Jos. A. Bank clothing store closes
The Jos. A. Bank men’s clothing store on Lincoln Avenue north of the Plaza has shut its doors for good, one of several chain clothing stores on the downtown block to falter in recent years.
Workers at the store Monday afternoon were busy packing sports jackets, shirts and other items into boxes. A regional manager, who declined to be identified, told a reporter that the store closed Saturday. He declined to discuss the reasons.
“They gave it a good try for about five years, but they just never got the numbers they needed,” landlord Marc Bertram said Monday. Bertram, of SF Brown Real Estate, owns the building at 130 Lincoln Ave., known as Lincoln
Place, which houses several stores, art galleries, offices and a coffee shop.
Bertram said Jos. A. Bank’s problem is one faced by several such retailers nationwide. Through the years, he said, several clothing chains have operated at Lincoln Place but ended up closing, including J. Crew in 2015, Eddie Bauer and Ann Taylor. Other national chains, including Banana Republic, have closed downtown Santa Fe shops in recent years, Bertram noted.
“The stores that have been successful tend to be locally owned with local followings,” Bertram said, “stores that are not being dictated to by a national corporate office.”
Bertram said online shopping has hurt clothing stores. He added Santa Fe’s aging population might have something to do with shopping preferences.
Beyond Santa Fe, the chain has had financial problems in recent years.
In March 2016, Bank’s parent company, Tailored Brands, announced it would close about 250 stores in the next year. Of those, 80 to 90 were full-line Jos. A. Bank stores, plus all 49 outlet stores. Shortly after that announcement, Fox Business Network ran a story titled “How to Lose $1 Billion, the Jos. A. Bank Way.”
Bertram said he received notice of the company closing its Santa Fe store just last month. Although Lincoln Place hasn’t had much luck with clothing chains, he said he hopes he can find another clothing store tenant.