When Bob Noser (BBA79) graduated with a marketing degree from the University of Iowa he had every intention of taking a job anywhere except his family’s clothing store, located directly across from the Pentacrest.

“I took interviews and was down to second interviews with three different companies,” Noser recalled. “But my dad took me aside and said, ‘You know, I’ll be retiring in 10 or so years, why don’t you come here to work?’”

An Iowa City kid who went to college in his hometown, Noser admitted most of his friends and fellow students couldn’t wait to get out of Iowa. At first, he thought he did too. But there was a familial—and familiar—pull.

“So, I thought about it and realized, you know, it’s not such a bad deal,” he said on a recent sweltering July day, sitting at a wooden table in the downstairs section of Ewers Men’s Store, where rows of navy, black, and charcoal suits hang in rows. “Everybody I went to school with, my senior year, they said ‘Oh, we got to get out of town.’ But the more I thought about it, I thought ‘God, this is a great town.”

That same Iowa City pull is what brought Noser’s great, great grandfather A.M. Ewers from Albia, Iowa—a mining town where he ran a general store—to Iowa City way back in 1868. His goal was to put his two children through the University of Iowa, which he did. 

To pay their way, Ewers opened a store on Clinton Street, directly across from the 20-year-old Iowa campus. Originally it sold a variety of men’s and women’s clothes and shoes. But the money was in menswear, thanks to college fellows looking to impress, newly minted graduates needing interview suits and a burgeoning professional class in a growing city. 

Unlike Noser, his grandfather Roy knew his future was the store, despite a liberal arts degree and one year of law school at Iowa. 

“The story is he went through graduation ceremonies, dropped his cap and gown, walked across the street and went to work here,” Noser laughed. “So, he never missed a beat.”

In the 45 years Noser has been in the business—in roles ranging from sales associate to owner – he has weathered many ups and downs and survived several trends that spelled doom for other menswear stores. The rise of malls, the “business casual” revolution, and online shopping were all threats. The COVID-19 pandemic was almost a fatal blow. 

Noser said lessons he learned as an Iowa business student helped him navigate the challenges. He particularly credits a class he took on managing new and small businesses.

The secret to success as a small, niche store is pretty simple, Noser said. 

“It’s building relationships,” he said. “Almost every day there’s someone in here saying how they bought their graduation suit here in the 1980s or is in town for a football game and remembered the time they had to get a last-minute belt here. We have second, third generation families still coming back.”

That’s what brought customer Brady Glissman, from Sioux City, Iowa, to the store early on a recent Thursday morning. He was in Iowa City preparing for an interview to get into the University of Iowa physical therapy program and wanted to dress to impress.

“I’ve gone to Von Maur and Dillards and places like that, but they just don’t help me out as much as this guy does, to be honest,” he said as Noser helped him match the right pants to a navy blazer. 

Unlike online options or department stores, Ewers also keeps a full-time tailor on hand who will make sure your suit fits perfectly. They’ve been known to make home deliveries or otherwise help out in a pinch. 

“We can do all that,” Noser said. “Yeah, it’s been tough, and the hours are long, there’s no doubt about it. But you know, I can’t say it’s been bad. We stuck it out.”