Even as chain stores have squeezed out small, local businesses, Ted\u2019s Clothiers has grown. The store has expanded from about 1,200 square feet to 3,500 square feet. When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, Ted\u2019s added a separate tall and big clothing section when Kaufman\u2019s, a nearby big and tall men\u2019s store, closed.<\/p>\n
Vasilas said people drive from Nebraska and Kansas to shop at Ted\u2019s. The business also has clients in South Dakota and Iowa. \u201cThere\u2019s no other nice big and tall store except here in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasilas\u2019 daughter,\u00a0Eva Vasilas Fry, in charge of marketing, said the internet has extended the store\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter, she does a very good job,\u201d Vasilas said.<\/p>\n
A key to the store\u2019s many years of success is service, he added. \u201cOur main thing here is nice quality and the best service. We make customers smile and happy and then they send their families, their friends. We have a lot of repeat business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Customers include second and third generations of families. Mark Branish\u2019s father was the chief financial officer for neighboring Craig Hospital when he began shopping at Ted\u2019s. His father used to have breakfast with Vasilas and a few others once a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was starting my career in the financial services arena, so I naturally migrated to Ted\u2019s,\u201d Branish said. \u201cMy brothers all go to Ted\u2019s. My kids bought their homecoming suits from Ted\u2019s. My brother-in-law from South Carolina, when he comes into town, goes to Ted\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n The store and the family are all about relationships and service, Branish said. \u201cI like doing business there. There aren\u2019t many of those local ones left and their service is just a notch above everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n Vasilas and his son Christos, who bought the business in 2016, travel twice a year to markets in Chicago and Dallas to pick out suits, sport coats, pants, shirts and ties. The store also sells shoes, socks and hats. The majority of the store\u2019s suppliers are in Canada. Others are in the U.S., Italy, Turkey and China.<\/p>\n Eva said her father is attuned to the latest in fashion and what she called the \u201cupdated classics.\u201d Vasilas said he has also been \u201cvery, very good for many years in colors.\u201d<\/p>\n Like other businesses, Ted\u2019s Clothiers expects higher costs because of higher tariffs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll absorb some of the tariffs that are going to start coming in. We\u2019ll see them this fall,\u201d Christos said. \u201cWe have absorbed some of the costs and the factories have absorbed some to lessen the hit on the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n The heart of the business, the family believes, is the tailoring shop that sits at the back of the building. Ted\u2019s employs five full-time and two part-time tailors. They work on clothes the store sells as well as clothes people buy elsewhere.<\/p>\n Maria Nasious has worked as a seamstress at Ted\u2019s for 45 years. She is originally from Tripoli, part of the Peloponnese region in southern Greece. She likes the work and the people. \u201cWe speak the same language.\u201d<\/p>\n Christos said the store \u201creally functions from the tailor shop.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnybody can have clothes and sell them,\u201d Christos said. \u201cThe thing here is having a one-stop shop where people can come in and they can walk out that same day with a suit with pants, with something that they needed.\u201d<\/p>\n While working at the store and attending college, Christos took sewing lessons at the Emily Griffith Technical College so he could learn the basics.<\/p>\n Vasilas was around sewing from early on. His mother and sisters sewed for the whole family. They lived in a remote mountain village outside of Arta, more than 200 miles northwest of Athens. He sewed his uniforms when he served in the military and the police department in Athens.<\/p>\n And he learned more about being a tailor when he worked in a shop owned by his wife\u2019s aunt and uncle in Denver\u2019s West Washington Park area. Vasilas practiced in his apartment at night after dinner by taking apart a coat and putting it back together over and over.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to do something and you like it, you can do it,\u201d Vasilas said. \u201cYou have to love what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n Vasilas loves what he does. While the 78-year-old\u2019s goal is to slow down, he said if he\u2019s not on the golf course, he\u2019s at work.<\/p>\n \u201cChris has the experience. He knows everybody. But we\u2019re busy. We are very, very busy,\u201d Vasilas said.<\/p>\n Vasilas attributes the brisk business to not having a lot of competition for the kind of service Ted\u2019s Clothiers offers. The wedding business is booming, with the store providing 100 to 130 clothing rentals a week. The store has 16 employees and is looking to add more.<\/p>\n \u201cIt used to be just the four of us: me, my wife, Chris and one seamstress,\u201d Vasilas said.<\/p>\n His wife, Angeliki, or Angie, still works at Ted\u2019s. She was moving from one task to another on a recent afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cFor 50 years, they\u2019ve worked side by side,\u201d Eva said.<\/p>\n Angeliki, who emigrated from Greece when she was 11, was her husband\u2019s translator at work while he was learning English. Vasilas feels strongly about immigrants learning English when they move to the U.S. He went to the Emily Griffith school twice a week for lessons and then took classes at the University of Colorado-Denver.<\/p>\n![\"Ted](\"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TDP-L-TedsClothiers090925-cha-727.jpg\")
<\/a>The heart of the business<\/h4>\n
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