Genauer Clothiers

If Seattle had a garment district, this would sort of be it. Years ago I used to work in the area and at 3:00 pm sharp women would descend upon the streets talking in their nonEnglish language from what I imagined were the kinds of jobs that involved «by the piece’ and a lot of carpel tunnel syndrome.
But now the area is quickly gentrifying with Whole Foods a couple of blocks away and a building across the street was just demolished for some more luxury condos. But Genauer’s, which is actually at 2024 8^th, seems to be holding out… It’s upstairs from what used to be a vintage auto showroom with just a sign on the door that says «Genauer’s Clothing 2024.» A banner in the second floor window says «Men’s Suits 2^nd Floor.»
Open the door, walk upstairs and you’ll enter what will remind you, if you’ve ever been, to one of those New York outlets that are primarily advertised by guys in sandwich boards handing out little flyers on the street. You know… «Designer Suits! Up to 70% off!!»
Genauer is like that. A Seattle-​sized upstairs outlet selling suits at discount. The just-​right friendly woman was quite helpful and told me they’re a wholesaler of suits (some go to Mario’s, she said) and the suits and sportcoats are current (not last season’s she added).
Even better is the sad 60s-​era fancy paneled office space (I peeked in a doorway) where you can imagine men in Rat-​Pack suits smoking cigarettes and office women doing bookkeeping in fine-​lined ledger binders.
Oh. the suits? Seemed to be nice enough quality… all were brands I’d never heard of. Nothing too fashion-​forward… seemed to be all Bön Marche-​like conservative cuts with pants that featured nice and roomy pleats.