John O’Neill is not the easiest man to interview. Sure, he’s helpful and friendly, but when it comes down to it, he’d rather be minding his own business. ONiell has been minding his business, ONiell’s Clothing, in Chapel Hill and Carrboro for the past 17 and a half years. Before that, he spent 10 years minding the business of Nowell’s department store in University Mall. Now, almost 30 years after he began working as a manager at Nowell’s, ONeill is back in University Mall with a shop of his own.
Offering a selection of men’s dress clothes, ONiell’s Clothing looks at first glance more like the set for a British sitcom than a real store that would stand much chance of making a buck, let alone surviving for almost 20 years. There are a few button-down dress shirts, some slacks, some ties, and selection of sport coats. Six pairs of shoes are on display, two tan, two brown and two black; three with laces, three loafer-style. ONeill runs the shop on his own, with part-time help from his son John Michael ONeill.
Asked how he can compete with the larger stores with their wider selections, ONeill says simply, "Personal service. I know my customers." Indeed, the 57 year old ONeill, with his casual, friendly attitude, brings to mind an old-time barber, the sort of person customers come to know, trust and look forward to visiting when the need arises. "There are basically no limits on what I would do for a customer," ONiell said. He says he met one customer on his way to the airport to provied them with emergency business attire and he once opened up shop in the middle of the night for another to provide another customer with a white dress shirt.
ONeill’s first opened for business in November of 1985 in Eastgate Shopping Center. After 5 years he moved to Carr Mill Mall where he remained for 12 years. He closed the shop there this February and re-opened in University Mall at the end of March. He says that University Mall first approached him with the idea of moving two years ago when Maurice? Koury, the same Koury for whom UNC’s Kourey natatorioum is named, bought the mall with plans to transform it into a more "upscale" shopping venue.
ONeill says he wasn’t ready to make the move then, but with the addition of Southern Season as well as several independently-owned clothing boutiques, he now feels that University Mall was a place where he will fit in well. He says that the University Mall’s leasing company is "agressively trying to entice more boutique and specialty stores into the mall."
University Mall is a much larger and draws many more customers than the Carr Mill Mall. ONeill says that the Carr Mill Mall was good to him, but he moved to University Mall in hopes of expanding his customer base. "You have to continually pick up new customers. There’s an attrition of old customers, people die, people move away, people retire and don’t need nice clothes anymore," he said.
The rent is higher at University Mall, but ONeill says he isn’t too worried about that. "It’s just another step along the path. Whenever you make a change, it’s a risk. You always have to take risks in life, but this is a calculated risk and I feel like I’ve minimized the downside," he said. He says that he has already seen an increase in traffic with the new location and he hopes that business will pick up even more after the war in Iraq.
"The general retail climate is not great right now," ONeill said. "You just have to watch your expenses and don’t go overboard in buying more than you can sell. Once people can go back to focusing on life in general instead of the war, I think we’ll find that the economy starts looking better."
ONeills clothing is getting by pretty well despite the slow economy, but ONeill says that there is no trick or secret to how he does it. "Just watch expenses. Watch expenses and make the customers feel like you really want them and they’re important, because they are," he said. "Anyone who says they have the magic formula wouldn’t be doing what they were doing, they would be selling it and living off on an island somewhere."
Until ONeill discovers that formula, he will be right here in Chapel Hill minding his own business.