LAUNCH

Ken Helfman, along with his son Kory, runs the “Cheers” of menswear: It’s the store where everybody knows your name, Ken says. Visit Ken’s Man’s Shop at Preston Royal Shopping Center on any given afternoon and you’ll find several dapperlooking dudes sitting around — glass of wine or a cup of joe in hand — telling tales, or laughing at the elder Helfman’s jokes. But don’t let the joviality fool you; the Helfmans are hardcore haberdashers. These guys can sell cashmere to Texans in August. They know men’s fashion like Landry knew football. But it is their wholehearted appreciation for people and community, to which they have given back in spades, that makes Ken’s more than just a store.

When did you open Ken’s Man’s Shop?

July 29, 1964. It was a Thursday, and we opened at 9 a.m. in the Ridgewood Shopping Center in Garland, Texas. In 1993 we moved to Preston.

Ken, how’d you get into the men’s clothing biz?

My dad and brother were doctors, but during my time in college I really didn’t discover what I wanted to do. As a teen, I worked for a friend of my mom who taught me the men’s clothing business, and I really loved it. In the 1960s I worked in shoe sales for a store in Casa Linda called Persian Peyton’s one day the men’s department salesman asked me to take over during his lunch break. By the time he got back, I’d sold thousands worth of clothes. I wound up becoming a manager, and after that, I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It really came down to loving people. The business just suited pardon the play on words — my personality.