In a last-ditch effort to save the business his mother created 35 years ago, Nick Kassman tried to borrow against the equity in his home.
The bank rejected his requests. Maybe it was for the best, Kassman now says. At least he still has a house.
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Later this year, Kassman will shut the doors to Chevy Chase Bridal, the last remnant of his mother’s clothing boutique that has been a staple of Washington fashion since 1977. Like many small-business owners, he said he found it difficult to stay afloat during the weak economic recovery.
“A little business like mine, it just got smushed like a bug and there was nothing we could do,” said Kassman, whose mother, Harriet, died earlier this year at the age of 90. “Business fell off a cliff, and there was no way to pay our bills.”
Kassman had used up much of his own retirement fund to keep the shop going in recent years after area banks had turned down his requests for loans. He had borrowed money from friends and family and tried to entice wealthy investors into buying a stake in the store.
“But most people aren’t interested in buying a business that doesn’t show a profit,” he said. “So a few weeks back, I finally said, ‘I can’t keep putting money into this anymore.’ I had tried everything I could and kept coming up empty.”
The irony, Kassman said, is that business has been relatively good this year. Sales are on track to be 10 percent higher than they were last year. Even so, he has yet to make a profit, and said long-term revenue wouldn’t be high enough to pay the bills.
“We’ve got good people. I’ve got a good location here. I’ve got a very pretty store with beautiful merchandise,” Kassman said. “The only thing I don’t have is cash — and unfortunately you need cash flow to continue to operate.”
Family business
Three years ago, Harriet Kassman was in a similar situation. Her namesake boutique in Mazza Gallerie, a high-end clothing shop favored by politicians, ambassadors’ wives and Washington socialites, wasn’t faring well. Sales of designer gowns had plummeted during the recession.
Harriet Kassman did what she could — closed the shop on Sundays, ran fewer advertisements — but it wasn’t enough to save the business. After 32 years, she closed the boutique in September 2009.
“She refused to ever admit that we were going to have to close — even when we closed,” Nick Kassman said. “My mother was one of these people who was like, ‘I am not giving up. I refuse to give up.’ If she had realized what was going on or admitted to what was going on, maybe she could have [closed her shop] sooner and protected herself better.”
Kassman, who had been working for his mother since 1981, viewed the closing as a cautionary tale. Knowing when to quit was important, he decided.
But first, he wanted to give retail another shot.
One more try
Even as overall sales at Harriet Kassman’s boutique slid during the economic downturn, the bridal portion of the shop had fared pretty well.
“After we closed in 2009, I needed a job, so I decided to go back into the bridal business,” Kassman said. “I felt like it was the part of the business that seemed to still be doing well.”
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