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Category Archives: <span>price-shopping</span>

January152021NOCOMMENTS
pocket calculator

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price-shopping, Tux trends, wedding

If it looks too good to be true….

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!

We love a pocket square as much as the next guy, but if you’re shopping for wedding formalwear, the most important “square” in your pocket might well be…a calculator.

Case in point: One of our own suit suppliers routinely tags their suits with an MSRP of $359.99. We sell that suit all year long at $199. Sure, if we wanted, we could bait you into our store with a $160 OFF coupon, but instead, we prefer to give you our honest and affordable low prices all year. We believe it builds trust, which leads to the lasting customer relationships that have been the foundation of our steady growth over 36 years.

Let’s face it: These days, we’re all looking to get the best value we can for our dollars, but no one likes to be tricked by gimmicks. So, when you’re shopping for tuxedos and suits, be certain to bring your trusted calculator along with you, because if your vendors are offering big discounts off of artificially inflated prices, then it’s not “actually” a good deal, is it?

If you’d like to schedule a personal consultation with one of our stylists, please contact us today!

Happy planning!

 

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wedding, fun, price-shopping, Tux trends, Uncategorized, vest colors

Who (really) has the region’s largest selection of men’s formalwear?

Wedding tuxedos in Southeastern MassachusettsWith all of those crazy claims you hear out there, who really has the widest selection of men’s formalwear on the SouthCoast?Seems like a simple question, right? Let’s sort this out.

The Big Box Shops?
They specialize in retail, but some box shops offer a limited selection of rentals, which you’re expected to choose from a website or kiosk. Rental inventory is warehoused out of state, and they are shipped to your local chain store days before your wedding. In-house tailoring services are limited or nonexistent.

The Catalog Showrooms?
Here, you may encounter a showroom of tuxedos and suits, but few (if any) products except samples are kept on site, and your tailoring options are very limited because these companies often don’t employ tailors. Routinely, these stores have an exclusivity contract with a single supplier and can only offer styles from just one catalog. Retail offerings are generally scarce for couples who want to purchase.

Main Street Formals.
Suits for saleWe’re somewhat like a hybrid between the Big Box and the Catalog Store, but we’re also a lot more. For starters, we have three showrooms (a rental formalwear showroom, a retail suit showroom, and our Casual Friday showroom, which features a large selection of sportcoats, dress shirts and trousers), and we carry rental inventory so that when you’re ready to shop, you can come in and try things on. But if you want something we don’t stock, we have many catalogs to special-order hundreds of other rental styles. Furthermore, we stock hundreds of retail suits in stock, with thousands more available by special order. Most important, we have a fully-staffed precision tailoring department with skilled full-time tailors to ensure our formalwear fits like a glove. Somehow, we manage to throw in dazzling group specials, and prices that everyone loves.

Discover it for yourself: Take a short ride to the countryside, and visit the Biggest Little Tux Shop in New England!

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March192018NOCOMMENTS

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Uncategorized, price-shopping, Tux trends, wedding

The tuX Files: Should I rent or buy?

Let’s compare both options so that you can make an informed decision.

Jake and Geno model the Allure Bartlett in heather gray and slate blue. Photo: ImageMakers

RENT YOUR WEDDING OUTFIT

1) IT’S EASIER If renting your formalwear, you only need to take two fittings. The first fitting takes five minutes and should be done at least 4-6 weeks before your wedding. We carry tons of product in house, and when we need more during peak seasons, we can simply call for back-up from our countless suppliers, so “running out” isn’t really a problem. Your second fitting (60-90 minutes 1-2 days before the wedding) is also easy. If anything doesn’t fit, we fix it while you wait, and then you take it home on the same day.
2) SIZE DOESN’T MATTER. Rental formalwear is convenient. Every rental tux and suit style is cut down to a Boy’s 4 (sometimes even smaller), and up to a 70R (sometimes larger), so no matter what size your attendants, they can all match.

The Sandstone Brunswick by Allure

3) IT’S AFFORDABLE. The Number 1 reason people rent? It’s

 

affordable. Consider: The MSRP on most rental ensembles is about $600-900. You have a personal stylist helping you make a selection. We expertly measure each man’s body. Every rental includes an average of $50-75 in complimentary custom tailoring. And then we clean everything between rentals. (Naturally.) So, soup to nuts, it’s like wearing a $800-1000 ensemble for $150 or so. Good deal, right?

Indigo blue suit. Photo: ImageMakers

PURCHASE YOUR WEDDING OUTFIT

1) WE NEED LEAD TIME. It’s like the process you probably used with your bridesmaids’ gowns. We don’t order the suits for your group until we have collected ALL of your measurements. Don’t procrastinate, or your first choice might be sold out before the order is placed. The first fitting takes 5 minutes or so; ideally, these would be completed 3+ months in advance, although we’ve worked some miracles in short time spans.
2) NO GUARANTEES. No selection is guaranteed until our suppliers confirm all of the required sizes are available in time for your event. Later, when the suits have arrived at the store, each man returns for a second fitting, which takes 30-60 minutes. Ideally, these second fittings are completed at least four weeks before the event, to allow time for tailoring, which is a separate fee.

Main Street Formals’ owner, Robert, makes adjustments on a retail suit worn by his son, Baylen.

3) SIZE MATTERS. Retail suits have limited size scales. Most are made as small as a 36S and up to a 54L, but we can get many traditional sizes in a broader range. However, if the suit you desire is made up to a 54 and your best man is a 58, you may have to decide on an alternative suit (or an alternative best man).
4) BOYS SUITS. In most cases, suits companies that manufacture suits for adults do not manufacture suits for children. Therefore, if you decide on retail, any boys in your wedding party will not be able to wear the exact same suit as the adults. We match them from our boy’s suit suppliers as best we can. Accessories are not included and can be rented or purchased separately. Boy’s suit purchases do not count toward your head count for your wedding special package.

 

For more fashion, follow us on Instagram: @mainstreetformals

5) IT’S MORE EXPENSIVE. We believe our retail suit program offers tremendous value, but it is a lot more work, and skilled labor isn’t cheap. All labor is priced a la carte, and many customers elect to include rental or retail accessories, which are priced accordingly. We permit three fittings on retail suits: the first two, explained above, and a final fitting on pickup day, 1-2 days before the wedding. If you are on an Atkins diet, Crossfit, etc., and we have to re-tailor your suit because your body changed, you will be charged for the extra fittings and the extra labor.

 

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February272018NOCOMMENTS

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wedding, price-shopping, Uncategorized

The tuX files: David and Goliath

Mike and Tabitha. Photo by Nelly Saraiva.

Planning a wedding is (hopefully!) a once-in-a-lifetime event that can be both thrilling and stressful. During this emotional time, it’s easy to be victimized by false or misleading advertising, so in an effort to help you sort through some of the misleading claims out there, we’re going to break down the most important details about selecting your wedding’s formal wear.

Formalwear Selection
Brides like to have choices, no doubt, so often they explore chain stores first, under the erroneous impression that bigger companies will offer a wider array of products. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The logistical challenges of supplying chain stores from coast to coast force them to homogenize their inventory and offer fewer choices. Independent stores like Main Street Formals have the flexibility to offer all the standard styles the bigs guys offer—plus an exciting array of styles to which franchises don’t have access. What if the style or color you want doesn’t exist? Main Street Formals can custom-make it.

Uncle Charlie’s nephew from Roswell.

Convenience of Experience
Chain stores often boast of having hundreds of locations across the country to make fitting your groomsmen more convenient. In truth, all tuxedo shops easily and routinely accommodate out-of-town groomsmen. These men simply request a courtesy fitting at any shop in their home state and then send the measurements to us. In fact, in all of these cases, independent stores like Main Street Formals have the advantage. Why? Because courtesy fittings are notoriously inaccurate, and so when/if the tuxes don’t fit, we have a team of talented seamstresses who can correct them on the spot. Even more important, we carry inventory on site, so when things can’t be tailored (for instance, if shoes don’t fit), we can simply grab another pair. National chain stores cannot do this because individual locations keep almost no inventory on site.

Old-World Service
When it’s all said and done, most tuxedo shops can all get all the same (or similar) styles. So, why do two men wearing the exact same suit look so different? It’s the fit. This is the most important component of a tuxedo rental, and yet it’s often the most overlooked. In short, the fit is EVERYTHING. Main Street Formals is the only formalwear shop in the region that offers full-time professional on-site tailoring. We alter suits, street clothes, uniforms, even bridal wear. Do you think a bride would trust a national men’s store with her bridal gown?

You can often buy outfits like this for close to the cost of what you pay to rent at the Big Box.

Affordable Prices
Many people think that chain stores will be cheaper. If you’re shopping for paper towels, maybe. Tuxedos, no. Indeed, chain stores will advertise low prices. But after they sink their hooks into you, you’ll find those low introductory prices are accompanied by countless hidden fees that transform your vision of a $69 bargain tux into $269. Beware the shell games.

Value-Added Specials
We all offer free rentals for qualifying grooms. But what makes Main Street Formals’ free rental different? Well, its…free. Yes, it sounds nuts, but with many competitors, “free rentals” are often not free. By the time you’ve added things like shoes, vests, insurance, you can pay up to $30-$70 for a FREE rental. We work to build a relationship with our customers, and most of our business comes from referrals. We’d lose that if we broke trust by tricking them. We can tell you for certain that we offer, bar none, the best specials in the region. Don’t miss out on any; call us today at (508) 995-0200 to learn which specials apply to you.

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February262018NOCOMMENTS

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price-shopping, Tux trends, wedding

The tuX files: Myth-Busting at Main Street Formals

This handsome groom came all the way from Maine to buy a suit from us! 😉

Wedding season is nearly here, and as we host new brides and grooms in the store, they regularly regale us with tall tales from the competition. For fun this afternoon, we thought we’d bust a few of the myths out there.

MYTH #1 CHAIN STORES ARE CHEAPER.
Guess again. Shopping malls charge their tenants high rents for those properties, and they take a percentage of store sales, too. Guess who really pays for that. That’s right, You. Nestled in quaint, rural Acushnet, Main Street Formals owns its location, helping to keep our average tuxedo rental prices dramatically below what the big box often gets. How much lower? This weekend, one of our wedding customers reported he’s in another wedding at [the name that cannot be named], and he is paying more TO RENT a suit from them than he is TO BUY a suit from us.

MYTH #2 WE CAN’T MATCH YOUR COLORS.
When it comes to matching your colors, “mainstream” has nothing on Main Street. In addition to the hundreds of hues we carry in stock, our experienced, eager staff is happy to show you catalogs full of colors that we can special-order. What’s that you say? The color is so new that formalwear manufacturers haven’t made it yet? If we can’t match it, we can make it. That’s a level of service you just can’t find in a big box shop. Other stores claim they have “the most,” but if you ask them if they will custom-make accessories for you, you’ll probably hear crickets.

MYTH #3 YOUR GROOMSMEN AREN’T LOCAL. 

Uncle Charlie’s nephew from Roswell.

Whether they hail from Michigan or Mars, your out-of-towners can request a courtesy fitting from any tuxedo shop in their hometown and send us the sizes. When in town for the rehearsal dinner (1-2 days before the wedding), they can visit our store and try on their tux, and if it doesn’t fit, we will fix it while they wait. Wrong shoe size? Gained 15 pounds? Unlike chain stores, our store is stuffed with extra inventory, and we are the region’s only formalwear store with full-time in-house tailoring. When it comes to making your “Men in Black” look their best, nobody beats Main Street Formals.

Class dismissed.

 

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March312015NOCOMMENTS

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Uncategorized, fun, price-shopping, Tux trends, wedding

The tuX files: Tux Rogers has some advice for men.

tux rogers blogTux Rogers wants you to know that there’s nothing funny about paying more for less.

Don’t be fooled by the competition’s gimmicks and “discounts.” Main Street Formals has the most colors, award-winning service, and the best value around. Period. End of story.

Stop into the shop to see for yourself, or explore our website to learn more about New England’s biggest little tux shop.

Tux Rogers FD

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