13 Comments

I lived in Dallas for 20 years and bought 2 new vehicles with Sewell. They wrote the book, literally, on customer service. Love the interview.

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Sid Mashburn checks all the boxes, really can't go wrong with anything at their store. I got the Ghost blazer back in January and can attest to it's versatility and ease of wear.

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Love Sid. Very easily the best Men's store in the game.

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Always great to read about good people doing good things.

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Love this article. Noticed the restock. My only fear is that I would need a fair bit of alteration off the of the rtm model. Looks like a trip to LA is in order.

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Sid and Ann hosted an event for Matt Hranek at their Brentwood store almost 3 years ago and I got to chat them up for a few minutes. I told him how impressed I was by the salespeople at his Houston and Brentwood stores (not sucking up, just my observation) and he told me I was a “sharp-dressed cat” which was one of the highlights of my life so far. Sid and Ann were so welcoming and Matt signed my “Men & Watches” book - great evening all the way around.

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Such a fun interview. Loved it!

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Met Sid at a Coggins book signing for Men and Manners at the D.C. shop. Both gentlemen were delightful.

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While visiting Houston last month I paid my first visit to a Sid Mashburn shop. The customer service was outstanding, and between that visit & subsequent online orders I’ve spent a silly amount of money on clothes that have received a lot of compliments from friends and colleagues. I’m glad to read that Sid plans to continue selling the ghost jacket for a long time. I look forward to making the purchase once I’ve given my bank account a respite.

I don’t think I’ve ever used the word vibe before, and I hate to make a first time of it, but there is a whole Central Division/Wm Brown/Sid vibe that I am so glad exists. It’s cool to appreciate nice things without being pretentious or gouache. Thank you.

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Greatness

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I live in Atlanta and have purchased various items from Sid Mashburn over the years, but not too many. My total lifetime spend is under five figures.

I ordered a pair of Chelsea Boots from Sid last year (the design that Alfred Sargent private labeled for Mashburn), and I had them shipped to me (I live a few miles from the store, and it’s challenging for me to get to that part of town on a workday). I delayed a trip out of town by a day because I wanted to take that pair of boots with me (I was driving so it was no big deal).

My Chelsea Boots arrived in the mail and … did I order suede? Let me check the order … no, I ordered calfskin. And what’s that … the shoes Sid Mashburn sent me were clearly worn!

I called the store, they were apologetic and assured me they would overnight the shoes I had actually ordered - calfskin, unworn - to the destination to which I had delayed my trip. I gave them the address … and they called back and told me they couldn’t overnight to that destination after all.

Ironic that the guy harps on customer service, but his enterprise found it acceptable to send me (1) the wrong shoes and (2) worn shoes. To me that’s unacceptable, especially for ~$650 with tax.

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So what happened — did you get the boots?

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Michael,

Yes, they mailed them to me in Atlanta, and I received them the next week. I sent back the other pair so they could presumably sell them to someone willing to accept worn shoes (happy to share a picture with you). I am quite happy with Alfred Sargent’s product - in fact I prefer them aesthetically to Edward Green’s offering at ~2.5x the price.

I am obviously still smarting from the customer service experience, however.

I had a similar exchange with a cigar vendor earlier in 2022; I am a passionate, particular smoker, and I enjoy 1,000+ cigars a year. I was delighted to find a needle in a haystack online - a box of 2020 limited edition cigars from one of my favorite brands. They arrived, and I opened the package to find … a box of the 2021 limited edition cigars. I called the store, and they confirmed that there was a single box of the 2020 cigars left, they overnighted the box to Atlanta from California, and they offered me the opportunity to keep the 2021 box at their wholesale cost - I agreed.

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