Tom’s Place. A Toronto institution and my favourite place to purchase quality clothes!

I miss Tom’s Place.Tom’s Place (Photo credit: Daragh)

I miss Tom’s Place.

Don’t worry, there are still there at 190 Baldwin Avenue in Toronto’s Kensington Market, but what I miss about Tom`s Place is not needing to go in there to build my wardrobe under the guidance of Tom Jr.

You see, I have been in the workforce for 17-years but have never worked for an organization who required (or even encouraged) staff to dress up.  Public sector, private sector, entry-level managerial level, and higher, and each organization followed a casual dress code.  The most I needed to dress up was for job interviews or for funerals.

Then one day I decided that I needed to open my own business and with that I wanted to revamp my wardrobe, and my image, but really had no idea where to go.  I wanted to make sure that I shopped at a store which had quality clothes, experienced salespeople and expert tailoring so that I do not have a fiasco like I did previously.

First I asked around, then I looked around, then I listened…

I listened to talk radio where I heard an ad on AM640 for Tom’s Place.  The next morning I heard morning host John Oakley speaking with Tom’s Place owner Tom Mihalik and I was intrigued.  Tom had mentioned on the radio that if you came to the store that you should tell him that you heard him on the radio, mention John Oakley and AM640 and he’ll take a little more off the price.

Okay.

So I asked around again, and it turns out that pretty much everyone from my peer group had been to, and purchased suits from  Tom’s Place, and although I am born and raised in Toronto, I honestly had not been to Kensington Market since I was a kid, but the more I heard the ads the more I wanted to visit the store, see what they have and meet the famous Tom Mihalik.

Then fortunate for me, a very dear friend of mine, CCG offered to not only take me down there, but also to help me get my wardrobe set up.  He is a walking billboard for style so it certainly was an offer that I could not pass up.

The rest of this story is my accounting of what became 5 trips down to Tom’s Place over 5-weeks which left me with a brand new wardrobe which is second to none, and a new appreciation for shopping for clothes at a store where the quality of the materials and fabrics is quite evident and the salespeople are second to none!

Why I’m difficult to shop for:  I’ve always been hard to buy for because I’m active in sports and I’ve been to the gym here and there, plus I like to pick up and toss my children around so buying clothes off the rack was never an option, and any salesperson has to take into account my long arms, large shoulders, muscular thighs and a big back, yet while I taper inwards towards the waist, there is that little bit of extra padding which keeps me from fitting into smaller sizes.  It’s downright difficult to fit and one of the reasons I had not done this earlier in life.  Add all that to a 6ft, 225lb frame and you can see it’s not an easy, nor enjoyable task buying clothes.

I can usually tell the experience of the salespeople when I attempt to try on a sport coat or suit jacket.  I’m a 46-tall and when I get handed a 42-regular I know right away what I’m dealing with and to be honest, I really should turn around and walk-out.  At Tom’s Place, I had the pleasure of being helped by Tom Jr., and after glancing at my figure, he quickly went away and came back with 3 jackets he thought would work best with my style, size and fit.

I enquired right away about the sizing of the jacket and Tom Jr. calmly responded that he had picked, “your size”, which was a 46-tall.

Impressed.

But here was where the magic began for me…

Of the 3 suit jackets Tom brought, each one fit better than the other, and the colours were perfect.  We tried different styles, and patterns and after trying on 8 suits it was the first 3 that I chose.  One grey, one blue and one grey with a very slight pink pattern (very slight because I’m “Classic” so nothing flashy or fancy for me).  Then came shirts and ties to match – also in my size – and I was already excited to see what they would look like after it was tailored.

Tom Jr. is a very well dressed man, who has a ton of knowledge of the industry and knows how to dress men.  When I commented on his suit and shirt / tie combination, he pointed out that the 1st suit he picked for me was the exact same as the one he was wearing.  I like that.

I let him know that I was hoping to meet his father… Little did I know the Tom’s Place ritual that was to come next.

Once at the front of the store to pay for my purchases, there stood Tom himself.  Tom Jr explained how I got here – thank you AM640 – and ran through what I had purchased, and the ticket price – out loud – and after every item, Tom changed the price.  Then at the end of this, he gave me the AM640 Oakley discount and I paid.  Tom thanked me for coming to visit and said that he looked forward to seeing me next week when I came to pick up my suits.

Now imagine my surprise when I came back the following weekend, with a different friend and my 2 boys and was greeted by Tom as we entered the store.  He thanked me for coming back to pick up my suits, then proceeded to rhyme off what I had purchased the previous week.  He also noted I had a different friend and commented that I had my 2 boys with me who promptly received Tom’s Place flashlights.

I went back upstairs and there was Tom Jr. who brought me my suits and while trying them on, I mentioned to him that I wished to purchase a sports coat.  Sure enough he brought over the most beautiful brown sport coat that I absolutely had to have.  It was tailored within 5 minutes and we were down at the front of the store where Tom was discounting my purchase yet again.

This went on over 5-weeks and included pants, another jacket, belt, socks, cuff-links, shirts and ties.

Each time, Tom Jr brought me the perfect choice for my body-type and each time, Tom Sr. discounted my products, thanked me for coming and chatted with my kids.

The saddest part for me was the last visit where Tom Jr. told me that there was nothing else that I needed at this time for my wardrobe, but I should come back towards the end of the summer as I really needed a nice fall jacket and possibly a sweater to go under a jacket and over a dress shirt.

Gulp.

Could buying quality clothes that fit and make me look good possibly be this easy?!?

It was a couple more weeks before my kids stopped asking if we were going to Tom’s Place today.  I thought it was because of the chocolatier across the street of the cafe around the corner that Tom Jr suggested we go, but it was because they wanted to see Tom Sr and Tom Jr.  My 6-year-old picked a beautiful jacket for me and my 8-year-old helped Tom pick ties to match my new shirts.

So now I know for sure where someone goes in Toronto when they need to dress to impress – for the best quality and best service.  It’s Tom’s Place.  I’ve recommended it to as many people as I can and to each and every person who commented on my suits or jackets.

Tom Jr. made what has always been a nightmare for me a fun experience, and now I wouldn’t think of going anywhere else to add to my fabulous wardrobe.

Thank you Tom’s Place!

Hey, Where is Bill Watters?

For those of you who listen to the radio on the way to and from the office, as I do, you may have noticed that on the afternoon drive, Bill Watters no longer graces the airwaves for AM640. Instead, the Arlene Bynon show has taken over that time slot.

So I immediately suspected that I would need to find a new AM talk radio station to listen to while sitting in traffic. Turns out I was wrong, and I still get my Wilbur, but in a different time slot.

I find it kind of funny how some things come full circle in the oddest ways.  Growing up, my father loved listening to 98.1 CHFI and I detested that station due to the “oldies”, the monotone dj’s and, well, because he liked it.  One of the DJ’s that particularly annoyed me was Arlene.  She never interested me and I found her delivery to be quite bland – better suited for older folks, like my parents.  So how ironic is it that with Bill Watters gone from the afternoon drive slot, that Arlene has taken over that slot.  I have to be honest, I was not sure I could do it, but I did.  I listened to a couple shows and I have to say Arlene’s style and approach (and her right-wing leanings) are not that bad at all.  I have listened more to her segment than the Fan590, which is saying a lot.  In actual fact, I’m really enjoying her shows.  Shhh.  It’s saying I’m old.

I liked Watters for his insight and for saying things without really saying them.  Often he would comment on a player or an agent that he had dealt with or had heard about and was very clear in his opinions of them.  Case in point, Ilya Kovalchuk.  Not sure what happened there but I recall many a conversation with Watters calling Kovalchuk selfish.  There was a definite dislike.  Watters was removed from the station the last week of July, 2011, probably beacuse AM640 felt they needed more than sports to be discussed in that timeslot and apparently did not feel that non-sports fans could take Wilbur or Jimmy Ralph seriously so the move was made.

It took me a while to appreciate Watters whom I liked from TV and before that from being the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  I always listened to the Bobcat, Bob McCown instead on the FAN590.  I found that McCown was never afraid to ask the tough questions but more recently with his co-hosts, or panel, including Damian Cox, Dale Tallon and John Shannon, they seem to have mellowed a bit.  If my memory serves me correctly, McCown had strong opinions about certain sports and very little insight into others, but more than qualified to talk about them as a business, than a sport.  I liked when something was stirring in his bonnet, like when he got upset with former Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets GM’s Doug MacLean for joining with Jim Balsilie.  That was a great feud.  It was good radio.

I think nowadays both McCown and Watters were forced to speak about all sports and delve into other topics to appeal to the masses – maybe because of the Team1050, TSN sports radio – but they’re not there yet.  I’ve listened a few times and there is not much worth listening to yet… In that afternoon time slot, the Dan Patrick show is on – it’s an ESPN show and it never talks about anything Canadian / Toronto, so it’s a giant waste of airspace.  When I’ve tuned in since then, it sounds like a bunch of guys chatting about stuff and it’s difficult to follow and not enjoyable to listen to.

I had hoped Watters would turn up on the FAN, so he can assist in any time slot and have his voice heard.  Heck, with the vacancy made by the release of Andrew Krystal, you never know.  While I do like listening to Doug Faraway quite a bit, I’m overwhelmed at having to listen to Roger Lajoie or Gord Stellick.  I’ve been listening to them since the FAN first aired.  I go that far back… Yes, I’m old.

So where did Andrew Krystal go this time? Last I heard, AK was on the 12-3 show or something thereabouts then he was moved to CP24 to get an on-air reporter and now, I don’t even know.  I found it hard to follow him as he has a penchance for talking over guests and trying to crack jokes and he was difficult to listen to.  So when I was in my car heading to the bank the other day, I noticed he was no longer on the radio, so I Googled it upon my return and found out he left (fired) the FAN590 at some point in late June. Oops.  I won’t miss him… His style stressed me out.

So with all these changes what do you listen to?  Do you listen to AM radio? 

I do like the morning drive on AM640 for the right-wing talk and for The John Oakley Show and the Happy Capitalist himself, Lou Schizas.  I’m hit my saturation point for Lorne Honickman from his City Pulse days, but I also like Greg Brady a lot on the FAN590, so I’ll flip back to hear him talk.  Brady and I are the same age, born in 1971 and as such we share common interests growing up.  Oddly enough, right now, his twitter image is a Toronto Blizzard logo, while my lunch bag is a Toronto Blizzard bag that I got at a game growing up.  Needless to say, I get him.

Coming home in traffic used to always be the Bobcat.  I used to flip over to Wilbur if it was a slow day, but now I find it’s AM640, or I’m listening to the Jason Ellis show on XM Radio.

So… Talk to me!

Listen to Sportsnet Radio, the FAN590, tomorrow morning and there will be NO Andrew Krystal

I for one am going to tune in tomorrow morning to Sportsnet Radio, the FAN590 (whew, what a mouthful) to listen to the new (temporary) morning show host, Greg Brady.  Officially the Andrew Krystal in the morning experiment has come to an end, and as a LONG-time listener (since the station started broadcasting in the old 1430CJCL days) I hope this change lasts for a while.

I liked the Gord Stellick / Don Landry tandem even though they were on the radio a couple years too long for my liking – which made me seek out an alternative talk-radio station and that was the fabulous right-leaning AM640.  With Oakley in the morning and his cast of regulars I was hooked.  While I was savouring the news-talk radio, the FAN was experimenting with morning show hosts until they settled on the aggressive Krystal.  I never took a liking to his gruff style.  He made, in my opinion, way too many lame potty humour jokes, and talked over pretty much everyone in order to finish his quips.  Listening to him and money man Mike Epple was frustrating as Epple would have to start and stop as often as Krystal would giggle his way through butt jokes.

I think Krystal should be on Q107 or something like that…  And on the bright side, did I not hear Brady stating he was married to Canadian recording “legend” Luba for 6 months?!?  Or maybe he was joking in and around the fact that he too has small kids and they are a lot of work.  I’m sure the weeks and months of listening to him on the morning drive into the office will answer those questions and many more.

Anyways, the AK experiment is over.  Below is a link to an article I wrote on my sports blog, so feel free to click through for more of the same. 

http://daddyknowssports.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/sportsnet-fan590-morning-show-changes-ak-is-out/

Tune in again tomorrow… Same time, same channel.

A Week of Firsts for me!

This past week sure was an interesting one.  Aside from being the second week of being sick, this one had quite a few firsts.

Here are my firsts;

First time drinking a vodka and tonic, with a twist of lime.  YUM!

First time drinking Kvas – a Russian soft drink made from fermented mushrooms.  There are actually mushrooms floating in the 2L bottle.  The drink itself takes like flat sweet coca cola, but the smell of the foam is enough to make you vomit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass

First time on the radio!  I have never felt the need to call in to talk radio and I listen every day to AM640, sports radio the FAN590 and to music on my XM radio, but this past Wednesday I was listening to sports talk radio and the announcer – Jeff Blair – a baseball guy, and possibly a lawyer was commenting on the fact that the NJ Devils hockey team was over the salary cap and only could ice 15 skaters for their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins instead of the regular 18 skaters.  Blair was really pissed off with the Devils and thought they were flaunting the rules of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that the league has with the players. 

Personally, I think in hockey there is one line – or three skaters – too many as the 4th line on pretty much every team is a line with little talent who just skate around, eat up minutes and crashing into guys and fighting.  I think it was great they had 3 lines.

So I called.

And while my phone was beeping as the battery was really low, he took my call, listened to me, asked me a question and as I was responding, hung up on me so I could listen to him talk.  He disagreed.

I was nice.

The next 3 callers – much in line with my thought process were not as nice.

It was a good way to send his segment.  🙂

Other firsts;

My daughter, Berry, learned this week to sleep through the night and to toss up both her arms and say “hurray”.  She also learned to point to her big tummy when prompted.

My oldest boy, Linus, got dressed up in a shirt and tie when we went to his girlfriend’s house for dinner Saturday night.  He’s 5.  She’s 6.  He was so cute!  Then after a while he took of his nice clothes to expose his t-shirt underneath which said something along the lines of; “Here comes trouble”.

I also discovered Nine Inch Nails this week – the band, not the hardware.  I mean, everybody knows their song “Closer”, but that’s not exactly a song you sing the lyrics too around your kids.  Then this week I heard a song of their called “Only” and I was hooked.  The music is great, the lyrics not too bad and I understand this is a song about drug addiction.

“There is no you, there is only me”,

“There is no you, there is only me”.

“There is no f%cking you, there is only me.”

I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season this Friday.  I bought a colleague from Montreal one as I felt I owed it to him.  I’ve been trying to get him a bottle of the syrup for over a year, but apparently Starbucks does not sell it, and the few people I know who work there cannot pinch me a bottle (or most of the contents of one).

This week also signified the first time my oldest boy showed an interst in climbing trees as we went apple picking on Monday and my little tree-money climbed up to the top of many apple trees to pick the best apples for us.

This week also signified the first time I’ve seen Linus eager to play soccer.  Each night he has practically begged me to play soccer with him in the basement.  About time!

This week also signified the fist time Linus and I sat down and watched a period of hockey – the Toronto Maple Leafs and I even got him to admit his favourite player is #81 Phil Kessel.  although tonight it was Sidney Crosby.

Busy week of firsts for me!  This sure was.  What about you?

Thursday Thirteen

Today’s Thursday Thirteen will be about 13 completely random thoughts that popped into my head while writing this post…

… Please don’t use it against me. 😉

13. Good on Shaquile O’Neal for signing with the Boston Celtics. Now the Miami Heat and LA Lakers have some competition. Interesting that Shaq has played with Kobe in LA, Wade in Miami and LBJ in Cleveland… I think I might actually respect Shaq for doing this… Maybe

12. If you eat a lot of beets your pee and poo turn red… I’m just saying… It’s a real shocker if you had forgotten that and, say, eaten a lot of beets the night before… I’m just saying

11. Right now Rob Ford gets my nod for Mayor in Toronto. He is a fiscal Conservative and the higher my property tax climbs, the more I question how Torontonions can elect NDP’ers in government? See Adam Vaughn. No businesses left. Vote Mike Yen 2010. As for co-front runner, George Smitherman… See eHealth scandal. Under his watch a billion dollars was wasted. We DON’T need that in Toronto!!!

10. I blinked and Old Spice became cool again. Or I’m just getting older. My dad used Old Spice…

9. Iran denies that there was an attempt made on the life of their wacko leader, AhMADinejad. Even if it were a firecracker, any man who threatens to nuke another country (Israel) and denies there is a “homosexual problem” in Iran because there, “are no homosexuals” can only bring a country back into the dark ages.

8. Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf wants to put a mosque right near the fallen twin towers in New York City… Why exactly? I have nothing against places of worship being built anywhere, but it’s still too soon. Either he wants to rub it in the face of the citizens of New York, or he’s just clueless. If you want to improve relations between Americans and the followers of Islam, try ads in the newspaper first…

7. Today is National Underwear Day… Yup. Seriously.

6. August 3rd was, besides my mothers 65th birthday (Hi Mom) National Watermelon Day. Have you hugged a watermelon lately? OR your Mom? Call her… She cares!

5. Buyers leaving Toronto housing market. Sales are down 34% from last year with the price of houses falling… No shit!!

4. I used to listen to the FAN590 every morning until one morning I found Don Landry and Gord Stellick boring. I switched to AM640. Then I heard Lou Schizas (Happy Capitalism) and John Oakley in the morning and I’m hooked. Then the FAN fired everyone and now they are even worse. Yay AM640!!!

3. Model Giselle Bundchen has been breast-feeding her child and has obviously discovered why women have boobs. She commented that there should be a law forcing women to breast-feed for at least 6 months, but then underfire from, I don’t know – baby formula makers possibly, she backed off on her comments. I think she’s bang on. All she needed to say was that, if you are able to breast-feed, you should be allowed to. I also feel more assistance should be given to new moms RIGHT AWAY to ensure they get the baby to latch and they continue to feed. It’s a tough, and not at all convenient, task of being baby’s only source of food, but outside of our fast paced societies that’s how babies eat… I’m just saying.

2. How can you tell that we are still in a recession? Look around. You might notice an influx of “Cash for Gold” type stores. Not only are these stores popping up like weeds, but in the news yesterday was a story about one gold-buying store hiring a hitman to kill the owner of another gold-buying store… On Bathurst Street in Toronto… While that won’t mean anything to those of you not in Toronto, but this area of the city is home to a LOT of very Orthodox Jewish families, not exactly the slums of the City. I’m still shaking my head.

1. I just had a conversation with someone who was on vacation for 5 weeks. I asked her where she went and she replied that she was in the country, “Jordan”. I said that I did not realize how close Jordan was to Israel – being right on the other side of the Dead Sea (my son coloured a map of the region at camp). She replied, “Yes, it is very close to Palestine”.
I looked at her, paused, and said, “I’m sorry, I must have missed that… When did they legally change the name from Israel to Palestine??? Last time I looked at a map, which was, oh yesterday, it said Israel”.
She did not reply.
I walked away.

Should I be annoyed???