BANGOR, Maine — Inside the Best Bib & Tucker store at 115 Main St. in Bangor’s historic downtown, there’s no cash register at the checkout table, just a drawer. Hand-written measurements for every customer are stored on cards in boxes on the shelf. Clothes are, whenever possible, made in America.
Tom Cavanaugh reached under the table on a Tuesday morning in October to pull out a logbook containing information about customers’ past orders, clothing alterations, and even observations about their likes and dislikes. He flipped to the Stephen King entries.
The horror novelist and Bangor native was a frequent customer of Best Bib & Tucker for a good chunk of the 1980s and 1990s, Cavanaugh said. King was the one customer he altered a pair of jeans for because of his unusual measurements, Cavanaugh added with a laugh.
“Remember when he came into the shop and was so serious about what would go with his camouflage pants,” said Cavanaugh’s wife of 47 years, Cindi. “[Tom] said anyone who wears camouflage pants and red sneakers can choose any top they like.”
King went to Tom Cavanaugh’s 50th birthday party. Cavanaugh plans to send the author’s log pages to him after business ends at the close of this year.
The Cavanaughs, who started Best Bib & Tucker 41 years ago on the first floor of their Winterport home, are closing shop in mid-December as they step into retirement. The higher-end clothing store moved to Bangor in 1984 after a developer courted the couple to fill his storefront on Franklin Street.
Best bib and tucker is an old English phrase referring to one’s best set of clothing. Bibs were similar to modern-day bibs but weren’t specifically used to protect clothes from food spills. Tuckers, sometimes called “modesty pieces,” were lace fitted over a woman’s bodice and tucked into another garment.
The shop moved twice, once to 30 Main St. in 1987 and then to 115 Main St. in 2000. Aside from the venue and clothing styles, little has changed. The Cavanaughs said they never felt the need to modernize or scale up their business model. Tom does use a computer out back to keep the books, but much of the work still is done by pen and paper.
“It’s time,” said Cavanaugh, 73.
“I don’t want to be 70 and still working,” chimed in Cindi Cavanaugh, who only offered that she’s in her late 60s.
The Cavanaughs have worked together nearly every day since 1973, they say. The couple took two vacations in those four decades, the most recent in 1988 when they took their daughter to Florida. They’re the only two employees, so a vacation means a week without income.
“It’s always been difficult for either one of us to come home and say, ‘How was your day, dear,’ because we already know — we were there,” Tom Cavanaugh said.
When the owners retire, so will one of Bangor’s oldest — if not the oldest — existing downtown retailers. Around them, the Cavanaughs have watched clothing retailer after clothing retailer come and go. The Cavanaughs looked for someone to purchase Best Bib & Tucker, but no one bit.
It’s a hard business to step into, with more and more people — especially younger generations — doing their shopping at chain clothing retailers in the mall area.
“This type of store is a vanishing breed,” Cavanaugh said. “[Younger people] are more quick to the mall or the Internet. There’s no personal relationship between [them] and who [they’re] buying from. They just get it and go.”
“Half our customers would come in and we’d give them a hug because they’ve been coming in for years,” Cindi Cavanaugh said.
The two have different sales styles. Tom Cavanaugh’s wife said she likes “girlfriending,” offering advice and suggestions for a female customer’s next dress or jacket.
“I’d just as soon talk them out of something as talk them into something,” she said.
Cavanaugh takes a more direct approach, leading a male customer to what they’re looking for, getting them fitted and sending the clothes off for a quick alteration.
The couple said they survived on customer service, sometimes spending two hours with a single customer. Those customers told friends and family members. Some have been coming to Best Bib & Tucker since the 1980s. Many of their patrons travel from other parts of the state — Ellsworth, Bar Harbor and even Fort Kent — to stock up on clothes.
Best Bib & Tucker has hired Wingate Sales Solutions, a Kansas-based company that organizes liquidation sales and advertising to help businesses sell out their stock before closing their doors.
Customers can expect to hear more about the sales that are being planned in the near future. The store’s last day is expected to be the weekend of Dec. 13.
For the customers who helped their business survive and thrive through four decades, the Cavanaugh couple has a message:
“We’d sincerely like to thank them for trusting us, listening to us, and for coming back to us,” Cavanaugh said.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter @nmccrea213.