Out of Fashion
By the time Nana Sullivan was looking for a new store manager in 1994, Toshiro had expanded into the second and third floors, adding antiques and home accessories. Sullivan hired Moran, who’d been managing the Niedermaier furniture store at 900 N. Michigan. Three months later, tired of running the business and going through a divorce, the Sullivans sold Moran the store.
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Department stores get a discount when they place orders with designers because they’re buying for so many stores, and an additional discount to ensure that when they put garments on sale later in the season they won’t lose money. Specialty stores don’t get those deals. “You’re paying full price, and you’re not getting the mark-down allowance,” she says. “People come in at the end of November–prime buying season–and say, ‘Why aren’t you on sale?’
Moran has already lined up work as a freelance personal shopper for some of her regular Toshiro customers, but she worries about the fate of the specialty store. “There’s such a big difference between a department store and a specialty store, and I don’t think people understand the business,” she says. A specialty store “knows you, and shops for you, and treats you well when you walk in the door. If you really want [that kind of service], then you’re going to have to be supportive of that store.”
