Merle Cook presents an option for a suit to a customer in the men's department in 1978.
By Lori Ehde
Legends in the retail clothing industry will tell you adaptability is key to survival.
In the case of Cook's Clothing, Luverne, itÕs that plus a healthy dose of hard work that has kept them in business for 50 years.
Merle and Bob Cook are celebrating a landmark year this week, reflecting back on where it all started April 2, 1952.
Merle's start
For Merle, now retired, retail clothing is the only work he really knew.
He started in the industry at age 16 when one of his lawn mowing clients, a men's clothing store owner, offered him a job.
That summer of 1941 he embarked on what would be lifelong career. For $5 a week, he worked after school and Saturdays at Lawler and Huntting in downtown Fairmont.
"At the time, $5 a week was great," Merle said, "and it beat the heck out of mowing lawns."
He remembers selling suits for $20 apiece, shirts for $3 and ties for $1.
After high school, he enlisted in the Air Force and served a year as a tail gunner in Germany during WWII.
When he returned to the States, he worked five years for LaskerÕs Clothing and for a short time at Greene's Clothing in Worthington.
When Merle's tie salesman told him of an opening in Luverne, he interviewed with Dick Creeger and got the job.
He started at Creeger's on April 2, 1952, marking the beginning of a 50-year retail clothing career in Luverne.
Merle enjoyed 25 years with Creeger and learned to respect his management style. "I learned to pay attention to business," he said. "Dick was a good man."
Bob's start...
By 1976, Merle had become a partner in Creeger's, and Dick Creeger offered him the opportunity to buy the men's department.
"It wasn't a big decision for me because by that time I was more than ready to have my own place," Merle said. "I took the department right down to the bare walls and moved it across the street."
It wasn't long before he was looking to hire some help.
His son, Bob, at that time was teaching in Australia on a two-year contract. He had graduated from Augustana College with a math degree and a computer minor.
Australia had experienced a birth explosion and had to recruit trained teachers to keep up with students.
"I remember writing to him and asking if he needed any help with the store," Bob said.
His dad responded with a brief letter. "You can start Monday, May 1."
Though he was teaching advanced high school math at the time, Bob knew he could do the job for his dad.
"I've always been a salesman," he said. "I was selling math in those days."
He remembers delivering the Worthington Daily Globe as a boy, and during a six-month subscription promotion, he brought his route from 29 subscribers to 85.
Working for his dad, Bob learned to respect what business ownership was about. "This business is full of detail work," Bob said. "There are lots of little things to keep track of."
With his hard work and dedication, Bob quickly earned the respect of his father. "I wasn't surprised," Merle said. "I knew what he was capable of."
Bob said he made it easy for his father to ease into retirement.
"I was always there to take care of the business - not only the business but to take care of the customers," he said. "That type of customer service comes only from ownership."
Merle retired in 1989, but he keeps up daily contact with his son and with the store. "We still have a good working relationship," Bob said.
Merle's retirement was sealed by the introduction of computers that year. "I don't even know how to open the till now," he said.
The expansion years
Computers weren't the only new thing at Cook's once Bob took over.
In 1991, Cook's Ladies Wear opened after Luverne lost Creegers Ladies Wear and Bostwick's. "We figured the menÕs clothing business would suffer, too," Bob said.
"It was a matter of adapting. I wanted to be able to capture a bigger market because our profit margins were dwindling. We felt a need to do more business, and we felt this town needed women's clothing."
The addition brought Cook's from five to 14 employees, and between the two stores, the business occupied 10,000 square feet.
The two stores operated across the street from each other from 1991 to 1997.
Also during that time, Cook's opened a men's and women's store in the Marshall mall. From 1995 to 1997, the 10,000-square-foot store operated with 20 employees.
When that mall lost its anchor, JC Penney, Cook's in Marshall closed. "It wasn't a profitable venture," Bob said.
Challenges, rewards
Two things have happened in the clothing industry that have made the business increasingly challenging.
"The way people dress has changed," Bob said. "They're more relaxed about it. We looked at who we were for many years and what we're about. Now we're selling casual as well as dress up."
Gone were the days of selling suits and ties for a living, and these changing trends forced Cook's to diversify into shoes and other accessories.
"That's part of being in retail," Bob said. "People were spending less on better clothing and more on better shoes."
The other change Bob and Merle noted was in customers' buying habits.
"I don't think today that customers are as true as they used to be," Merle said. "It used to be if you did a guy a favor, they'd keep doing business with you the rest of their lives. I had third generations coming to me."
Now, he said, people shop wherever they can get the best deal - and that often means shopping outside of Luverne.
Bob said working hard to meet business demands didn't come without a personal cost.
"There were times I should have been at home being a better husband and father. It was nothing to put in 60 hours a week in that store," Bob said.
"Sometimes I'd like those little boys around again, and I'd like to go home and play with them, but there were only so many hours in a day."
Merle said the rewards have balanced those sacrifices. "Probably what I enjoyed the most was pleasing customers," he said. "There's a lot of satisfaction in that.
Bob agrees. "It's that personal satisfaction in helping someone look good."
Cook's is celebrating 50 years this week with special sales and free coffee and cookies every day.