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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Man with loaded gun arrested at checkpoint near Donald Trump's weekend rally in Southern California
A Nevada man with a shotgun, a loaded handgun and ammunition in his vehicle was arrested at a security checkpoint outside Donald Trump's rally Saturday night in the Southern California desert, authorities said Sunday.
Thousands of miles from home, Trudeau learns of dissension in his caucus
The free trade agreement with ASEAN is expected to be signed at the end of 2025. If Trudeau is pressured to step down, or if his government falls and loses the next election, Trudeau will not, as prime minister, be there to see the fruits of his labour.
Here's the dirt on the germiest items in your day-to-day life
Your home – considered to be one of the safest havens from all the external stresses – is filthy.
Trump suggests a protester may get 'the hell knocked out of her' by her parents
Former U.S. president Donald Trump called for a protester at one of his rallies to 'go back home to Mommy' to 'get the hell knocked out of her,' his latest instance of using violent language when confronted by demonstrators.
Court untangles 'bizarre mess' that allowed Vancouver duplex owner to pay off mortgage after foreclosure, sale
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled on a case she describes as a "bizarre mess" in a decision issued earlier this week.
Man, 37, stabbed and killed on Montreal metro platform
A man died of his injuries after an altercation that escalated on a platform at Guy-Concordia station on Saturday night.
Liberals announce new campaign director amid new push to oust Trudeau
The Liberal Party has named Andrew Bevan as its new national campaign director for the next federal election. The announcement comes as party continues to face lagging polls and as party leader Justin Trudeau is facing new pressure to step aside.
Ottawa bylaw officer struck by driver after altercation in ByWard Market
The woman was taken to hospital and is said to be in stable condition, paramedics say.
Drone strike in Israel wounds more than 60 as Hezbollah claims responsibility
A drone strike hit central Israel on Sunday, wounding more than 60 people, some of them critically, rescue services said, in one of the bloodiest attacks in Israel in a year of war. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group claimed responsibility, saying it targeted a military camp.