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Myers’ Fashions nearing 70 years in business

News Photos by Darby Hinkley Ellen Gould, left, and her husband Steve Gould, hold up framed pictures of models in fur coats that hung in the old Myers’ Furs, owned by Gould’s father, Bob Myers. Gould is a third-generation owner of the business, now called Myers’ Fashions, Etc., which specializes in women’s clothing, outerwear and fashion jewelry.

ALPENA — It’s not easy being a small business owner, especially amid a yearlong pandemic. But it’s fun, and it’s worth it, according to Myers’ Fashions, Etc. third-generation owner Ellen Gould.

The store will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in November.

A little bit of history

“My grandfather started the business as a fur business,” Gould said of her grandfather, Samuel Myers, who was married to her grandmother, Mildred (Hamburger) Myers. “And they moved to Alpena in the early 50s,” but she added that they did traveling fur sales since the 1930s.

Gould’s mother was Adrienne (Rosenberg) Myers, who passed away in July 2007. Her father was Alan Robert “Bob” Myers, who passed away in October 2014. They owned and operated Myers’ Furs ever since Samuel Myers passed away in 1958.

Myers’ Fashions, Etc. sales associate Cathy Hendricks, left, and owner Ellen Gould pose with the winter coats at the boutique fashion store.

“We were on River Street,” she recalled when her dad took the business over. “In fact, The Alpena News owned the building that we were in. The building is gone now, but our old fur vault is still standing — it’s got the mural on it in the pocket park on River Street.”

She said the vault is still standing because they didn’t want to compromise the integrity of the structure by attempting to remove it.

They moved into the current location at 136 W. Chisholm St. in 1971, she said. Years later, they dropped the “Furs” from the name and it just became “Myers’ Fashions, Etc.”

Gould has been working at the store since she was young, so about 49 years, she said. She became the third-generation owner when her father passed in 2014.

“There’s a lot of history in my family, going back into the 1800s, doing business in downtown Alpena,” she said.

Myers’ Fashions, Etc. owner Ellen Gould points to the jewelry label she created after her mother passed away. It’s called “Ellen & Adrienne For the Love of Style.”

What makes it unique

Myers’ Fashions, Etc. specializes in women’s clothing, outerwear and fashion jewelry.

“In our industry, what we carry would be considered moderately priced merchandise,” Gould explained. “And we try to find the most unique style with the best quality, keeping price point in mind for the area that we’re in.”

Gould said the store has the largest selection of fashion jewelry in Northeast Michigan, including the label she created in honor of her mother after she passed away. The label is called “Ellen and Adrienne For the Love of Style.”

“After my mom passed away, I just wanted to find a way to keep her connected in the store,” Gould said. “And she loved jewelry, and she loved fashion, so we just created our own private label and we carry the line. It’s just uniquely ours, and it’s just a nice tribute to my mom.”

One of the storefront windows all lit up in the evening at Myers’ Fashions, Etc.

Gould also created a private clothing label named after their first granddaughter, named “I Love You, Ella Rose.”

“Ella Rose is our granddaughter’s name,” said Steve Gould, Ellen’s husband. “And she was named after the two grandmothers, Ellen and Rosie. She is such a little darling,” he added of the 18-month-old.

How they are surviving the pandemic

“We do have a very loyal clientele,” Ellen Gould said. “Our customers are great.”

She attributes their success to those customers who keep coming back, generation after generation. In addition, they planned ahead and suppliers were more than accommodating.

“We actually closed a week before the governor closed retail down,” Gould said. “And, it seems like 100 years ago and it seems like yesterday at the same time … In the beginning of March, when we could see the handwriting on the wall that we were going to close down, I delayed everything. I just asked everybody, at that point, to push our shipments out two weeks so we wouldn’t be stuck with a lot of merchandise coming in, and having no business to be able to pay for it.”

So after two weeks, she just “shut it all down” and just said “hold everything.”

“Our suppliers have been just fantastic, as far as understanding that we had no cash flow coming in, and they held merchandise,” she recalled. “And when we opened in May, it was May 22, we had to start getting our stuff in … so we were able to weather the storm very well. We were very lucky.”

She said suppliers gave her 30-60 days to pay them back, making them “very, very easy to work with.”

“Our customers came back,” she said. “When we were closed down, I was selling on Facebook, and they were so supportive with buying gift cards … and we did curbside service and home deliveries, and anything that could keep us going.”

Customers are family

“When you spend 50 years … you get to know your customers over time, and they become friends and family,” Gould said. “They’re so important to us, and they’ve been very supportive.”

She said summer is the busiest season.

“We have a real loyal out-of-town clientele as well,” she said. “Lots of people that have summer homes here that have been coming in for years.”

More customers are stopping in throughout the year, as well.

“A lot of people are just discovering us,” she said. “Now that we’re the only ladies’ store left in town, people are coming in and discovering what we have.”

JCPenney went out of business in the Alpena Mall in fall of 2020, and Peebles closed prior to JCPenney in early 2020. Women’s clothing is still sold at Maurice’s, Walmart and Meijer, but Myers’ Fashions, Etc. carries a different selection than those stores.

“People may think our price points are a little bit higher than they are,” Gould said, encouraging people to stop in and look around to see that merchandise is high-quality and affordable. “Once they come in, we’ve always got a big clearance section for people, if that’s what they’re looking for. We try to keep something for everyone.

“We’ve got some really good core lines, and that’s where the bulk of our business is,” she said.

A rewarding job

Gould’s favorite part about working her whole life in retail is helping the customers find exactly what they are looking for.

“It’s kind of in my blood,” she said about working retail. “The people — when you can make them feel good about how they look and they walk out happy with their outfit, and they’re outfitted head to toe, it’s really a nice feeling.”

She said she outfits people for special events or milestones in their lives.

“Helping them find just the right thing — it’s important to me,” she said. “That’s what we’re here for.”

Kudos to the staff

“Like any other store around, you’re only as successful as the people you’ve got working for you,” Steve Gould said.

Ellen Gould said they may plan an anniversary celebration later in the year.

“We always have our big anniversary sale in November,” she said.

For updates, visit “Myers Fashions Etc.” on Facebook.

The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, call 989-354-3698.

A tribute to Bob Myers

Gould added that her dad, Bob Myers, taught her everything she knows about the business.

“Most people knew my dad. He was quite a guy,” she said. “He had a great sense of humor.”

She said she learned by doing, as he entrusted her with the store’s budget at market at first when she was just 18.

“I learned a lot from him,” Gould noted. “A family business is a blessing and a curse at the same time. We had a really close relationship, and a good working relationship. I miss him a lot.”

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