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

 

 

 

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

Top Shelf is honored to be one of a small handful of accounts in the United States selected by Gladson, LTD. to introduce a refreshing concept that’s long overdue. Even though suit use is down, men still like to look good. The woolen mills of Italy and England have responded with sport coat materials that incorporate lush designs and mouth-watering colors. Fresh colors like burgundy, teal, brown and green are used as both backgrounds and accents.
Now it’s time for the shirt fabric industry to catch up. Putting patterned shirts on top of patterned coats can be a challenge. Most men opt for basic solid colors in white, blue, yellow and lavender, rather than risk making a “mistake”.
Gladson, Ltd. has designed an initial collection of over 70 fabrics with micro designs in an assortment of hues that can totally change how coats look by flattering out the mélange of colors in sophisticated sport coats. These shirts function like solids but morph depending on how they get matched to different coats and suits.
The quality of the material is an important part of the offering. These shirtings are woven in Italy in 120/2 ply yarn, in poplin and twill constructions in a year round weight for incredible comfort.
Our custom shirts are sewed in America with all the many benefits of having shirts custom made. That includes shirts that fit, along with details of co-ordinating buttons, thread colors, flattering collar and cuff design, and longevity.
Top Shelf is offering these shirts at introductory pricing. We often explain to our clients that in material’s cost there is a good, better, best story. Our goal is to deliver best for the price of better to get these shirts in the hands of our customers and gauge response. Call for pricing.  John will be happy to help you.
Even in the era of Zoom, it helps to look and feel good!

One of the ways we try and stay in touch with customers is with Mailchimp newsletters with a few topics to keep our clients in the loop of what’s been going on during the pandemic lock down, and the reality is that only about 40% open them. The majority of the others get lost in either spam, or promotional filters that accumulate by the thousands and never get opened. It’s just the way the world works. So here in my blog posts I try and feature the most important elements in case you’re looking at our website and hit the blog button to see what’s happening. Here’s the link to the newsletter in case you’re interested: https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?u=cfb829989c5a713bbb7b0568d&id=75329ec526

For anyone who wants to take a peak at our February Mailchimp/Newsletter, here’s the link: https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?u=cfb829989c5a713bbb7b0568d&id=8cc1e6d0c9

The highlights include a heart felt thank you for the customers who have helped us stay afloat, and  a few images of wedding suits, suits just made for fun, and one of several one of a kind topcoats we’ve made this year during pandemic. The other featured blurbs are around the Return of Wedding Plans, as well as our use of Zoom during the pandemic, and the announcement of new Spring fabrics from Cloth by Ermenegildo Zegna, Loro Piana, Carlo Barbera, United Silk and Woolens, Scabal, Holland & Sherry and many other fine mills.

Image courtesy Gladson, LTD. His jacket Bamboo collection

 

Thanks to Pee Wee’s Playhouse, making my Zoom calls a little less serious.

Our cleaner of record, Hiawatha Cleaners has closed. In business since 1939, the Covid crisis has taken them down. We could not be more sad. We referred hundreds of customers to them over the last 20 years. They were like family to us and our clients, with excellent staff and owners who had pride in the quality of the work. Small enough to have the time to get to know their customers, inspect the work, and stand behind it. No delivery service but definitely worth the trip. The owners of Hiawatha have been kind enough to bring the owner of the cleaners they think will be able to deliver similar quality.  We have been sending work to them and other cleaners and below is a list of cleaners we have tested and recommend.

Jim Fingerman is the owner of 5 locations listed below. His e-mail address is Jim@mypilgrimcleaners.com.  Jim has come in and introduced himself to Top Shelf and has been willing to try and fill the shoes left by Hiawatha.  His Pilgrim Cleaners is NOT a part of the 31 store chain of Pilgrim stores, so don’t assume all Pilgrim Cleaners are being recommended. This Pilgrim Cleaners is the main facility for all the shirt laundry and most of the dry cleaning done at his group of stores.

Pilgrim Cleaners   https://mypilgrimcleaners.com    2901 W. 66th St., Richfield, 55423

Edina Cleaners   https://edinacleaners.com  4530 France Ave S. Suite 100, 55410

Hallmark Cleaners-3 locations    https://hallmarkdrycleaners.com/locations.htm Edina, Bloomington and Minneapolis

Here are other cleaners we can recommend in the metro area:

All Season Cleaners delivery and locations in North Loop and suburbs http://www.allseasonscleaners.com/stores/minneapolis/

Uptown Cleaners/Prestige Cleaning Center  http://www.mngreenclean.com/    1614 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408 (612) 822-6855

 

Best Cleaners (offers delivery, multiple locations)  http://www.bestcleanersmn.com/best-cleaners-locations/

Wayzata Home Laundry  https://www.wayzatahomelaundry.com/ 820 Wayzata Blvd E, Wayzata, MN 55391 (952) 473-9511

Woodbury Cleaners (offers delivery) http://www.woodburycleaners.com/locations.htm

St. Paul recommended:

Skyline Cleaners  http://skyline-cleaners.net/  718 Cleveland Ave S, St Paul, MN 55116  (651) 340-2452

Midway Cleaners  http://www.midwaycleaners.net/  1802 St Clair (@ Fairview)  St. Paul, MN 55105  651.699.2445