A few years earlier than I got here to work on the Advocate, I spent a few years working in retail. I used to be (wo)manning the equipment counter at Nordstrom when the charming Jerri Helfman, spouse of Ken, as in Preston Hole fixture Ken’s Man Store, poached me, and I went to work for the best haberdasher on the town. The day I watched Ken Helfman, a longtime Lake Highlands resident, promote a full-length cashmere trench coat to the mayor of Dallas in August was the day I knew I used to be within the presence of a grasp.
At this time the youthful Helfman, Kory, an East Dallas resident and pop, is operating issues. Even within the y2k period, Kory was forward of the sport when it got here to know-how, scribbling notes on his Palm Pilot and sustaining an in depth digital shopper listing. So it’s no shock Kory’s TikTok recreation is on level. Should you care to study in regards to the relationship of sleeve size to jacket, pocket squares and denim care, whereas having slightly enjoyable, comply with there or at Ken’s Man’s Store on IG.
Ken opened Ken’s Man Store on July 29, 1964 close to the sector the place Dallas Cowboys practiced on Forest Lane close to Skillman.
“Lee Roy Jordon grew to become a buyer. Most of the different Cowboys adopted. We used to do the Ken’s Huge Play Award at Cowboys video games, the place the participant of the sport gained a go well with or sport coat of his selection. That affiliation with the Cowboys ignited a whole lot of good issues,” Ken instructed us throughout a Q&A some years in the past. They moved to Preston Hole in 1993.
Not too long ago a Ken’s Man Store assortment grew to become accessible on the Portal to Texas Historical past, a digital museum maintained by the College of North Texas Libraries.
The gathering consists of images of the shop and its house owners and previous staff (not me), commercials, letters from distributors together with tie-maker Ferrell Reed. It additionally properly illustrates the evolution of males’s style via the years of Ken’s life.
Although his father and brother have been medical doctors, Ken mentioned he found his love for retail and other people whereas working a shoe salesman job in Casa Linda’s Persian Peyton’s. I for one am glad he did.
See our Q&A with the Helfmans right here and the complete archives right here.