Community Corner

Alden Street Clothier Shutters After a Decade in Cranford

Retires after 39 years in the men's apparel business in Cranford.

Suits, sports jackets and slacks still  hung on racks at Alden Street Clothier July 31, its last official day in business. For owner Bob O'Sullivan, that serves as testament to a devoted clientele.

Many of those customers were friends, O'Sullivan said. Some retired and moved away over the past four years. But there were enough still around so that the racks remained filled on the last day.

His manager, Louis Condos, is a former colleague who worked at the Sportsman's Shop back in the 1960s in Cranford. While he worked in men's retail apparel elsewhere in New Jersey, Condos said he was happy to come back to the town because much of the clientele was the same as when he worked at the Sportsman Shop.

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"I remembered all of them and they remembered me," he said.

Although O'Sullivan is retiring at the end of the month, the store is open so customers can pick up orders every Thursday, Friday and Saturday in August. Staff will also use this time to complete all outstanding orders for tailoring and alterations.

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After almost four decades in Cranford, O'Sullivan, 64, said he will miss running this establishment, a familiar staple downtown. But he said he's also looking forward to relaxing during retirement: fishing, and spending more time with his wife.

O'Sullivan said men's clothing is a passion of his. He said he worked to cultivate business seven days a week, since it first opened in 1992.

His store, located at 29 Alden Street, offers suits, ties, casual wear and alterations. Colors are conservative, as the store's clientele are the professional types: lawyers, bankers and accountants.

"Guys that still wear suits," he said.

When it comes to clothes, Bob O' Sullivan said he gained his fashion sense from his mother, who worked as a florist.

"She taught me what colors harmonize with others. And that is manifested in putting shirts, ties and suits together," he said.

His interest in clothes started when he entered Cranford High School. Growing up in a family that couldn't afford to buy him more than the basic items, he said he envied the clothes some teens owned.

"I saw people with wardrobes that consisted of more than two shirts and two pairs of pants. I started shopping for myself after making a fair amount of money cutting grass freshman year," he said.

After graduating high school, then St. Bonaventure University in New York, O'Sullivan started to pursue his interest in earnest: clothes and tailoring. He began working at the Gentleman's Corner, a men's apparel store in Cranford as a partner to an old friend, Clifford Daniels.

O' Sullivan became the sole owner of the establishment in 1975 when Daniels left. He continued there until 2001, when he moved to the current location.

Not only does his business now reside at Alden Street, but he also built the building himself. In addition to having a passion for clothes, O'Sullivan possesses a deep interest in construction, also due to his family.

"I grew up in a builder's family," he said, adding that his father and brother were both electricians, and his brother became a general contractor later on. "My wife and I were able to build our own house here in Cranford, and from there I wound up building more houses for fun and profit." He not only built 29 Alden Street, but three other buildings on the street, he added.

After retiring, he will still work as one of the caretakers of these buildings. However, he hopes to have another gig soon in men's apparel – one that would not encroach on the time he'd like to spend with his family or fishing.

One friend, he said, offered him a job at a men's apparel store he bought up in Spring Lake. O'Sullivan said he's undecided whether he'll accept the position as a partner or a manager. But the two jobs share one thing in common: – he will only have to work three or four days a week.

"Neither of us want to work seven days a week so well be working probably four days a week so we have three days to do what we want," he said.


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