After a 54-year run in the retail business, Mort Edberg and his business partner of 30 years, John Finkelstein, will close their University Boulevard store — The Landmark Clothing & Shoes, formerly Franklin’s — by Jan. 1.
The property was purchased in June for $1.25 million by D&F Holdings LLC of Colorado, Pima County Recorder’s Office documents show.
D&F Holdings officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment, but Edberg said it plans a restaurant and bar for the site and will probably start construction in March. He said D&F will make renovations to the distinctive two-story house, built in about 1910, that the men’s clothing store was known for.
The Landmark, which caters to University of Arizona students, is holding a liquidation sale — discounting all merchandise by 50 percent — now through the final day of business.
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The store will be open at least until Dec. 26. “It depends on production the day after Christmas,” Edberg said. “If we come in and only do $100, we’re not going to open anymore. If there’s business on the 26th, we’ll stay” until Jan. 1.
Edberg opened his first Franklin’s store in downtown, two doors down from the Fox Theatre, in 1959. By 1960-1961, he was ready to open a second store, and purchased the property at 876 E. University Blvd.
“And then what happened was, we got really good employees and didn’t want to lose them, so we had six partners,” Edberg said. “Well, you can’t have six partners, so we ended up with four stores.”
The other three stores closed by the early ’90s, Edberg said.
He and Finkelstein purchased the remaining Franklin’s, on University, from their partners and renamed it The Landmark in 1993.
The company is known for carrying high-end brands such as Polo, Timberland, Quiksilver and OluKai. “The clothes are aimed at the college kids,” Edberg said. “Eighty percent of business is college kids and the other 20 percent is townspeople and the (nearby Marriott) hotel.”
Since 2008, business has been slow, he said. “It’s been rough. It’s partially (streetcar) construction, partially the Internet and partially parents who were moderately wealthy and are now middle class.”
A parent whose income was slashed in the recession isn’t going to keep giving their college student son a big allowance, Edberg said. “Now, instead of buying five pairs of shorts, he’s buying one.”
So, when the group from Colorado made an offer to purchase the business, Edberg and Finkelstein decided it was time — and not just because of slow sales. “I’m in my 70s and my partner is in his 50s, so it’s time,” Edberg said.
Boss Shears moving
The sale of the property also means a move for Boss Shears, a hair salon that has rented space there for 25 years. But change is good, said Bianca Herreras, the salon’s owner.
Boss Shears is moving to 426 E. Seventh Street and will open Dec. 30.
“I feel like I’ll be in the middle of everything — downtown, university, Fourth Avenue,” Herreras said. “We’ll have free parking next to the building and we’re still on the streetcar route. That was important to me. We went through three summers of construction here.”
The salon’s last day at its University Boulevard location will be Dec. 24.
“Mort and John have been great landlords. They’ve been really good to me all those years,” Herreras said. “The Landmark has left the building. Mort has been here so long, but I think it’s going to be good for him.”
