Retail

The new Short Pump store comes about a year after Gearharts shuttered its former location at 306 Libbie Ave., where it operated for more than a decade.

Families and founders behind decades-old stores opted to take their leave in 2023, while other brands added new locations around the region.

The local menswear company is underway on a new chapter in which customizable clothing largely drives its revenue.

It’s one of two new Marshalls locations in the works in Chesterfield County and will join a new residential section underway at Westchester Commons.

The competing convenience store chains have plans in the works to further expand their footprints in the Richmond market.

“My initial investment was maybe $250. I told my husband the first year, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I made $1,000?’ It really just all started as kind of a joke,” said Brady Zizzo.

“The passion for fashion derived from church,” said owner Andre’ McLaughlin. “Baptist churches, no matter how old you are, you put on a suit.”

“The entire shop looks like a Bob Ross painting,” owner Lake Stephens said of the murals and décor in her shop.

“Yesterday was like graduating from college, or like having another child. It was such a happy occasion,” Gary Weiner said of the sale. “You work hard for a long time and you want to see that success.”

It would be the chain’s third outpost in the region and first to open in Chesterfield, following locations in Short Pump and Carytown that have opened in the last couple years.