Anyone ever heard of Mr. Hats in Memphis TN?

[S. Beagles]

Just ordered a new summer hat from Mr Hats in Memphis TN and was wondering if any FL members were familiar with them. I compared prices on the hat I ordered with a couple of others and they seem to have good prices. I don't purchase many new hats so I'm unfamiliar with new vendors. I chose them because they had the best price and they are fairly local to where I live.

 

[barrowjh]

I think they have been there for a LONG time - may have been a full-service hat store in the way-back, more of just a retailer now. I think they will take in a repair, but they send it out for the work, which you can do yourself. So, my understanding is that they are mostly a retail hat store. So, if you are looking at buying a factory-made hat, judge them against internet prices for the same hat. Keep searching until you find it on the internet, because there are plenty of sources out there, and every factory-made hat is for sale on the internet. Google for the hat brand and model.

 

[AlterEgo]

S. Beagles,

You do not say specifically what summer hat you bought from Mr. Hats, so I cannot comment as to what kind of deal you got.

However, having known owner Alvin Lansky for many years and been in his store scores of times, I can say that I've never seen a single lid in there that you could not get much cheaper elsewhere. It's a very small shop, so he has no economies of scale and sells everything at suggested retail price--meaning high. Since his objective is to keep inventory low in order to sell everything by season's end, there's no such thing as a sale at Mr. Hats.

Alvin is one of the Lanskys, a storied Memphis family long in the clothing business. Lansky Brothers, the store, was famous for making some of Elvis' over-the-top sequined show outfits and claim they were the ones who first got him into such raiments, though Elvis attributes Country and Western singer Porter Waggoner and Liberace. Lansky Brothers is infamous for offering equally garish clothes to the general public--they made a killing during the 1970s selling "pimpwear" to their almost exclusively black customers.

After those halcion days, the brothers went their separate ways, cutting the clothing pie among them. The senior brother, a modern-day PT Barnum, is still on Beale Street and is doing pretty well on the strength of the Elvis connection, mainly with tourists. Alvin and another bro had a Big & Tall Shop that did all right until mainstream stores sucked that market away as the other brother stumbled down Alzheimer's hill into oblivion.

Then Alvin took the ever-shrinking pie and opened up Mr. Hats, an uninspired name symptomatic of Alvin's very limited business acumen. I'm a business consultant, and gave him some free ideas about how to take his biz to the next level, but he just does not get it. I've urged him to carry Akubras, but he says the Akubra distributor is "difficult." (Anyone interested in change is "difficult.")

Older black folks in Memphis remember the good ol' Lansky days, and that's 95% of Mr. Hats' clientele, which, of course, lends its hat stock a distinctly mature and ethnic slant. Alvin just stays in that groove. He'll soon be 80, so the store under his ownership will not be around that much longer.

When I'm in town, I like to stop in and talk hats, but lately I've refrained from doing so. You see, I'm embarassed to say that I've never bought a single hat there! I've tried, really tried, but when I finally find something I like--like a Wigens ivy the last time I was there--he won't have it in my size, 7 1/8. Same thing happened with a Borsalino Como last year. He had two tall stacks of them he just got in, but all the caramels, the color I wanted, were 7 1/4 and up, and all the black ones were 7 1/8 and down. Who does the ordering around there? Alvin.

How does a good old boy from Georgia know about Mr. Hats?

Exactly what hat did you get, and how much did you pay?

 

[HosManHatter]

I`ve had MISTER HATS bookmarked for a few months myself,S.Beagles,as I was impressed by their inventory and pricing. His local television spots are a bit creepy though(viewed them on youtube).

The MISTER HATS website lists some of the best prices(and discounts) for cleaning/blocking,ribbon/liner/sweatband replacement and minor re-sizing/stretching.They gave me the name and number of the person in charge of the service side of their business but I`ve not yet followed up.

How was the service,etc.? I`ll most likely get my summer straw from MH.

(what make and model hat did you buy?)

HMH

 

[RBH]

Never been to the store but the few times I tried to order from them I had no luck.

 

[S. Beagles]

I ordered a Bailey Gibson summer hat from them about a week ago. Haven't got the hat yet, But now I'm wondering about what RBH said about never had any luck with ordering. Its kind of strange because I filled out the on line payment with my debit card and today while balancing the checkbook over the phone, that payment has never been requested to my bank. Its like it never got processed. Hmmm. Most places put that through immediatly. I know Alter Ego did'nt seem impressed with MH either. This was my first dealings with them and I still feel its a little premature for me to make a harsh decision just yet. [huh]
I'll post as soon as I either get the hat or find out whats going on with the on line order processing.

 

[AlterEgo]

While it's true that I'm not impressed with Mr. Hats, I hope I did not come across as overly harsh.

Lansky is a nice guy and an honest businessman, but his business model is stuck in the 1950s, and he's not interested in changing. Perhaps that's because Mr. Hats is the only hat store in Memphis, and he cannot see beyond the same old mature black customers there in center city.

His prices are not high as a cat's back, but neither are they as low as a sow's belly. (That's Southern-speak, y'all.) He has a few Borsas, but mainly stocks Biltmore, Dobbs, Stetson, and Bailey, yet none of those maker's highest-echelon models.

Yes, compared to what the majors charge for hat repair and maintenance--reblocking, sweat and ribbon replacement, etc--Mr. Hats is inexpensive, and with another poor Christmas season, Lansky has really been pushing that aspect recently. Never having had any hat work done there or seen anyone's before-and-after hat, I cannot comment on the quality of the work. Someone previously said he farms that out, which I'm certain he does given the tiny size of the place, but to whom, I do not know. I'd guess one of the local, old-line clothes cleaners, maybe Carwile's or Nunnery's or Happy Day.

However, on the upside, I can say this: One of his employees, an ancient black man who wears those huge eyeglasses like Martin Scorcese, is an expert fur felt shaper, using an old-fashioned hat steamer. This guy knows what he's doing, and I've learned a few tricks myself simply by watching him.

If you cannot come in the store, then I'd strongly recommend simply phoning in your order. Of course Mister Hats does not have a toll free number, so speak quickly after dialing 901-452-2099 or 901-526-2099.

 

[S. Beagles]

I said I would post as soon as I got my hat or found out what the delays were, so here is my experience with Mr. Hats in Memphis:
Had been looking at Mr Hats web site for a couple of months and decided on a Bailey Gibson Straw for summer, so 3 March I ordered the hat online using my debit. Two weeks later while balancing my check book and waiting on the new hat I noticed that the money hat never been taken out by Mr Hats, so I called them. The man I spoke to wrote down the order info and my phone number and said he would find out the delay and get back to me. Yesterday, (three weeks later) I called again. This time I was directed to another person who told me that the web site was outdated and that hat was no longer in stock or available and they didn't charge my debit for that reaseon. Thats fine with me that the hat is not available (should update your web site) and glad not to be billed, but I felt that they should have at least sent and email to tell me something. Just don't feel they are very serious about internet sales. I admit, the hat I ordered wasn't the most expensive one, but not responding to the sell at all is not what I want to experience when buying something online. My dealings with Mr Hats hasn't been all that good, although I don't think its a dishonest business, I believe they don't take the internet sales serious. And this is only my opinion based on my experience, but I wont be going back to that website myself.

 

[Falcon Park]

Memphis was my second home growing up, and I still have family there, so I have visited the store a few times. They are great with customers in the store; not sure I would've recommended doing business with them strictly online. As testified above, they are definitely a small, mom & pop business but again, very nice people. They did a good job cleaning, blocking and replacing ribbon on a couple of my hats (back before I started learning the trade myself), and I probably bought three hats from them over the years (all Baileys, as I recall).

So if you're ever in town, it's worth stopping in. Better yet though, drive a little further north and drop in on a real artist of a hatter, our own Mike Moore of Buckaroo Hatters in Covington, TN. He's awesome!

Cheers to all-- FP

 

[AlterEgo]

S. Beagles,

I got your PM, but for some reason the "respond" button was frozen, and I could not get back to you, so here's my reply:

I'm sorry you did not get your Bailey as expected. It's getting to be straw hat weather here in the South, so the temperatures, not to mention the frustration of the non-order, must have you hot.

Mister Hats' mishandling of your Internet order is par for the course. One of my oh-so-obvious suggestions to Lansky was to improve, and shift emphasis to, the web site in order to cast a wider net for increased sales and comcomitant profits. His response? "I like to do business face-to-face." It appears that even the telephone is outside his zone!

Are you going to try to get the same hat elsewhere or shop for a different one?

Falcon Park,

Until your post, I did not realize that Mike Moore's Buckaroo Hatters is in Covington, TN. I'll have to drive up there soon and check it out.

 

[S. Beagles]

Alter Ego

I've bought a true Montecristi Panama since the deal fell through with Mr Hats. That along with a couple of Milans that I already owned should carry me through the hot summer months we get here in the south. I've had more of a chuckle over this deal after reading your posts on the situation that exists there. I live about 20 miles south of Chattanooga Tennessee and many small mom and pop stores exist here that operate under that same idea of "face to face". To me, the internet is where a true hat business could thrive. We have a very small retail hat shop in downtown Chattanooga (Wormsers). Sadly, without the internet, I would have to depend on second hand stores for a bargain or the right hat for me. Usually what I find there has been wool stingys and cheaply made straws. So, I browse the internet and look for right hat that suits me at the right price and have bought over 20hats online in my life. Not a lot, but have spent several hundreds of dollars on hats over the last three or four years. Guessing, I would say thats typical (more or less) of many of us on this site who wear hats. Tapping in to that would certainly be worth the change in business practices of "face to face". The other hat shop that Falcon mentioned, do they have a website?

 

[Falcon Park]

S.B.-- Buckaroo Hatters does have a website:

www.buckaroohatters.com

Bear in mind that Mike is a custom hatter and probably doesn't keep much of an inventory.

Take care!

 

[Spats McGee]

. . . . The other hat shop that Falcon mentioned, do they have a website?

Mike Moore of Buckaroo Hatters also posts here on TFL and there's a thread for his hats called "Buckaroo Bonanza." It'd be worth your while to take a peek at that thread, too. Mike does good work and he's a really nice guy to work with. I'm fortunate enough to own a Buckaroo custom and it's a fantastic hat.

 

[Mr E Train]

We have a very small retail hat shop in downtown Chattanooga (Wormsers).

How is Wormsers? Worth checking out?

 

[S. Beagles]

Wormser in Chattanooga

Mr. E Train, The Wormser hat shop here in Chattanooga is a very small little "hole in the wall" retail type hat store on Broad Street. Not a large variety to choose from. Lots of modern stingys and some cowboy hats, a few desirable hats but at full retail price. If you happen to be in Downtown Chattanooga it may interest you to stop by. There is another hat store on Market Street called Grapevine Hill, but I've never been in there before. Been planning on checking them out one day. Just found the number in the yellow pages and never knew they existed.