A Good Run
Roth closing business after 51 years
(Tim Unruh, Photo by Jeff Cooper / Salina Journal)

A dressed-down society and big-box bargain retailers have taken a toll on Charlie Roth.

Charlie Roth (front), owner of Joseph P. Roth & Sons Clothiers, Salina, stands with his employees: (Clockwise from front) Margaret Neaderhiser, Sara Mortimer, Gordon Walle and Jane Seitz.

Come Christmas, there will be one less place in Salina to buy a man's suit. Joseph P. Roth & Sons Clothiers, 1829 S. Ohio, is closing its doors after 51 years.

"Business isn't what it used to be, and I'm getting too old to reinvent myself," Charlie Roth, 58, said Monday.

He said sales have been in decline for five years because of changes in business demographics and consumer tastes.

"There used to be the day when people dressed up when they went to work," he said. "Things have gotten more casual. It's just a fact of life."

It's tough to compete for that clothing line, he said.

"What we do best is dress-up clothes," Roth said. "If we go casual, then we start butting heads with the Gaps and the Targets of the world. I can't sell enough to compete at that level."

"Warren Buffet said it's no fun being the buggy whip salesman when the combustion engine comes along," Roth said. "That's kind of how I feel."

But Roth isn't bitter. The business, started by his father in 1953, served Roth well for his 36 years of working full time in the business.

"It put braces on my kids' teeth, got them through college," he said. "We had two weddings, and it's provided me a wonderful life for all these years. Now it's time to go do something else."

Roth said he's not retiring but is unsure of what he's going to do.

"I can be helpful to somebody, and I'll work cheap," he said.

Roth, who was a Salina city commissioner from 1981-83 and served as mayor in 1984, said he comes to work tap dancing.

"I get to help my friends buy clothes," he said. "I'm not sour grapes. This has been a wonderful life."

Close to the base

Roth was 7 when his father opened the store where Headley's Clothing is located in Kraft Manor shopping center. At the time, the store was at the southern-most end of Salina and close to Smoky Hill Air Force Base.

"My dad thought we could do some business with the Air Force personnel," Roth said, "and it was a grand business."

But lean times came in the mid-1960s when the base, then known as Schilling Air Force Base, was closed.

Charlie and his brother Frank joined the business full time in 1968. Their brother, John, later joined in. Frank now teaches at Kansas Wesleyan University and John works at Tony's Pizza.

They built the present store on South Ohio Street and moved in 1976. Charlie Roth has been the sole owner since 1985. His wife, Marcy, is principal at Meadowlark Ridge Elementary School.

He spent Monday preparing for a lengthy sale that will end before Christmas. He said there are no buyers for the business, but he's interested in selling or leasing the building.

It's a sad time for employees such as Margaret Neaderhiser, who has worked for Roth for 16 years. Gordon Walle and Jane Seitz also are longtime workers.

"I've been such a part of this for many years," Neaderhiser said.