Derry business 'busier than ever' bagging three top award nominations

Bryan, who also owns Mark 2 Menswear in Carndonagh, has his hands full since taking over the business when his father David retired over a year ago. The Inishowen native says business is doing better than ever with the rise of social media and the recent awards are a testament to his hard-working team.

Bryan said: “Cityman has been going in one form or another for about 70 odd years, maybe even more than that. My father took it over in 2010 and before that it belonged to a man called Colm Doherty and before that it was called Morgan's Menswear, owned by a man called Danny Morgan and run by his brother Barney. That's been back to at least the 50s, maybe further. Dad took it over in 2010 and he retired just over a year ago.

"My father had a shop in Carndonagh, called Mark's Menswear. He ran that for over 40 years and then in 2014 he decided to close that shop because he'd taken over Cityman. It was so busy up here, he just didn’t have the time. So when he was closing, I decided I'd open a shop in Carndonagh called Mark 2 Menswear. I ran that while helping him out in Cityman here in the city but now that he's retired, I'm running both of them myself.

"Derry's a good city for retail, we've been very busy since we took over in 2010.Things have changed a bit since then and suits have become very popular. Back in 2010, if somebody came in for a suit, they could have a blue one, a grey one or a black one, whereas now there's over 60 different options in the shop. I think Conor McGregor was a big part of the rise when he became popular and the use of Facebook and Instagram now, too. It used to be that you could wear the same suit to a few different weddings whereas now, you wear it once and it's all over Instagram and people want something different for the next one. Certainly in the suit game, it's busier than ever.”

Bryan says they haven’t been plagued by the rise of online shopping as much as other retailers might be because when it comes to getting the right suit, it's hard to beat the help of an experienced tailor.

"It's difficult to get a suit right,” he said. “Most people know their t-shirt size or their short size so they can go online and buy that stuff quite comfortably without worrying. It's very difficult to buy a suit and get a fitting right online and I think that's what stands to us. We offer a one-to-one service where, when you come into the shop, we talk you through the process and make sure everything fits. Most people who come into the shop don’t know what size they wear but our team has well over a hundred years experience combined so you’re in the best hands when it comes to suits. There's nothing we haven't seen or done when it comes to suiting and we are here to help. We’ve been here so long that people can trust that we’ll guide them in the right direction. We're incredibly lucky with our staff; none of this would be possible without them.”

“We hear so many stories of people who got their communion suit with us and now they’re coming to get their wedding suit and it’s so lovely. We have a tagline that we've been using; ‘Every suit tells a story’ and it really is so true. It's fun to see people growing up, from getting their formal suit then coming back for their wedding suit. We are very lucky that 90% of our customers are coming in for a very exciting occasion, whether it's a communion, a formal or a wedding and we're getting to be a small part of their big day and of that excitement.”

The hard work has been paying off for Cityman, who have been nominated for three awards this year so far, while Bryan’s other shop, Mark 2 Menswear, has also been winning awards.

“The first award Cityman won this year was Retailer of the Year in the North West Business Awards, which is run by the City Centre Initiative here in the town,” said Bryan.” We really enjoyed the experience of the award because we got to tell them about out business and have them come round and have a look and we also got to know other business around us. As retailers, when you're busy, you're very self-focused. I would come to work and drive past shops I’d never been in before, do my work and go home again. The really nice thing about that award was that we were up against Yum Cakes and Ferry Clever and I'd never been in these places, I’m not even sure I had heard of them, but once we were nominated we went to introduce ourselves and it was really nice to meet these people and to see that there’s other thriving and exciting businesses out there. They've called in since to get suits from us and we've gone there, probably too many times now, eating cupcakes! Chris from Ferry Clever is a lovely guy, and I’ve sent people his way and vice versa. So it's nice to be out networking and meeting the other businesses.

"We’re up now for Menswear Retailer of the Year in the Drapers Independent Awards and we're very excited about this because it's a UK and Ireland award. It's judged by a panel of experts and we've been announced as one of eight finalists across the UK and Ireland. We're delighted, we really weren't expecting it!

"The final award is run by Retail NI and it's called High Street Heroes. They do a lot of different categories and the one we were eligible for was Fashion Retailer of the Year. This was entirely down to public vote, which was really nice and we got a bronze award as Fashion Retailer of the Year for Northern Ireland. We've had a great year.”

“I'd like to thank all of our loyal customers, as these awards wouldn't be possible without them. Travelling to London to represent the North West in these upcoming awards is an amazing honour and we are very thankful for your continued support. Regardless of the outcome, we will still be here to serve you for years to come!"