, andit was a lot of fun.

(48:58):
And and the street food thatthey brought to the party was
great, and the music was great,the vibe was fun, and uh yeah,
that that hands down is.
It's just a ticket you gottabuy.
Okay, yeah.
It sounds like that sounds likea street fun party.
Uh the street party, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (49:14):
The street party?
Very cool.
We're gonna have to look intothat.
We'll definitely have to lookinto that.
I always like a good party.
It's a fun time.
It's a fun time.
Yeah, it's true, Kathy.
It's true.

SPEAKER_01 (49:22):
That's so awesome.

SPEAKER_03 (49:23):
Um, I've got kind of one last question.
Go ahead.
Uh kind of wrapping up um alittle bit.
You know, things like Stitch Fixcome into play and come into
mind when when when knuckleheadslike me don't know really know
how to dress well and maybecan't afford to dress well.
Um they seem to be more of anaffordable and they put together

(49:44):
some different packages.
Why not?
Well, I want to go to to domath.
You know, I don't want to go toStitch Fix.
Can you explain and and and tellour listeners why you're the
more superior brand.

SPEAKER_00 (49:58):
So I think it helps to have you know a human helping
you put things together in a waythat works for you and your and
your world.
Ideally, we need to know alittle bit about you to really
have the best chance of solvingwhat you're trying to solve.
So um I think that having thatone-on-one relationship and

(50:21):
being in the store and tryingproduct on um and dedicating an
hour or two of your day to gothrough that process was is a
much more streamlined way ofdoing it than trying to do it
via mail, um having, you know, abox of stuff sent to you that
you try on at home, but then youhave to ship half of it back,

(50:42):
and then you know, things don'tfit the right way, or it, you
know, the fit wasn't quite theway you wanted it to be, and
then it's kind of a back andforth and becomes a little bit
more cumbersome than you'd hopedit to be.
So something you were trying todo to make your life easier
turned into making it moredifficult, unfortunately.
That's a great point when itcould have been solved just by
going to a store that has agreat assortment and a and a

(51:02):
good team.
Um but I appreciate what StitStitch Fix and Trunk Club and
all those other types of peopleare trying to do.
Um, you know, at one pointNordstrom actually owned Trunk
Club, which was one of thosethat was doing that too.
So I I I was involved in that alittle bit too.
And um I think anything thatanybody can do to try to

(51:22):
simplify the the fashion umexperience for for guys is is is
a hero in my book because a lotof people really do struggle
with it, they just have nofashion sense at all.
Um and yet they really don'tlike that they don't have
fashion sense, so they want somehelp.
Sometimes it's just hard forguys to ask for help.
Um so uh yeah, I think I thinkuh little smaller boutique-y

(51:49):
type local environment storesare easier to have that
one-on-one connection with, andand that's the key piece.

SPEAKER_03 (51:55):
It's the human touch.
It's the human touch.
They can come here to MountPleasant Charleston, come to
your store, get fitted, travelback to wherever they are, and
still keep a connection withy'all, either online via phone,
email, what have you, becauseyou personal shoppers, I'm sure,
is what you guys have there.

SPEAKER_00 (52:12):
And and one of the other things that we're trying
to do, and I'm probably pushingus over our time for a minute,
but when you said what what uhwhat's next or what's new is
we're actually trying to takeDumas on the on the road.
Um, and that's uh been somethingwe've been experimenting with.
Uh we we did a little pop-upshop in Washington, DC.
Um, we had a couple customersthat were from DC, and they

(52:33):
said, Hey, we've got somefriends, and they would love to
shop with you guys too, but theyjust don't go to Charleston and
I'm all like, well, let's go tothem.
And so we did that, and then wedid one in Florida, and we've
done one in Dallas.
Um so we we we're now startingto kind of branch that out a
little bit, and we're trying toum bring Dumas to to you, bring
it down the road.

SPEAKER_03 (52:52):
Oh, I love it.
That's a whole king.

SPEAKER_01 (52:53):
So it's like your own trunk show.

SPEAKER_03 (52:54):
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 (52:55):
Your own trunk show exactly.

SPEAKER_03 (52:56):
Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (52:56):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (52:57):
That's amazing.
Well, while you're here, pleasemake sure you uh let all of our
listeners remind them where theycan find you.
So we got uh King Street andMount Pleasant Town Center.

SPEAKER_00 (53:08):
Yep, yeah.
So there's the main store, thethe first store is on at 294
King Street at the corner ofKing and Society.

SPEAKER_03 (53:15):
It's been there since 1917.

SPEAKER_00 (53:17):
Yeah, we've been on King Street that long.
Um the other downtown store isour Johnny O store that's in the
Charleston Place Hotel on MarketStreet.
And then in Town Center, it's uhin uh Mount Pleasant, we have
the Southern Tide store.
Um it's right there on BelkDrive, right in front of the
Belk Store.
And then the Dumas store is alsoon Belk Drive.
Um, it's just a little bitfurther down the road.

(53:40):
Um, so all four stores are veryclose and very, very easy to get
to.
And then our fifth store, ourwww.mdumasandsons.com.
Well, what was it again for yet?
What was it again?
ww.mdumas.com.
Nice.
That's awesome, Gary.

SPEAKER_01 (53:54):
Thank you so much for spending some time with us
today.
I was happy to do it.
Thank you.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Did we learn anything today?
We learned a lot, are youkidding me?

SPEAKER_03 (54:01):
Yeah, I didn't know fashion was so present here in
in Charleston.
Oh, it's huge.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (54:05):
But I think one of the things you said earlier
which made me laugh is I I whenI go down to downtown for
dinner, no matter if it's myfriends or my husband or a
special occasion, I always getdressed up.
Always.
Always.
I mean, not obviously not anevening gown, but I always put a
dress.
I I I stopped wearing heelsbecause I've fallen too many
times on the cobblestone.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I always get dressed up.
And I I laugh because I Icouldn't be sitting right next

(54:29):
to somebody in a t-shirt andjeans.
You know?
And so, but it's all acceptable.
Yes.
But in my mind, when I'm goingout downtown, I want to get
dressed up.
So I can see how that happens.

SPEAKER_03 (54:40):
Such a cool experience downtown.
Yeah.
You know, there's nothing.
Mount Pleasant's great,obviously, but the experience at
downtown, there's nothing elselike it.

SPEAKER_01 (54:46):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (54:46):
Apparently, nothing else like shopping at DeMonts as
well.

SPEAKER_01 (54:48):
That's right.
You all got to get there.
Thank you again so much, Gary,for being with us today, and of
course, for your membership withthe Mount Pleasant Chamber of
Commerce.
Before we leave, we need tothank our sponsors again, um, DK
Design and our friends atCharleston Media Solutions for
their support, not only of thepodcast, but of the Chamber of
Commerce.
If you're interested insponsoring our podcast or being

(55:12):
a guest on our show, just reachout to Rebecca and someone will
get uh someone will get back toyou.
Now we've got a lot of channels,so we've got Spotify, iTunes,
YouTube, Instagram, Facebook,and LinkedIn.
I happen to like the YouTubebecause I I like watching.
Yeah.
I like watching.
Even though it's I know they'resupposed to be listening,
watching always makes me laugh.
It's fun.
Um so come on, uh, make sure yousubscribe and follow us on all

(55:35):
of those.
Thank you again for being withus today.
Until next time, Mount Pleasant.
Until next time, listeners.

SPEAKER_03 (55:41):
Thanks, guy.