There are No Stores Like This Anymore

Here at Blakley-Mitchell, it’s about creating a personal relationship that allows our customers to present the image of clothing they desire based on individual style and taste. We are a family owned business of Fine Clothiers with family values that have proven, since 1933, to satisfy our customers. Our customers continue to enjoy and benefit from our comprehensive knowledge of the clothing and fashion we deliver.

If you want a glimpse of the essence of Blakely-Mitchell, the city’s most enduring men’s clothing store, don’t ask the owner. Look at his sport coat.

On its soft exterior, the light khaki, camel hair coat voices the talking points Hugh Testerman emphasizes: fine threads and elegant tailoring.

It is this combo, old-fashioned quality that is increasingly scarce, that adds depth to a phrase Testerman repeats several times in an interview: “There are no stores likes this anymore.”

Scarcity is the force that begat Blakely-Mitchell -- the offspring of two State Street clothing stores that merged during the Great Depression. Through the 20th century to the present, the store has grown roots and developed a brand its owners have marketed beyond the region, jockeying for status among the elite clothing stores of metropolitan areas.

Blakely-Mitchell has burnished its reputation by clothing the local business and political elite, from congressmen to candy magnates to NASCAR executives and anyone who won’t settle for a generic-fitting suit.

Hugh Testerman’s father tailored clothes for three governors between Tennessee and Virginia. Hugh began working at the family business as a high school freshman, and with the exception of stints in other industries, he has worked there since. He now occupies his father’s old office at the back of the block-deep store.

In 1987, the Testerman family expanded its reach to Kingsport, Tenn., opening a smaller branch where another storied clothier, Fuller & Hillman, first opened in 1929 and now managed by Hugh Testerman’s brother, William.

“What keeps it going is its tremendous history,” said Rodger Williams, a neatly coiffed store employee with a trim moustache and a necktie crisply knotted in a Double Windsor.

Original article by Daniel Gilbert

BLAKLEY-MITCHELL

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517 State Street Bristol, VA 24210 (276)669-0116

240 Broad Street Kingsport, TN 37660 (423)245-8351 HOURS: M-F 10-5:30 Sat. 10-5

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