Our Next Chapter

Our home page has been updated to reflect where Top Shelf will be relocating after 49 years, after a lot of misleading press and unneccessary sadness.  Our plan was to sell our building first, consider all options and then decide our next chapter for the future. We’re aware that in 2026 Lyndale Ave will be undergoing the same type of disruption of total roadway reconstruction that has been going on along Lake Street and Hennepin Ave for the last two years. My mantra is Roadway Reconstruction, Small Business Destruction. It’s unavoidable because of the age of the street, but the best of plans call for a 30% reduction in the amount of available on-street parking. The current regime of Minneapolis and the 2040 Plan dictate hating on cars. Given the public transit alternatives and the fact that we have winter make this strategy unappealing to many who can’t walk or ride bikes every day to live their lives.

We had many reasons to downsize our operation. In years past we employed up to 6 full time tailors (more than 60 have passed our doors), and a steady stream of excellent sales associates. Today our 7600 square feet of 1905 Arts and Craft beauty is a lot of maintenance and I didn’t want to leave the difficult job of vacating the space to fall to my wife in the unlikely event of my demise. Everyone who comes to Top Shelf knows my wife and partner Pat.  She’s ready to be fully retired. We both want to spend more time with children and grandchildren. We also want to have a schedule that allows for more travel. In our plan for the future, I will work only by appointment and not be available for walk-in business.

Recent business articles have focused on the casualization of dress codes, accelerated by the pandemic. There are still many people who like to dress in tailored clothing, and special events  have become a larger part of a custom tailor’s business. Our business has attracted more people between 20 and 40 who appreciate and are willing to invest in high quality garments, made of Italian and English woolens and cottons. These are products that improve over time. We have always touted that we put the dates in all our products so people remember how long they last, making them an excellent investment.

We had several kind and generous offers to bring our business and staff to other locations, but a week after we sold our building a friend Dan Stensgard invited us to bring the Top Shelf brand into his newly re-located and well appointed establishment. I’ll continue doing what I love, and I’ll will be helping train and mentor younger staff with my 49 years of experience. The new location will also allow Top Shelf to move its tailoring workroom to the same building over the next few months. It will be a fairly major job to move our steam presses and equipment.  Along with our staff we’ve had a very competitive edge over other custom shops that don’t have the luxury of experienced in-house tailors. We’ll also be bringing along quite a bit of our unique inventory.

That’s enough to read about Why and Where our next chapter will take place, as a part of Daniels Custom Clothing at 333 N. Washington Ave in the North Loop. We hope our clients will follow us and allow us to continue the tradition of being Top Shelf.

Cheers,

John and Pat Meegan

 

 

 

Seismic Changes

After 49 years Top Shelf is experiencing some very big changes. We aren’t going out of business, but we are moving from our home base in the Lyn Lake district for the last 25 years. We’ve sold the building and are changing the business model with an eye toward the future. The news has already been erroneously reported that we are closing the business but that’s not the case. We don’t have a new location for seeing clients yet, but we have several opportunities that we’re exploring. Regular existing customers can still access us for appointments. 

Why is this happening?

First and foremost,  John and Pat, owner’s since inception are both 71. Running a small business has many rewards. Working 50-60 hours a week is not one of them. We have two children and two grandchildren and we want to spend the last quarter of our life being present in their lives. We also want to try and travel more while we still have good health. Taking time off is not easy when you run a small business.

There are several other compelling reasons that are too numerous to list in a short form. The casualization of America has changed the landscape for the type of highly tailored, investment grade custom clothing that we have always aspired to be the best at. Today, special events are what keeps the doors open, and although people still want to own some good suits, they have much less occasion to get dressed up.

What does this mean for existing customers?

We’ll continue to operate our work room for at least 6 months, and complete all the orders and projects we have on-going.

We’ll continue to accept orders from existing customers whose records we have carefully maintained from at least the last 10 years. This can only be done on a strict appointment only basis. The location for sales, fittings and deliveries is in works and might change over time while we explore options that fit our schedule and needs. No rush orders or orders with too much complexity will be accepted while we are in transition.

The best way to reach someone during transition is to send an e-mail to John@TopShelfInc.com and he’ll respond as promptly as possible.

What happens to the alteration side of the business?

The majority of that business will be referred to other tailor shops that we’ve been sending clients to for the last several years, such as Tailors on Blake in Hopkins and Sew Biz in downtown Minneapolis which are owned and operated by alumni of Top Shelf. We stopped accepting retail alterations a few years ago and directed clients to these shops and have heard nothing except good things about them. There are a few other tailor shops we can also recommend.

We are very grateful for all the loyalty and support over the last 49 years.  It’s time for the next chapter!

Sincerely,  John and Pat Meegan