Building Relationships
The Shirt Box marks 25 years of clothing success, based on friendships.
Alan Hitsky
Associate Editor
T
he relationship between the
Elkus family and the Browns
is decades old and the parallel
between Ron Elkus, Rod Brown and their
customers is hard to miss.
Elkus started his Shirt Box cloth-
ing store in 1982 after graduating from
Michigan State University. He sold men's
shirts and ties from a 600-square-foot
space in a home fronting 10 Mile Road in
Southfield.
Within that first year, Southfield-
Lathrup High School sophomore Rod
Brown came to work in the stock room of
the little store and worked through 10th,
11th and 12th grades and a few weekends
into college at MSU.
They must have been good years. When
Brown, now 40, got tired of being a per-
sonal injury lawyer 3 1/2 years ago, he called
his old friend Elkus, 47, and the result is
a new partnership and a revitalization for
both.
"Ron was like a brother and a mentor to
me," says Brown. "He got me and my ex-
wife involved in communal activities."
When Brown called, it was six months
after Elkus' store manager had left the
Shirt Box and Elkus was getting tired.
The store had undergone three expan-
sions in 15 years on 10 Mile and then
moved to its 2,400-square-foot location
on Northwestern Highway in Farmington
Hills in 1997.
Brown says re-joining the Shirt Box was
an easy decision. "Our families had a rela-
tionship for years in the same community.
There is a trust factor, loyalty and com-
mon values."
Elkus believes those are the same rea-
sons their clientele keep returning. "You
have to know your customer:' he says. "It's
a homey feeling when you know their
name, their desires, their sizes."
One of the reasons the Shirt Box is not
ALL OF
located in a mall is because "men don't
like malls," says Brown. "We try to be
convenient." To that end, employee Diane
Baskin, who will mark 20 years with the
store in January, will even deliver mer-
chandise to a customer's home.
The store has always tried to provide
a nice mix. Their dress shirts range from
$20 to $175. "It's easy to be very expen-
sive," says Elkus, "but you can't let it get
out of hand. You can't be everything to
everybody, but you don't want to turn off
anybody."
He has also experimented with his lines.
"You have to evolve and try things out',' says
Elkus. "If it works, great; if not, oh well."
Over the years, the store has added shoes,
hats, slacks, sport coats, jewelry, accessories,
sport shits and leather luggage.
Adds Brown, "We have some very con-
servative lines, but we also have some of
the most fashion-forward."
Elkus and Brown are proud of their
community involvement and that the store
Rod Brown, Diane Baskin and Ron Elkus are
the full-time staff at the Shirt Box.
serves the Jewish, Chaldean and African-
American communities. "For 25 years,
we've always been closed on the High
Holidays and we've always had a mezuzah
on the door:' says Elkus. "Everyone knows
we're Jewish and everyone respects that.
We've never had an incident:'
Relationships on page 34
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October 11 • 2007