Samuelsohn acquired by Grano Retail Investments

TORONTO—Samuelsohn, the Canadian better men’s tailored clothing firm, has been acquired by Grano Retail Investments. Grano’s founder and CEO, Stephen Granovsky, will be the new chief executive of Samuelsohn. Granovsky has hired former Brioni Retail U.S. COO Paolo Torello-Viera as chief operating officer for Samuelsohn. Torello-Viera has also served as an EVP at Ermenegildo Zenga. The new ownership intends to make more hiring announcements in the coming weeks.

“We’ve been working on the deal for a year,” Granovsky told MR. Granovsky, a Toronto-based retail consultant who started Grano Retail Investments with Lawrence Pollack in 2007, bought out the Samuelsohn brothers, Michael and Richard. “Samuelsohn has been this business that everybody’s known about, but has been too hidden or too small to gain any legitimate exposure or lasting impression; we intend to change that.”

Granovsky has plans to update the brand’s fashions, expand its marketing and increase its price flexibility. “I would hesitate to say we’ll drop our prices, but we do expect to bring some flexibility to a brand that has been fixed in its price proposition,” he said. Currently, Samuelsohn suits retail for around $1,200.

Granovsky said that his team had reservations about the acquisition when the possibility presented itself some 18 months ago, given the economy, but the deal proved too tempting to pass up.

“We spoke to a lot of retailers, both specialty stores and department stores, and heard a unanimous response, which was that Samuelsohn was second to none in quality and that it was a hidden gem with a great deal of potential,” Granovsky said. “If we could take this high quality garment and add a level of sophistication with respect to marketing, merchandising and fashion direction—as well as the way the product is brought to market from a sales and distribution point of view—we could probably grow the business substantially.”

That potential, given Samuelsohn’s reputation as a manufacturer that doesn’t focus on marketing, could be great. The company currently has about 250 North American accounts, almost all of them independent specialty stores. “It’s hard to find apparel brands where you believe you can double or triple the size of the business in three to five years. We believe we can, and I don’t say that flippantly,” Granovsky said.

He added that this will mean getting into department stores. “We have a lot of specialty stores that will want us to tread carefully and thoughtfully before we see our product for sale in a department store,” he said. “We want to be careful that we do it in a way that totally respects our current customers.”

Montreal-based Samuelsohn was founded by Lesser Samuelsohn in 1923. It’s been run by the founder’s grandsons, Michael and Richard Samuelsohn since the 1960s. The brand is carried in better men’s specialty stores throughout the Canada and the U.S., including Harry Rosen, The Bay, Garys, Malouf’s, Oak Hall and Hubert White. Samuelsohn also does private label business with Paul Stuart.