
DATE: Friday, June 13, 1997                 TAG: 9706110160

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  106 lines

THE BUSINESS IS ABOUT FAMILY IN 80 YEARS, AND 3 GENERATIONS, THE QUALITY SHOP HAS STITCHED A FINE REPUTATION.

Fifty years. Seventy-five years. Now 80 years.

The Quality Shop, a family-owned men's clothing store started in Portsmouth on a shoestring in 1917, thrives today with a third generation of Rapoports firmly in charge.

Reid Rapoport, 48, and his younger brother, Steve, 39, are an increasingly rare phenomenon in retailing.

``It's becoming less and less likely that a third generation will stay with a business,'' Reid Rapoport said in a recent interview.

But, in this family, a fourth generation is not unlikely.

``My daughter Lindsay likes to come to the store with me,'' he said. ``I think she could be interested in the future.''

A woman around the business would not be new. The Rapoport brothers remember when their mother, Phyllis, worked in the business with their father, the late Herman Rapoport. And certainly their grandmother was never far from it when their grandfather, the late Morris H. Rapoport, moved her into an apartment over the Portsmouth store.

The Quality Shop, Reid Rapoport said, has thrived against the odds because it has stuck to the principles passed on from generation to generation.

He ticked them off: customized service, quality name brands, proper fitting, courtesy and enthusiasm.

``It's our reputation for service and quality that keeps customers loyal,'' he said.

His brother, Steve, said it's important to ``stay focused on the qualities that have brought the store this far.''

From the downtown High Street space occupied by the store since 1917, the Quality Shop has expanded twice - first to downtown Norfolk, then to Hilltop in Virginia Beach.

The store in downtown Norfolk, at the corner of Bank and Plume streets, was opened in 1963, when Herman Rapoport was running the business. He died in 1984 at the age of 64.

Even after their father died prematurely, Reid and Steve had their grandfather as a mentor until 1987, when he died a few days before his 91st birthday.

By 1993, when Reid and Steve opened the Hilltop store, they did it on their own.

The store differs from the downtown Portsmouth and Norfolk locations. At Hilltop, the atmosphere is more relaxed and geared slightly more to a younger consumer.

But the service is the same.

``We have a tailor in every store, and we offer the same service,'' Reid Rapoport said.

They still offer ``endearing things,'' he said, such as garters and white cotton handkerchiefs as part of their ``complete'' inventory of men's furnishings.

Many items come around again and again. A good example: suspenders.

The Quality Shop kept them in stock even when they weren't in great demand. Now suspenders are very much in vogue, Rapoport said.

However, staying on top of fashion is the key to survival in any of the locations, he said.

``We try to keep the store image and merchandise new and looking forward,'' Rapoport said. ``We carry a broad range, from traditional to high fashion, including some hip contemporary items. As they say, if you don't keep moving forward, you're going to be sliding backward.''

Reid and Steve Rapoport have followed their father's advice to stay up with trends in order to judge which ones will be important in the Hampton Roads community.

``We don't jump in and out of trends in one season, because we look at clothes as an investment for our customers,'' Reid Rapoport said.

The Rapoports seek ``career salespeople'' who know the men's clothing business and know how to counsel customers.

They brothers stay on top of their business. They start every workday at the Portsmouth store, which still serves as the center of the business. All merchandise is delivered there and then dispersed to the other locations.

From Portsmouth, one brother will head to Virginia Beach and one to Norfolk each day. They take turns in each place, so each will be involved in all three stores.

How is the business doing? As their grandfather taught them many years ago, the Rapoports don't ``talk figures.''

But they're not planning on closing any stores, even though Reid Rapoport admits that right now downtown Portsmouth is ``not an easy retail environment.''

``But we expect downtown Portsmouth to turn around,'' he said.

The Quality Shop and M.M. Crockin Furniture Co., a few doors down the street, are the long-term survivors here. Peter Crockin, who runs the 108-year-old furniture store, also is a third-generation owner.

Morris H. Rapoport taught his family to resist the temptations of malls and mergers. When others gave up on downtown areas and moved to the suburbs, he kept on doing what he did best.

The service and quality continued to attract customers.

``A good retail business is like a good restaurant,'' Reid Rapoport said.``People will come if you offer them what they want.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by HUY NGUYEN

Brothers Steve, left, and Reid Rapoport may someday be handling the

business down to their own children.

Steve, left, and Reid Rapoport run The Quality Shop today with the

same rules of retailing their grandfather lived by in 1917.

File photo

In 1982, the Rapoports - Herman, left, Reid, Morris and Steve - were

a retailing family. Eleven years later, Morris' grandsons would

expand the chain he started.