The Downfall of Hughes & Hatcher Menswear: 1910-1983
When was the last time you visited a Hughes & Hatcher menswear store?
When was the last time you saw a commercial for Hughes & Hatcher?
Do you even remember Hughes & Hatcher?
How about Hughes Hatcher/Suffrin?
If you are over 50, chances are, you do recall the name.
Hughes & Hatcher shops were extremely popular in Michigan, known for their fashionable mens’ clothing.
The business began in 1910, when Fred Hughes and Leslie Hatcher opened their first shop – carriage trade retail - in downtown Detroit at the corner of Woodward and Montcalm. Their store featured the largest front windows in the city, amply displaying their line of men’s suits, apparel, and clothing. By the mid-1940s, the classy clothing line was so popular, that many other locations popped up: the furthest away being in Pittsburgh.
But business was not as good as it reads. In 1932, the Great Depression took its toll on Hughes & Hatcher, and they filed bankruptcy. The business was bought by Jacob Pincus, who knew the value of the Hughes & Hatcher name, so he kept it. The shops did well for another 45 years until the Pincus family sold out to United Department Stores in 1977.
As for the “Suffrin” part of the name, Harry Suffrin had his own clothing shop in 1922. Sometime in the late 1950s, Harry merged with Hughes & Hatcher and was re-named Hughes-Hatcher-Suffrin. Excited about this merger, Detroit opened up a good number of these locations throughout the city, but the honeymoon didn’t last.
At the peak of Hughes & Hatcher (and Suffrin), they had accumulated a total of 61 stores in six states, but tough times came back, and shop locations began closing down in the early 1980s. In 1983, the last Hughes-Hatcher-Suffrin stores closed up and that was it.
The original Woodward & Montcalm location, where the first Hughes & Hatcher popped up in 1910, is now the site of the Hockeytown Cafe’. The original H&H shop was demolished so the cafe’ could be built. It opened on Oct. 14, 1999.
Created in Michigan: Hughes & Hatcher
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