I’ve been trying to come up with some way to describe Leuthold’s so readers will understand why I think it’s so neat. It’s proving unexpectedly difficult.
Let me start at the beginning—Leuthold’s is an upscale clothing store, somewhat of a half-step between AmberCrombie & Fitch and a Men’s Wearhouse, plus whatever the feminine equivalent is. It’s a pretty small store, too—maybe no more than a quarter of the size of any clothing store in the mall. I might be willing to go up to a third, but my point is this store is smaller than any other clothing store I’ve seen.
Despite its size, Leuthold’s isn’t cluttered. I don’t know how they pulled this off, but the fact they did is a minor miracle. You have clothing racks advertising the latest fashions for teenagers and twentysomethings in the front, and about halfway in you get to the fancy clothes—suit jackets, ties, slacks, whole suits for heaven’s sakes—by name-brand suit manufacturers. Your average farmer can walk in there fresh off the fields and walk out looking as though he was ready to go to a photoshoot or to senior prom.
What is really impressive about Leuthold’s is that it stands out like a beacon in a choice of let’s say “less-than-high-fashion” options. If you’re looking for clothes in Cresco, Alco is pretty much the place to go. They have your standard Wal-Mart selection, although you can just drive to Decorah and pick up your clothes from an actual Wal-Mart, my preferred tactic. As one of my brothers noted, his secret to fashion success is to go to Ambercrombie and Fitch, see what the latest styles are, then go to Wal-Mart and pick up one of their knock-offs for much, much less. It’s a tactic I’ve cribbed.
Decorah also has its own J.C. Penney, which is noteworthy by itself. It follows the same business model as Leuthold’s—pack a standard clothing store into an area about a quarter of what it occupies normally. Unlike Leuthold’s though, the Decorah J.C. Penney is a bit more…crowded, let’s say. Crowded to the point it doesn’t cater to fat people, because there is no way anyone with excess body fat can fit down the rows. In fact, two people can’t really fit down the rows unless they’re on exceptionally good terms with one another or are veteran contortionists.
Still, the Decorah J.C. Penney’s has managed to fit everything that would be in a J.C. Penney store in the mall into a small little corner location, which is impressive. Its’ also impressive that they’ve abandoned the usual carpet and wood paneling of J.C. Penney’s for wire racks and an interior that looks as though it was constructed sometime in the 1930s. The combined effect is incredible, as though this J.C. Penney was one of the seasonal Halloween stores that springs up in deserted storefronts, only this store isn’t going anywhere.
The J.C. Penney also has sales. Every week there is another sale, advertised in the store windows. I can safely say I’ve seen more sales offered in the J.C. Penney store than in any other store so far. Perhaps more than any other store ever. I haven’t driven by the store in a month and I still know it’s going to have a sale. I like to keep tabs on the store, because I know there will be a point when they offer multiple sales, and I’ll get to take 30% off an item that was already marked down 20%.
So the good people of Cresco have plenty of shopping choices, including the local Dollar General. But Leuthold’s stands head and shoulders above them for its attitude. Having grown up in and around small towns, I remember all the times I’ve had to go clothes shopping and they have all been in Decorah-sized towns. If I tried to buy clothes in my hometown I could probably get a baseball cap. Maybe some canvas work gloves. Leuthold’s though, stands as a beacon of optimism. The owners almost have to believe that people want to look nice, that they will have events in their lives for which they want to look nice, and it prepares them for that possibility. In areas like Decorah this is les s a bet and more of a certainty, but in a small town you also have to assume that not only will people have these events, they will have them several times throughout their lives and that they’ll even want to look nice when they go out on the weekends. Believe me when I say this is not always the case.
So Leuthold’s has bet on this happening in a community of about 5,000. So far, they’ve won their bet, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to lose anytime soon. While you might say it’s just good business, I prefer to say it’s proof that optimism can pay off.
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