Bruce Nicholson, owner of Nicholson’s Men’s Clothiers in Gig Harbor, has been in business for 25 years. That’s pure braggin’ rights in the privately owned clothing store world.

How has Nicholson done it?

He stays up on fashion trends, pays attention to what people are wearing locally and talks to his customers to discern what influences his male buyers. Plus, he’s top-notch in the customer service department.

“Men look at shopping differently than women do,” explains Nicholson. “Women often shop just for the pleasure of looking over the racks and are satisfied even if they don’t purchase anything. Most men want to get in, get their thing and be done.”

Nicholson cites television shows Ultimate Fight Club and the AFC as having a huge impact on younger men’s style choices. The curled under brims of baseball caps have been replaced with rigid flat ones. Wide, baggy pants and oversized shirts are being left on the rack in favor of slimmer fit tees that are narrower through the chest and rib cage (show off those pectorals, baby). Edgy graphics on shirts have solidly moved from a small image on the front with larger designs on the back to designs that fully eclipse the shirt front à la Sanctify Clothing. The Alabama-based company generates shirts with images from religious historical paintings, scroll scripture phrases and overlaid splatter effect. Hot.

Decidedly replacing the coat in many men’s wardrobes this year are hoodies lined with faux fur and made of thicker fabrics. Nicholson’s Men’s Clothiers is currently adjacent to his other venture, Fashion First, for women and girls. He says it’s been a bit tough on his family for him to run two stores for all these years and that the decision to combine the two separate shops has come with a sense of relief. The men’s store will move into the lower back section of Fashion First the beginning of January 2009.

[Nicholson’s Men’s Clothiers, 4906 Point Fosdick Dr. N.W., Gig Harbor, 253.851.8350]