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Small Bedford clothing store to close after 64 years
D. Reynolds Men’s Clothing Store will mark its 64th anniversary at its South Bridge Street location in downtown on Nov. 14.But by the end of December, the store will be closed.
Store Manager Ruth Crouch, who has been at the store for 48 years, since July 1963, said a decline in customers is the reason for closing. She said other businesses like Wal-Mart are keeping people away from downtown Bedford.
“People don’t come to downtown because there’s not much in downtown,” she said.
The business was started in 1947 by the Reynolds brothers, Crouch said. The store was actually two stores at the time and the brothers put a door in the wall between them. The brothers had a falling out in 1959 and the door was removed.One side, owned by Dawson Reynolds, was D. Reynolds clothing and the other was Alex’s Shoe Store.
Dawson Reynolds bought out his brother’s shoe business in 1966 and the store became one again, Crouch said. In April 1976, Carl Wells bought the store from Reynolds on the condition that Crouch would run the store.She said the store has always had the best products, from business professional to workman’s clothes and a wide selection of shoes.
“I’ve always tried to keep it neat and clean,” Crouch said.Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce President Susan Martin said more people are going to larger stores and malls, forgoing the service that places like D. Reynolds provides.
“We’re very saddened to see something that has been around for so long and provided such great service to the community have to close its doors after so many years,” Martin said. “When you see something like that close, it’s like a piece of Bedford has been lost.”She said D. Reynolds was a place downtown where teens could get tuxedos for prom and had services like alterations from a staff seamstress. Martin said people of Bedford would have to look outside the city for those needs.“Those are a lot of the services I think we’re going to be missing,” she said.
Assistant City Manager and D. Reynolds customer Bart Warner said Crouch takes a special interest in very customer who comes through the door.“Obviously we’d like to keep them here,” Warner said. “They’re basically an institution in town. They’ll certainly be missed.”Crouch said she does alterations at night and will continue to do that, as well as continue to participate in many other community activities.She’s known around the city as “Pie Lady” for the number of pies she contributes to the community � 2,100 in the last 10 years.

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