For close to 20 years, husbands Miguel Lopez and Gabriel Yańez have successfully navigated various clothing trendlines and changes in the way people shop for attire to keep their Sui Generis Designer Consignment open for business in San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro neighborhood. While it hasn't been easy, it remains a labor of love for the couple, who celebrated their store's 18th anniversary this year.
"We keep adapting to the changes and want to be a part of the changes," explained Lopez, 53, who grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico and has called San Francisco home since 1991.
Lopez and Yańez, who is also in his 50s, began their consignment business in a small storefront on the 200 block of Church Street. They relocated Sui Generis in 2011 to its current, far larger location at 2231 Market Street.
They also had opened a women's shop, first in the Castro then Cow Hollow, but shuttered it in the fall of 2020, as the COVID pandemic effectively wiped out its sales. Four years prior, they had also closed a pop-up shop they had opened in the Castro after it didn't perform well.
"The best move we ever made was to have one store," Lopez told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent interview in the basement of Sue Generis where they store and prep clothing to be put on display and have a tiny break room space for its staff of six to eight people.
At any given time, there are 5,000 men's and women's apparel items for purchase on the 1,800 square foot sales floor, arranged by color. An overwhelming majority, 90%, is brought in by people locally, with the rest of the items sourced from other cities, said Lopez.
"Consignment reflects the cultural changes going on in the city," he noted.
Thus, when the health crisis resulted in stay-at-home orders and employees started telecommuting for work, people were shopping for more "relaxed clothing," said Lopez. More recently, with more employees going back to their offices and cultural events and galas once again filling up people's calendars, there has been an uptick in sales of neckties, he added.
Sui Generis remains a go-to for its customers coming in for a nice outfit to wear out to dinner or a night on the town, but as larger department stores and other clothiers retreat from San Francisco's downtown shopping district, it is seeing more male bridal party members in need of tuxedos and shoes to wear on the wedding day. Longtime customers, both straight and gay, are now bringing their teenage children in to shop for them ahead of school dances or other events requiring less casual clothing.
"The longer we are in business and the better quality of product we have, the more well known we have become through the years," said Lopez, who worked for years as a senior women's seller for Ralph Lauren.
Everything they sell in the store is also available for purchase via their website at suigenerisconsignment.com. But mostly people use it to browse before coming into the store, said Lopez, rather than buying online.
They have survived various upheavals to their business brought about by changes in the Castro over the years. They took a big hit in sales when the annual Pink Saturday street party, which had been held in the neighborhood the evening prior to Pride Sunday, was canceled in 2015.
"We lost so much business because of Pink Saturday because people were not coming into the Castro to celebrate," said Lopez.
Last year, they noticed fewer people coming in to shop during the day, which Lopez attributed to a lack of "anchor" events to draw shoppers to the neighborhood. A former board member of the Castro Merchants Association, he has been pleased to see the business group hosting more activations like the recently launched night market to give people a reason to come to the LGBTQ neighborhood.
"Our longevity is because we owe it to our Castro clients and friends. They have been the greatest supporters of our store," said Lopez.
While the holiday shopping season is critical for most retailers, Sui Generis doesn't put any special focus on luring in Christmas shoppers, said Lopez. Their business doesn't see many people coming in for gifts, and gift-buying is not something they are aiming to increase, he said.
"We see a little bump in December from people wanting to look nice for the holidays, but it is not crazy. At least not in our store," Lopez said.
The week post-Christmas, however, is one of their busiest, as people look for outfits to ring in the new year at fancy parties or dinner at a nice restaurant.
"Our best week is before New Year's," said Lopez.
Now the oldest business on their block of upper Market Street, "other than the dry cleaner," said Lopez, Sui Generis is a destination for its customers both locally and internationally. It hopes to remain so for years to come.
"We are a staple of the Castro at this point," said Lopez.
Sui Generis opens at 11 a.m. Fridays through Mondays and at noon Tuesdays through Thursdays. It closes at 6 p.m. except on Sundays, when it closes at 5.
Noe merchants lure shoppers with window displays
Merchants along the 24th Street commercial corridor in Noe Valley, on the other side of Liberty Hill from the Castro, are hoping to lure more shoppers to their district this holiday season via a window and parklet decorating contest they are launching. Various storeowners are taking part and putting up festive displays in their windows.
Marie Antoinette inspired the design of the windows at the boutique When Modern Was, 4001 24th Street at Noe Street. The fanciful display, with female courtesans decked out in lavish costumes that spill open to showcase the store's home decor merchandise is the creation of Victor Rivera, 71, also known as the drag queen Pat N Leather.
Having begun his career in visual merchandising and costume designs back in New York City, Rivera has continued to adorn storefronts in San Francisco since moving to the Bay Area in 2005. A customer at the Noe Valley store, he became friends with its owner, Dona Taylor, and began dressing its windows six years ago.
"I want to attract people and have them say, 'I got to look at this.' You can't get more lavish, rich, or more flamboyant than with Marie Antoinette," said Rivera, who drew inspiration from the French look of Taylor's store.
Dave Karraker, who with his husband earlier this year opened a branch of their MX3 Fitness at 4045 24th Street, pitched the Noel Valley Holiday Window Contest to the neighborhood business association as a way to build word-of-mouth about the shopping district throughout San Francisco and attract customers from outside Noe Valley this Christmas.
"It is something I have had in mind for a long time," said Karraker, who took the concept from the town of Westport, Connecticut, which he visited growing up during Christmastime to see the store windows in its downtown business district all decked out for the holiday.
He is hopeful to replicate that "magical moment" he fondly remembers this year in Noe Valley.
"There is no reason why neighborhoods in San Francisco can't do something similar," he said.
A select group of judges will walk the street December 17 to determine winners of the window contest. Various Noe merchants have donated prizes for the gift baskets to be handed out to the storeowners with the funniest, most elaborate, and most San Francisco window or parklet.
It officially kicks off Sunday, December 1, coinciding with the annual lighting of the holiday tree in the Noe Valley Town Square near the intersection of 24th and Vicksburg streets. There will also be a Winter Wine Walk from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, December 5, where participants pay $40 for a wine glass obtained at the public parklet and can enjoy different wines poured at participating businesses as they (hopefully) shop. Tickets can also be purchased online here.
Got a tip on LGBTQ business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected]
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