MASTERS TUXEDO Family plans to reopen 2 stores

The company already has 27 tuxedo, costume and dry cleaning stores in five states and Washington, D.C.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The family that helped found the Masters Tuxedo chain in Youngstown 53 years ago is making plans to reopen two Masters stores that other owners shuttered just last week.
Ken Krainock, the son of founder Andrew J. Krainock and owner of Masters Tuxedo shops in Las Vegas and West Virginia, said the family is determined to keep "a presence" in the city where the company had its roots.
"We haven't worked out the details yet, but we expect to be back in the very, very near future, hopefully in time for prom season," he said. "I'll be ferrying back and forth from Las Vegas, working on the business plan to get it up and running."
Andrew Krainock, now retired at age 75, still lives in the Campbell area. "We're going to pull him out of retirement to help us bring the Masters presence back to Youngstown," Ken Krainock said.
Masters Tuxedo shops in Boardman, Austintown and Youngstown closed a week ago, with owners Mark and Delores Jacobson citing financial troubles caused by slow sales. The couple bought the Mahoning County operations from the Krainock family in 1998 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for their business a year ago.
Mark Jacobson said Wednesday he hadn't heard about the Krainocks' plan and had no comment.
Wants to diversify
Krainock said Jacobson had been a Masters employee for more than 20 years when he bought the Youngstown-area operations.
"Mark is just one person. There's nothing he did right or wrong," he said. "I just think we have more assets, so we'll be able to diversify a little bit more."
Krainock said Masters used to do a lot of wholesale dry cleaning for customers outside the area. "I think it's still a viable business. We can make a go of it. We have a lot of resources," he said.
Masters Tuxedo, still owned mainly by members of the Krainock family, has 14 stores in the Washington, D.C., area, 10 in West Virginia and three in Las Vegas. It also operates a large service area in the D.C. area.
Its stores in the Washington area feature retail bridal shops and costume rental, as well as tuxedo rental and dry cleaning. The Las Vegas stores offer valet tuxedo rental, delivering formal wear to visitors in the city; the West Virginia stores offer only dry cleaning and tuxedo rental.
At its peak, Krainock said, the chain operated 75 stores around the country, but owners have been closing its unprofitable stores over the past six or seven years.
Andrew Krainock and partner Nicholas B. Masters opened the first Masters Tuxedo in 1949 on East Commerce Street in downtown Youngstown. In the 1980s and early 1990s the chain was known for serving as the official formal-wear supplier for the presidential inaugurations.
vinarsky@vindy.com