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The right tie can be hard to find By Tim Bousquet Tidings Correspondent The common wisdom in Ashland is that a guy can't buy underwear in this town. The common wisdom is wrong. "Bi-Mart sells underwear," says Jim Matteson definitively. He should know: Matteson staffs the city's information booth at the downtown plaza. Customers Lorie and Albert Baxter of Pendleton, browse around the men's clothing section of Nimbus in downtown Ashland. Ashland Daily Tidings/ SATSUKI DOI The discount retailer does indeed sell the unmentionables, but it's an open question as to who actually prefers Bi-Mart's offering. "It's not very elegant, that underwear at Bi-Mart," says Linda Richards, who sometimes shops for her husband Jon Dowd. "You have to go to Medford for underwear." "Bi-Mart sells underwear," says Steven Braun, the "son" of Wolf & Son at the corner of East Main and Third Streets. "But I don't buy underwear there. They only have - what do they call it? - Fruit of the Loom." The problem doesn't stop at underwear. "It's dang hard to buy any kind of men's clothing in this town," says a clerk at a women's clothing store on the plaza, who asked to remain anonymous. "There are several dozen women's clothing stores in town, but not much in the way of men's. I don't understand why. It's like the men have been ignored, like clothing is not a need for them." But thankfully, men in Ashland haven't been completely ignored; both Nimbus on the Plaza and Wolf & Son sell men's clothing. Aside from gear sold at the outdoor stores, that's about it. Braun describes the stock at Wolf & Son as "outdoor casual comfort," distinct from the "high-end casual clothing" sold at Nimbus. "We're not competitors at all," he says. "We don't have $200 Panama's. We have $50 to $60 Panama's. Our most expensive shirt is the Hawaiian prints that go for about $50; I don't think Nimbus has a shirt for under $50. And we don't sell ties." Ken Silverman, the owner of Nimbus, agrees. "No one else in Ashland is selling what we sell. The kind of clothing we sell is unique between Portland and San Francisco. It's more of a European fashion." "There's not many independent men's stores left in the northwest, period," Silverman explains. "Formal wear and traditional clothing are picked up by the discount stores, so the independents have to create their own niche to survive." Silverman works hard to create that niche; he shows off hand-stitched silk ties that sell for $65 and up, and the Philippe Ertu line of clothing from Japan. Just inside the front door, Silverman has a rack of Nat Nast shirts. "This is the company that invented the bowling shirt," he says. "They resurrected the designs from the fifties. Look at these double-pleats along the side, and the triple-stitched French seams." Silverman is very aware of the style in his clothing, carefully buying from select vendors. It's working, he says. "Business is phenomenal," Silverman says. Nimbus doesn't rely exclusively on men's clothing. It began as a leather store 33 years ago, and over time branched out into men's and women's clothing and high-end housewares, jewelry and art. This year Silverman extended the reach of his men's sales far beyond Ashland by starting the Web site, hisfavoriteshirt.com. Wolf & Sons, which is in its fourth year of operation, likewise isn't exclusively or even mainly a men's clothing store. "We sell more women's clothes than men's," Braun explains. "The women, they'll buy a hat just because they can. Men go shopping for clothes when they're in need of something specific, and they'll go buy just that. They never go shopping just for something to do." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -