GET A SUIT THAT SUITS YOU. While big box clothiers are closing their doors, Muldoon’s Men’s Wear offers quality men’s clothes and a personal touch.

Sixty eight years ago, Hastings Way looked a lot different than it does today. Where in 2018 it’s lined with bustling small businesses, back in 1950 there was a gas station, a bowling alley, a grocery store, a couple restaurants, and Muldoon’s Men’s Wear. Pictures from back then line the walls of the current day Muldoon’s, and it’s baffling to a modern viewer that there’s nothing on either side of the building except grass and dirt.

The people that come in here, they want to look and feel and touch the fabrics ... You can’t see that online. You can’t feel that online. John Muldoon, Muldoon’s Men’s Wear

As much as the evolving landscape surrounding the building has changed over the years, Muldoon’s has kept the spirit of its conception the whole time: Offering quality threads at an affordable price for all the important days of a man’s life. At Muldoon’s you can get custom suits and sportcoats for weddings, anniversaries, or even just a classy everyday look – it’s their bread and butter, and no one in the Valley does it better.

“Those are the original fixtures,” John Muldoon said, pointing to the shelves and racks surrounding the outer walls of the space. He started in the business when he was 10, doing chores around the store when his father, Frank – the founder and longtime owner – was running things. John took over in 1975 and has kept the business thriving with a mantra of in-person service that he feels has gotten lost as the world goes more and more online.

“Some places, if you don’t look like you’ve got a lot of money, they don’t talk to you. There’s five guys standing there in grey suits on their phones, and they don’t come up and talk to you,” John said. “Here, we can react differently, quicker.”

Walking through Muldoon’s is like a menswear paradise. Along the walls are suits and tuxes in every color and fabric, there’s hats everywhere, accessories twinkling on hangers, and racks full to capacity with sturdy and stylish clothes.

For all its vintage charm, Muldoon’s is a sharp business. It’s fashion, after all. Trends come and go and John has to be aware of what his customers are looking for. Not to mention he has to stay privy to the modernization of the industry by quickly adapting to an increasingly digital world as well.

In the mid-90s when the world wide web was coming into fruition, John said he took one hour-long HTML class, went home and built a website from scratch – a simple one, but an effective one. In the first two hours the Muldoon’s website was live, he already had an order from a customer in California. That’s when he realized the huge potential of the internet.

Since day one, their online sales have been strong; in fact, they’re key to Muldoon’s business, now more than ever. To this day, people all over the country – and the globe, in fact – order stuff from Muldoon’s.

But yet, the store here in Eau Claire is truly something special. It’s fully stocked with suits, pants, shirts, ties, flannels, hats, belts, socks, underwear, fragrances, etc. Most stores of its ilk sacrifice quantity for quality in some cases, but Muldoon’s keeps both firmly in stock. The fabrics available are choice, so every customer can get what they’re looking for to their precise specifications.

And luckily there are lots of swatch cards for custom suits and sportcoats to flip through, plus a welcoming staff to find you the perfect fit. And that personality is what keeps people young and old coming back.

“The people that come in here, they want to look and feel and touch the fabrics. There’s some fantastic fabrics here,” Muldoon said. “You can’t see that online. You can’t feel that online. It’s all about in-person service.”

In recent years, two of the fluorescent big box clothiers that were cornerstones of the Oakwood Mall have shuttered their windows, and yet Muldoon’s is still there on Hastings plugging away, doing their thing. It’s the personality of the place and its employees, and the quality of the goods, that has the real draw to bring customers back.

John and his staff are nothing if not dedicated to this business, and you can bet it’s going to stay that way.

“Why didn’t I retire?” John said. “I’m 66 years old. I’d go nuts at home – especially now because we’re having our kitchen re-done. I don’t hunt. I don’t fish. I don’t shoot pool. But this is just fun.”