Travel now on the horizon

Some men who make decisions involving millions of dollars still can't decide whether to buy a $75 shirt.

Peter and Pat Follows know this, because they have been selling clothing to men and "the women who shop for them" for 26 years.

The husband-and-wife team have decided to close their business, R P London, at the end of next month when the lease on the Victoria Ave building runs out.

"We think it's time for a change for us. We tried desperately to convince someone to buy it, but we didn't even get a nibble," Mr Follows said.

They are selling off stock, and the fixtures and fittings will also be sold.

Mr Follows has been in the menswear trade since the 1960s and has seen fashions go full circle. His favourite formal clothing for men is the two-button side vent coat "because it never dates - double breasted come in and out and three-button come in and out", he said.

"It's got to be time that double breasted came back. It hasn't been in since the late 1980s."

He takes "no-one ever regretted buying quality" as his motto, and said the dressed-down Friday trend was the worst thing that ever happened to the menswear trade. The trend had spread, to the point where even lawyers and accountants didn't always wear ties.

The Follows bought R P London in 1986, when the store was at 121 Victoria Ave. They kept the name because it was well established.

The seller was Peter London, the son of the original R P (Pat) London who started the business in the early 1920s.

In 1986 the store sold menswear and Wanganui Collegiate School uniforms.

Mr Follows bought it because he had become tired of working as a traveller, and his wife joined him full-time two years later.

They moved the shop to 131 Victoria Ave in 1992, after Chris Efstratiou bought its first building. Their new premises were once part of the old Londontown building, and had to be partitioned off and fitted out.

Soon after they arrived there they started selling ladies' wear, because there was a demand.

The best years of the store were the early 2000s. A blow to the business came in 2005, when Collegiate decided to sell its own uniforms.

The shop now sells corporate and team uniforms, and also Masters' Games merchandise as well as men's and women's clothes.

The Follows have some part-time help in it, and the building is owned by Palmerston North man Brian Green.

Being there five-and-a-half days a week was a bit of a tie, but they still enjoy coming to work.

"We have people that bought their school uniforms in the 1940s and are still coming in now," Mr Follows said.

Mrs Follows said she liked looking after her lady customers and got a lot of satisfaction from that.

When they quit on March 31 the Follows plan to take time out with family and grandchildren, and then decide what's next. Travel could be on the agenda, but they'll remain based in Wanganui.