Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1479836
89 ALAN GIBELEY Giblees in Danvers is a renowned, 10,000-square-foot clothing store selling top-of-the-line menswear from designers around the world, but for Alan Gibeley, president at Giblees, Inc., it's much more than that. "We are almost like a clubhouse," he says. "It's a store where the majority of our clientele is repeat customers. Our clients are our friends." In fact, it's so much like a clubhouse that Giblees has a 12-foot coffee bar where customers can sit with their laptop and a cappuccino and watch TV, shoot the breeze, or get some work done while they wait for their alterations—or just because they want to catch up with friends. It's at that bar where Gibeley especially misses his dad, Robert, who passed away in March and who was the second-generation owner of the business, taking over from his own father. Gibeley says he and his dad would meet at the bar every morning and talk about the business over coffee together. "My dad would normally be right here next to me," he says. Now, he's looking toward the future with his wife and two daughters, and aims to have a presence in Boston again, post-COVID. In the meantime, he's doing what he's always done. "People are looking for the special brands and the special care that we give to every client," he says. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT GOING TO WORK EVERY DAY? My favorite thing is the people and the clothes. I still get up out of my office chair when I see UPS arrive and see what brands are coming in, to see my staff, the receiving personnel, open up the new boxes, whether it's from Italy or another country, and see how it comes in. It's so exciting to open up the brand-new merchandise. And also to meet and greet all our clients who come in. We just have a lot of great people who come in this door, from big executives to blue collar guys who own plumbing companies and electrical companies who have built their small businesses themselves to be, in some cases, massive businesses today. It's a social club on top of a clothing store. WHAT DOES COMMUNITY MEAN TO YOU HERE ON THE NORTH SHORE? This store supports a lot of local fundraising events, and a lot of our clients are part of these and part of running these local charities. I'm always accessible. It's easy to pick up the phone and say, Alan, look I have a fundraiser, can you help me out? Can you do something? And we always do our best to support local, between the high schools and the charitable events that are based nearby. PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL BENJAMIN