From 'inconveniently located' to gone for iconic Irv's

In the old days, bad times meant good sales at Irv's, the legendary men's discount clothing store with advertisements that bragged about being "inconveniently located" in a Prospect Heights strip mall.

"We did survive other recessions," says Scott Schlief, 53, one of the owners in the family business that "became a phenomenon." A slumping economy would drive more customers to their discount store seeking deals.

But this economy and this market are different. After nearly a half-century of business, Irv's will be closing in January.

"The men's business in general has been declining the last 15 years," Schlief says. "People just stopped wearing suits."

Businessmen eschewed suits for more casual clothes, and "pretty soon, it looked like they were going golfing," he says. Hollywood didn't help, either.

"An actress is wearing a $10,000 gown and her escort looks like he's about to go skateboarding," Schlief moans.

Irv's got its name from Irv Greenberg, a man who sold suits out of the trunk of his car before opening a tiny storefront at 2841 N. Laramie Ave. on Chicago's Northwest Side.

Brothers-in-law Howard Weinstein and Herman Silverman saw the potential. They bought Irv's in 1966 and immediately expanded that location.

"They got their money back within the first six months," says Todd Weinstein, 47, who worked in his father's business for 30 years. "The name Irv's is still written on the side of the building."

In its heyday, Irv's always had three or four locations open. The Prospect Heights store, opened in 1982, was the headquarters and last to go.

"I don't know where I'm going to shop now. I'm going to miss them," says customer Marty Alderman, 77, as he picks up a suit. He lives in Florida but bought the suit while visiting his daughter in Barrington. Doesn't Florida have suit shops?

"Oh sure, but not like this," Alderman says.

What made Irv's special were the deals, but even more so the people.

"We had a great time there," says Didier Chevalier, 45, who started as a salesman at Irv's and eventually became a buyer during his 23 years there.

"Everybody knew Irv's," says Chevalier, who would gain instant recognition with that name during his buying trips to New York or Las Vegas.

"I used to have customers take a private flight to Palwaukee airport to come to Irv's to go shopping. Why buy an Armani suit for $2,000 when you can buy almost the same suit at Irv's for $650?" says Chevalier, a French native who went by D.J. at Irv's because people had trouble pronouncing his name. "It was fun."

Fun for nearly 50 years.

"My family is very sad," says Todd Weinstein, who is a brother-in-law to Schlief. Having seen other family-run clothing stores close years ago, the Buffalo Grove man says, "I thought we were the last one left."

Weinstein and Schlief say they can't thank their loyal customers enough for the decades of support.

"It didn't matter if you bought a pair of socks or six suits, you got a handshake and a smile," says Schlief, who tells people he went to "the Howard Weinstein School of Business."

"My family had tremendous passion for the business, and dressed generations of families," says Todd Weinstein.

In the best tradition of a salesman, he adds that he now continues that passion by partnering with a more diverse clothing business that includes Executive Clothiers, 6 N. Elmhurst Road in Prospect Heights, and Dalajj in Highland Park, which is managed by Chevalier.

Irv's prices, passion and service won them loyal customers that included celebrities, politicians and athletes from the Chicago Bulls and Bears.

"Mike Singletary came in and needed a dressing room, and it was busy," Schlief remembers. All six dressing rooms were full.

"You can change in my office," Schlief told the Hall-of-Fame linebacker. Singletary ducked into Schlief's small office and discovered a virtual museum of football memorabilia.

"Yeah, I'm a fan," Schlief told him.

When Dennis Hastert was about to become Speaker of the House, the Plano Republican dashed into the Irv's in Darien and bought so many suits for so little money, a newspaper reporter thought something might be amiss.

"I told him, 'That's my price. A lot of guys starting a new job come to me,'" Schlief recalls.

Fresh off his Oscar-winning performance as Salieri in "Amadeus," actor F. Murray Abraham once came into the downtown Irv's needing a tuxedo in a hurry for an awards show.

"One of the guys in my shoe department is asking him to do the line from 'Scarface,'" Schlief says, shaking his head at the memory. "But he did it."

Those memories hang in the air at Irv's, alongside signs pushing "$5 silk ties" and "60 percent off."

Herman Silverman, who sold his half to the Weinstein family, died a couple of years ago. Howard Weinstein died nine years ago last week. Soon the store they loved will be gone.

"When it's a family thing, it's emotional," Schlief says. "It's like him (Howard Weinstein) dying all over again."

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