Jack Holman Menswear celebrates 25 years in business in Bathurst

Located on William Street in Bathurst, Jack Holman Menswear is celebrating a quarter of a century in business, however Mr Holman has been in the industry much longer than that.

After returning to his hometown of Parkes after a stint in Sydney following his high school graduation, Mr Holman said it was hard to find work back then, especially in a small town.

While his father was a terrific builder, and hoped that one day his son would follow in his footsteps, Mr Holman found his passion elsewhere.

While looking for a job, the owner of a local menswear shop - Esquire Mercer's - offered him three days of work cleaning out the back room.

After doing such a great job, Mr Holman was offered a full-time position, and that was the start of 40-odd years in the retail industry.

"I started work with a chain store called Esquire Mercer's that had a store here in Bathurst, but I started in the Parkes store," Mr Holman said.

"It got to the point where there were too many staff there at the time, so I was given the option of going to the store in Cowra or Bathurst.

"I thought I'd come to Bathurst because if it didn't work out then there's other opportunities for work, with Bathurst being a bigger town."

After working with Esquire Mercer's for about 10 years, Mr Holman was seconded to work at a formalwear shop in Melbourne.

Being in the 'shopping capital' for 18 years, Mr Holman learnt a lot before returning to Bathurst, where he decided to start his own business.

With a little encouragement from a close friend, Mr Holman began his first business venture on April 6, 1998, and is currently the longest serving men's retail shop still trading in Bathurst.

"I came back [from Melbourne] and my friend said why don't you open your own, so I went with his advice and decided to give it a go," Mr Holman said.

"I've always been in this store, it's certainly changed from when I first opened, but I just built on it over the 25 years.

"The front of it is completely changed from what it looked like initially, but that was a vision that I had and I was lucky to have a landlord who was prepared to go with the ideas that I had, and it's evolved into this."

One of Mr Holman's fondest memories of his time as a retail shop owner was when he was given the opportunity to dress the NSW Sheffield Shield team.

He said it was an absolute honour to provide the first-class men's cricket team with their formal and casual attire.

"The thing that I got a lot of joy out of was, going back about 20 years go, I got a call to outfit the NSW Sheffield Shield side for their total suits and casual clothing.

"I was competing against two or three big Sydney companies and I got the nod to do it. I was very proud of that."

Over the years, a lot has changed in men's retail, but Mr Holman has worked hard to stay up with the trends and cater for everyone.

While retirement was on his mind in mid-2022, Mr Holman still enjoys going to work everyday and doing what he loves.

So for now, he will continue to supply Bathurst with top quality clothing, and he encourages people to pop in and check out what's on offer.

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