Jeans are in their genes: Montreal's Superior Pants celebrates nearly 100 years

The Superior Pants shop on Ste-Catherine Street doesn't have a website and doesn't advertise, yet it hass managed to stay in business for nearly 100 years.

It's also known as one of the best places to find a pair of jeans in the city.

Mitch Stroll, the fourth generation to run the store, is a "jeans savant" for his uncanny ability to size up customers and find their perfect brand and fit.

"I always ask them: what colour are we looking for? What type of style are we looking for?" he told CTV News. "And we don't talk numbers and we don't talk sizes."

His father, Owen, who works alongside him, says he's almost always right.

"He knows what to give them. He gets the fit right on one, two, three."

The family has been in the clothing business since Charles Stroll opened the store in 1924.

At the time, he sold men's pants and suits. According to Owen, jeans started to come into vogue in the 1950s and 1960s, and by the 1980s, denim was their primary business.

He says the store's hands-on service sets it apart from chains. Pants are hemmed in the store, free of charge.

"They come here special because they'll get their pants fixed right away and go home with it. No going to a tailor," he says. "It's a package deal."

Mitch says it's the kind of experience that you can't get with online shopping, and once customers find a pair that fits, they usually come back.

With no advertising or website, they rely on word of mouth.

Lucille Phlipart, who is from France, said her friends told her about the store.

"Usually, when I walk in a store, I think it takes me like an hour to find the jeans, and they don't fit. There's always something wrong," she says. "Here, I got two pairs, and it was really quick."

While jeans are in the Stroll family genes, Mitch says he's likely the end of the line.

But he's planning on spending the next 25 years helping customers find the right pair of jeans.