For Half a Century, Part of the Fabric of Washington

When downtown development forced Mr. G. out in 1983, he leased a 10,000-square-foot, second-floor space, including a small home dec area, in what is now Rockville's Mid-Pike Plaza.

"We enlarged it when homebuilding was progressing and interest rates hadn't quite come down. Even so, people were moving into places we had never heard of, like Gaithersburg and Clarksburg."

A decade later, he took over the first floor and moved home dec downstairs. Today it represents 35 to 40 percent of sales at all four stores, and has the company's largest growth potential. Near the entrance, a white wall is hung with myriad window treatments, all in deep gray cotton to focus the eye and imagination on pleats and folds, swags and jabots.

Shoppers range from decorators (with and without clients) to patrons who know just what they want to customers who haven't a clue (and seek advice from the staff). In addition to the bolts of fabrics arrayed on both floors, thousands more can be seen in dozens of sample books.

While there are shoppers willing to pay full price for home dec fabric, others head straight for the remnant tables: $3.97 per yard for drapery bolt ends, $7 for upholstery remnants.

There is something almost primal about the process of rooting through the plaids and florals in search of a perfect stripe. "At our $2.97 table, some people want it neat, others really want the hunt. For Mr. G., it's the hunt," says Joel. "I can't tell you how many basements and subbasements we've been in. One place was so mildewed and musty that he had to put his handkerchief over his face like a cowboy's bandanna."

About 40 percent of G Street customers make their own Roman shades or recover faded wing chairs. Sixty percent let the stores arrange to have their bedding, draperies and furniture coverings custom-made in "very, very good immigrant workrooms," says Mr. G.

Collectively, the four stores now offer nearly three dozen home dec classes in everything from basic upholstery (schlep your own chair back and forth each week) to "high-end decorator valances."

After more than a half-century in the business, Mr. G.'s heart is still in apparel, while Joel sees home dec as the future. Both agree that their interior textiles are not as consistently fabulous as the couture fashion yardage.

"That's the battle I fight. You have a certain amount of money for every product line," says Joel.

However, the lines are blurring, says the father. "People are buying Chanel tweeds to use for pillows, Indian silks for window treatments. And they are using upholstery jacquards and brocades and some of the trim for jackets"

Still, Mr. G., who considers "anyone who sells fabric" a competitor, is thinking strategically as he considers offering ready-made draperies.

While his sons run the day-to-day operations, Mr. G. is still totally involved in fabric buying. He also comes to the Rockville store seven days a week, where he often can be seen cutting cloth for delighted customers, some of whom remember the old downtown shop.

"This is my retirement," he says. "I like the commerce."