1 of 2
Photos by Erin Nelson.
JL and Ken Shaia of Shaia’s men’s clothing at the shop in downtown Homewood on May 8.
2 of 2
Photos by Erin Nelson.
Photographs from the 1920s and 1930s of Shaia’s hang on a wall at the shop.
The early years of JL Shaia’s life were spent sweeping the floors at his family business.
In 1939, JL’s father, AJ, took over the business from his father, SG, who founded the business in 1922. AJ turned the dry goods store into a general store, including apparel for the whole family.
For more than 100 years, the business has served local residents. Since JL and his brother Leo took over the store in 1960 and remodeled in 1963, Shaia’s has specialized in upscale men’s clothing and accessories for residents of Homewood and a growing national and international clientele, said current owner Ken Shaia.
The store has been in existence longer than the city of Homewood. SG, who came to the U.S. from Lebanon at the age of 16 with $10 in his pocket, bought four lots south of Birmingham down a dirt road that eventually became Homewood.
JL said he and Leo recognized the future of the business was in specialized men’s apparel. The work was not easy, he said, as there were already several good men’s clothing stores in Birmingham.
But in the early 1970s, things changed when the brothers found an up-and-coming brand called Ralph Lauren Polo. For the next several years, Shaia’s had exclusive rights to the now-famous brand in the city of Birmingham.
“To make our mark, we had to be a little different,” JL said. “It always drove us to find the right kind of brands.”
Ken said marketing to the area was a “hard thing to forge on the town,” but the store had supporters like George Barber, Robert Simon and Jesse Lewis, progressive thinkers in Birmingham.
The store has always been tailored to the needs of its customers, Ken said. They have also had relationships with most of their vendors for 30 years, who “respect what we’ve created.”
The store has furthered its reach out of state, with more than 30% of business outside Alabama state lines, Ken said, though Homewood remains the “backbone” of the business. In the late 1980s, Ken began accompanying his father to New York and building relationships, and he has continued to evolve the business over the years.
As he took over the business, Ken realized that making the most of his customers’ time was vital.
“I recognized early that our customers ran out of time before they ran out of money,” he said.
The idea of Shaia’s isn’t just to sell clothes, but to create a social opportunity, Ken said. The staff strives to make customers value the service they give, he said, knowing they expect the best.
“We wanted to make sure we didn’t go away,” Ken said. “When they come in here, it’s got to be right … or they’ll spend that money in a bigger city when they’re gone.”
The store has not only been at the heart of Homewood, but within the heart of the Shaia family.
When Ken got called into a courtroom after a speeding ticket, JL showed up. The judge asked him if Ken had a job.
“He can have one at 3 p.m.,” JL told the judge.
Ken began at Shaia’s in the alterations department, but on a particularly busy day, JL told him to come help on the sales floor.
“It was instant,” JL said of Ken’s talent.
AJ called JL to come out of college at Spring Hill to work at the family store, while Ken went straight from high school to the store.
“It was nothing for our family to work 60-hour weeks,” Ken said. “None of our work weeks started with a four. They started with a six.”
Getting to spend his work days with his father was special, Ken said, though there were times where family members begged not to talk about work at the dinner table.
“I’m very fortunate in that I’ve known and been a part of all four generations,” JL said.
When the store was remodeled in 1996, Ken modeled the front-door handle after grapevines, which SG grew in his garden a century before.
It wasn’t always easy working with family, JL said.
“It was tough at times. I was pretty intense,” he said. “Any time you have family business, especially with Lebanese [families], there will be some screaming. But it’s because you’re intense about the business.”
While the store has been passed down from father to son, the Shaia women have all “played a huge role in helping us evolve,” Ken said.
When JL stepped back several years ago, he said he wanted to give his wife the “years she deserves,” because he had spent so much time at the store, which he called his “mistress.”
“It’s all I’ve ever known,” JL said. “The business has become my life. … When you own a business, it becomes part of you.”
Working with family is the way man was meant to work, Ken said.
“I truly believe it’s God’s intention for families to work together,” he said.
JL said it is sometimes hard to put into words what working in the family business means to him.
“To look back now and see 100 years of it makes me extra proud,” JL said.
