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Kadar's closing in McKeesport after 60 years
Wednesday, June 13, 2001 By Jonathan Barnes
One anecdote led to another as Al Kadar reminisced about his family's business, and photos or plaques sparked more memories.
Rosy-cheeked and talkative, Kadar, 73, didn't appear sad as he told his bittersweet story, the end of a 60-year run for Kadar's Men's and Young Men's Apparel.
"This town has been very good to us. ... We had a lot of fun. It was a hoot." Kadar said wistfully, laughing. "Once in while we'd overflow the stock and plaster the windows with 'liquidation sale' signs to drum up business."
This time, the sale is the last one.
One of the last old small-family businesses in McKeesport, Kadar's was created by Al's father, Alex, a Hungarian immigrant tailor who fled Europe after being drafted by the Romanian army.
The store originally was located at 200 Fifth Avenue, where it grew to occupy an entire building until destroyed by fire in 1976. Kadar's has been at 320 Fifth Ave. since 1978. It is the last of several Kadar's clothing stores once located in White Oak, Clairton, Duquesne Village, Irwin and Jeannette.
Business has not been good for some time, and Al Kadar decided something had to give. "I've been running this place with heart, but you reach a point when you've got to ask yourself where you're going."
In the 1960s and 1970s, young men worked their way up through McKeesport's clothing stores, including Byers' Children Store, David Israel's, Kaplan's and Henry B. Klein. At one time, McKeesport boasted 16 stores that sold menswear. Kadar's is the last of those old stores.
The handsome clothing store, outfitted with wormy chestnut paneling and a second-floor balcony for the suit department, is reminiscent of how men's shops used to anchor every well-established town. But with suburban America being malled to death, small-town mom-and-pop businesses such as Kadar's are becoming scarce.
During a lull in his 50 percent off clearance sale Thursday, Kadar was approached by yet another former employee and friend. Colin Clark of McKeesport worked for Kadar in 1987-88.
"You could get excellent service here. If Al didn't have it, he'd get it for you," Clark said. "[Kadar's] is the store I've always gone to. Who knows where I'll go now -- probably out to a mall."
Kadar beamed at his friend. "Remember when [McKeesport Mayor Andrew] 'Greeky' Jacomas painted the street?" Kadar said, sharing a laugh with Colin and his wife, Cindy. The clothier explained to a visitor how the former mayor closed off Fifth Avenue briefly in the early 1960s and painted the street psychedelic colors to keep customers from flocking to the malls. "It was controversial, but business was good for the next 15 years."
"Those purples, greens, yellows and blues -- it was out there," Cindy Clark said.
The store, like McKeesport itself, has had its own colorful past, at times catering to some of the lower-profile clientele of the city.
"We had a lot of numbers writers in McKeesport, and we'd sew longer pockets in their pants for them, and we charged them extra," Kadar said.
He hadn't planned to join the family business. After serving during World War II, he attended the University of Pittsburgh's business school and earned a master's degree in business administration. He'd planned to be a teacher, but when he got out of school in 1950, he realized steel workers earned more than teachers, and went to work for the family business.
"My biggest regret is the loss of the talent we have here today," Kadar said. "You just don't find this anymore, except at very high-priced specialty stores."
He yanked out a Hart, Schaffner & Marx box to illustrate his point. Opening it, he explained that customers could choose the type of material, color and fit of a suit and be measured for a tailor-made suit at the store.
Len Potemra, 65, a 41-year employee who spent many years in the family's suburban stores, is part of that talent. Asked how it felt to see the business end, he said, "Not real great."
He said he would take a couple of weeks off before going to work elsewhere. But he'll take with him a lot of happy memories of the old store. "I think we were more friends than boss and employees."
Dorothy Kovac, 59, also a 41-year employee, said seeing the store go is sad. "It's like family. What'll people do now? Most places don't do outside alterations like we did."
Richard Rubinstein, owner of Rubinstein's Shoes, a few doors down from Kadar's, agreed. "It's a shame, because there goes customer service out the door. It's not like the old days when people used to follow their parents into the business."
In these final days of the men's store, visits from old friends and old customers can be emotional, Kadar said. "I had a woman who made me cry the other day. It's been a bad trip. I want out, and I want to go smiling."
Jonathan Barnes is a free-lance writer.
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