GLIK'S IN BUSINESS ALMOST A CENTURY; FAMILY OPERATION GOT START IN 1897

Glik's is having an anniversary celebration.

The retail clothing chain, which carries a variety of men's, women's and children's apparel, is observing its 95th year this month.

"We are in the process of carrying out several special anniversary promotions," said a spokesman at Glik's headquarters in Granite City, Ill. "These include shopping sprees, backstage passes for top concerts, free gifts and other events to be held before Oct. 25."

The Glik's chain, which started with one store in 1897, now has 35 stores in Missouri and Illinois, and more in the planning stages.

Glik's has a store in West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau.

"The Cape Girardeau store provides men's and women's apparel," said Bob Glik, vice president of advertising. "And we're thinking about a second store a $10 And Less or $15 And Less at the mall."

The Glik's group includes five different operations: 20 Glik Stores, which include 11 stores featuring men's and women's apparel and nine stores which include women's, men's and children's apparel; four Glik's Ltd.; one Glik's For Guys; nine $10 And Less; and one Glik's Sports Shoes.

"Our company has always been willing to change with the times," said Glik. "That, and our associates at each operation, have been key ingredients that have enabled us to prosper and grow during the past 95 years."

Glik is one of four children of Joe Glik involved in the business. Joe Glik is chief executive officer; his son Jeff Glik is president of the firm; his son Jim Glik is vice president of men's merchandising; and Bob Glik is vice president of advertising. Joe Glik's daughter, Judy Glik, is general manager of the $10 And Less division.

Glik's is one of the oldest family-owned retail apparel operations in the nation, The 35-store chain had its humble beginning on North Broadway in St. Louis.

The Glik name has been associated with retail clothing for more than a century.

Joe Glik's grandfather, Joe Glik, came to the U.S. in the 1880s, and for more than a decade he sold clothing and dry goods to merchants in rural Iowa and Missouri. In 1891 he moved to the St. Louis area and worked as a salesman at various clothing shops on North Broadway.

In 1897 he opened his own St. Louis store.

Many of Glik's customers at his St. Louis store lived in the Illinois communities of Granite City, Madison, and Venice. Many families from those areas also worked in St. Louis and were ferried to their jobs from Illinois. Once on the Missouri side, they found it convenient to shop in the stores that dotted North Broadway on their way to work or after work.

Glik's entry into the Illinois market was enhanced when Glik's son, Morris, completed high school, and was put in charge of a new store at Madison.

The store was called Good Luck Stores. It later became the Boston Store, a common name for clothing stores throughout the nation at the turn of the century.

"The name Boston was associated with urbaness and good tastes," said Bob Glik. "Therefore, a store by that name denoted fineness and high quality."

Morris Glik became active in his community and was an early financial supporter of St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Granite City. The store grew, and in 1915 moved to larger quarters.

As the full-line department store concept took hold, a 10,000-square-foot Glik's department store was constructed in 1925 at 3rd and Madison Avenue marked by a new name, "Glik's."

Morris Glik died in 1945, while his son, Joe, was in service. Mrs. Glik (Elsie) managed the store until Joe returned from service and graduated from Washington University. Joe Glik the third generation then assumed management of the business.

It wasn't until the mid-1950s that the Glik chain started.

In 1954, with strip-shopping centers emerging, Joe Glik kept pace with the times. He opened a department store in a Granite City strip-shopping center, which concentrated on men's, women's and children's apparel as well as shoes.

The store was successful. Glik opened six more stores in strip centers in Madison and St. Clair counties. Customers soon started to recognize the Glik named in such communities as Granite City, Alton, Godrey, Belleville, Edwardsville and Cahokia.

During the 1980s, Joe Glik's three sons Jeff, Jim, and Bob joined the family operation. Several specialty-store concepts were introduced. Glik's Ltd. targeted the 18-to-25-year-old crowd; Glik's for Guys opened in shopping malls in St. Louis and Illinois.

By the end of the 1980s, the company had grown to 24 operations.

Glik's is enjoying even greater success in the 1990s, due to its newest concept of stores, ~$10 And Less, a group of nine men's and women's apparel stores that sell everything for $10 or less.

Judy Glik joined the company after experience in other retail stores, both specialty and department, to head the $10 and Less operation.

The first $10 And Less store was established in Highland, Ill., in fall 1988.

"The public reacted with great enthusiasm," said Bob Glik. "Two more of the stores were added in 1990, three in 1991, and two this year. Another one is on the planning board for 1992."

Sales for the Glik group in 1992 are expected to exceed $18 million.

"We're probably looking at one more $10 And Less store this year," said Bob Glik. "But over the next 12 months, we're looking at at least two or three more $10 And Less operations and one Glik's Store."

Glik said the Cape Girardeau operation was "going very well.

"That's one of the reasons we're looking at the possibility of a second store there," he said. "It may be a $10 And Less, or it could be a $15 And Less operation. Another reason for our interest in a second store is Tony Stephens; we have great cooperation with Stephens, the mall manager."