Back in 1980, Bob Prenner, the managing director of Ben Silver in Charleston, South Carolina, began wearing a pair of Lafont eyeglasses he'd picked up in Paris, prompting his customers to take a sudden interest in spectacles. His response? To start stocking eyewear. That, in a tortoiseshell, is the Ben Silver ethos: Bring a bit of the wider world to Charleston, and keep locals and tourists appeased. This men's emporium, on lower King Street in the Holy City's historic district, exalts the gentlemanly life. Framed thank-you notes from presidents past hang near the doorway. And here one can find attire suitable for Low Country fox hunts and tartans for the Piping and Marching Society of Lower Chalmers Street's annual spring rout (when members of the all-male philosophical drinking club don kilts and carry torches through the peninsula's scenic cobblestone lanes accompanied by bagpipers). "Charleston is an old city that has honored tradition for centuries, and over the years we have seen Ben Silver evolve into one of those revered Charleston institutions," says Mayor Joe Riley, now in his ninth term.
The history behind the Ben Silver business is just as distinguished, dating back to the 1930s, when Mr. Silver himself manufactured overcoats in New York City's Flatiron district. After President Kennedy was televised walking across the White House lawn coatless in 1961, American men opted to go to work sans outerwear, and Silver diversified into wholesale blazers and enamel buttons and cufflinks. To Silver's surprise, these accents — some imprinted with university and prep school insignia and others designed to commemorate presidential inaugurations — quickly outsold the jackets.
After his death in 1978, Silver's daughter, Sue Prenner, and her husband, Bob, left their jobs as Manhattan attorneys and relocated the enterprise to Charleston. "Bob and I wanted to make the store a success as a testament to my father," Sue explains. "We have always tried to stay true to his sense of style."
The Prenners expanded the business with ties — university, club, polka dot, British regimental stripe. "Now we sell everything from underwear to hats," says Bob. The ties are top sellers, favored by David Letterman, Martin Sheen, and Charleston's own Stephen Colbert, who wore them occasionally on The Daily Show before he launched The Colbert Report. "I love Ben Silver's regimental-stripe ties," Colbert says. "When I put one on, I like to pretend that I'm serving in an actual regiment."
Ben Silver has also outfitted politicians, including Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Bushes 41 and 43. "Gregory Peck bought some ties from us because he wanted to emulate Cary Grant," Bob reveals, mentioning a solid silvery blue model he offers, similar to ones Grant sported in the Alfred Hitchcock films. "Grant purchased blazer buttons from us but never actually bought ties."
Despite the store's popularity, the Prenners are still the quintessential mom-and-pop owners, freely offering assistance. When a customer, admiring a sumptous leather wallet, confides, "I'm just looking. I don't need anything," Bob flashes a knowing smile and replies: "We don't sell anything you need. We only sell things you want."
Ben Silver, 149 King Street, Charleston, SC 29401, 800-221-4671; bensilver.com.
