A national clothing store shut down its store in Oakland, CA as a show of solidarity with occupiers who called for a general strike.
“The Mens Wearhouse closed its store near Oakland City Hall today, for one day, to express the company’s concern for the issue of wealth disparity in our country,” read a statement from the company’s headquarters.
Mens Wearhouse generated widespread attention on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter after the store shut down.
“The issue affects our employees and customers across the political spectrum,” the company’s statement concluded.
Company official declined to be interviewed.
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Lost my business…
Well crap. I've used them for years, but I, too, will vote with my wallet.
Never shopped there, Now I never will
Way to go Mens Wearhouse!
I don't get why companies that exist as a result of the free market support the socialist agenda of the "protesters". If the "protesters" succeed then the company dies and the government is in charge of supplying all the suits to those they feel are deserving. Are you nuts?
I'm not pro-OWS, but saying they have a socialist agenda just proves that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. You don't even understand socialism versus communism. The Occupy movements are evolving now to be about taking back government for the people, because somewhere along the line we lost ourselves and lost the government in the process. I'm a finance and macroeconomics student, I'm as pro-capitalism as you're gonna find, but you really should learn about what you're talking about before you open your mouth.
Noel, you talk like you think you know everything… Nothing short to be expected from arrogant kids like you to pretend to be "finanace and macroeconomics" student. That's right though, a STUDENT who has not stepped into the real world. The majority of the protestor are taking an obvious slant that dislikes capitalism, period. In addition, there is a fine line between the type of Socialism the little kids of college advocate for today, and communism… Look at China's economic system. Don't rip on Miss Jones what you read out of a book, look at history. BTW, I went to college AND I have my MBA, so before you rant, read a bit more. "lost our government…." sheesh, from the sound of it, you don't know much except what you "read" and maybe a little of Mike Moore sprinkled on top. The occupy crowd is a bunch of losers who can't even decide what kind of change they are looking for… Just complain, moan, grown, and do nothing but disrupt other people's lives, an infringement on other people's personal liberties. Read up on that as well.
Joel, you talk like you know anything at all, and you make wild judgments about my life without knowing anything. I've taken internships and I am very connected in the business world, believe me. Just because I'm a student doesn't discredit my opinion, and just because you have an MBA doesn't make yours any more valid, especially seeing as how some of the The Occupy crowd are attempting to stand for something, and not ALL of them are taking an anti-capitalist stance. These sweeping generalizations are why it's hard to take you seriously. And I know China's economic system better than just about any country's, it's a mixed Command-Free Market economy, but that doesn't mean Laurie knows anything more or less about socialism v. communism. You're creating a point out of thin air, and then telling me I'm wrong about it. And I hate Michael Moore with a passion, he's an arrogant prick, so don't tell me what I believe. They are well aware of what their goal is, which is a goal that is adaptable for all citizens. It is not a blanket statement goal, because there are so many different categories of people protesting, that the goal simply becomes hear our voices. I talk like I know everything because, on this particular subject, I know a great deal, so don't you dare talk down to me because I'm a student.
And you cannot POSSIBLY talk about an infringement on other people's personal liberties being performed by the Occupy groups, their right to peaceful protest and public assembly is being infringed upon every single day. I know you second amendment fundies like to think that you're the only ones who ever get civil liberties challenged, but it is just blatantly not true.
Joel Pinckert Excuse me for commenting but you mr. Pinckert have just demonstrated that you like miss Jones don't have a clue what socialism is. You fall into the mistake of believing that any form of socialism is communism. The difference between them can be huge, just look at the different socialist countries in the world. I live in a social-democratic country and yes even from afar we can see that the USA that was a beacon of freedom is now bought by big corporations. You should ask for the money back on you education if you don't get why people are demonstrating. As for you looking at China. Look to Scandinavia. We have social democratic system. Norway don't have a national debt but a surplus. Why? well mostly because our elected Representative are not bought by the private sector who only think of making money. Government should think of the people all of its citizens, not just the top 1%.
Ørjan Renè Helle you are an idiot…..a country of over 300 million people who historically identifies primarily with freedom at all costs even unto death, whom historically has stuggled mightily to forged greatness out of nothing to become the leader of the free world, that saved Europe from facism and communism, that has fed the world…..you ungrateful stupid punk ass little bitch…..we are a melting pot that argues the merits of ideas until the freedom idea ultimately wins….socialism has always lost the debate until now….it has reared it's ugly head again with the smear that Capitalism is evil…. discounting that it has fed, clothed and brought prosperity to more people than anything else in the History of Mankind……It's easy for a country with a few million subsidized out the ass by the E.U. to point out it's lack of economic woes and claim socialism is great….your looking at a different animal with the U.S. being the most benevolent, strong, and sane system ever devised…..mind you I didn't say perfect….far from it….it simply offers the most dignified opportunity of proving human potential of any other governmental system. The root of most of the problems we face always comes back to our flirtation wit socialism…..period!
Noel Purcell, Most of our problems in the U.S stem from our flirtation with Socialism…..period. From F.D.R's New Deal, to all the nanny state ideals proposed by liberals over the years that rob the dignity from individuals to forge something great from LEGITIMATE struggle and then we have the middle east….it just go's on and on and on……Liberalism is a cancer and it is related intimately to communism and socialism and ultimately soft of hard tyranny. To all you left leaning idiots wake up!!!! Utopia does not exist in your ideas!!!!!!!
Noel Purcell Sorry Noel the OWS is not about taking back the country for the people. If you listen carefully about what their demands are it's all about ME ME ME ME ME ME. F' everyone else, on the other hand the Tea Party rallies have all been about taking back the government for the people, and guess what they have had ideas, and even got some elected, all this OWS is gonna do is get politians fired for supporting these fools. If this is so about taking back the Govt' for the people then why the rapes, the public masterbation, the violence, the vandalism, and ALL THE COMMUNIST AN SOCIALIST SIGNS. Take a good look at who is supporting these people, George Soros is one and he is a self-confirmed socialist.
Noel Purcell and an atheist. Why are the people demonstrating? Because Millenials are lazy f–ks who expect everything handed to them without slightest effort. I guarantee 90%+ of the "protesters" own an i-phone, laptop car etc and have no idea what real poor is. Theyre just upset they may have to work their way up the ladder…
oh no, i got a
degree and Im not making $100,000 a year, it must be the evil corporations.
None of you people even deserve dignified response. And Reagan fucked the economy, intense laissez-faire fucked us. The Tea Party is full of moron yuppies with no tolerance.
Ørjan Renè Helle your a tool…..
Kelly Hanna, Hey guys you are obviously informed people. Go easy on Noel and Orjan. They are victims of a press that is partisan and ideologically left. The last time I looked Europe was in big economic trouble and as a result I believe they were looking to lean on Germany to help bail out the rest of the countries( the situation is so fluid this may have recently changed). Now that we know that Norway has a surplus maybe Germany won't have to go at it alone. BTW; Noel I do not know if you have taken a political science class, but when one group looks to be given another groups resources without contributing to the generation of those resources and wants those resources taken by force through a proxy (government) that's not really capitalism.
I just stopped bieng a Men's Wearhouse customer.
This was not the smartest move in history…but the person making that decision has a good job and is paid for ignorance.
Kelly used to work for them years ago…
Companies are not too smart taking sides in such debates. Keep your mouth shut and stay clear of such an issue. Otherwise you will lose customers from one side or the other. Not a smart move at all…
Didn't do them any good… I understand they got their window smashed anyway.
I worked for The Mens Wearhouse for almost 6 years…..I saw the company go public and grow and grow and grow thanks to the free market and a aggressive prisoner take all company model that shuttered the doors of many clothing retail outlets.The company primarily services the business guy so you may ask why they are doing this? George Zimmer is a very smart, avowed pot smoking drugged out anarchist hippie in a suit who happens to love money and power as well…..hypocrite to the extreme…with that said, do not underestimate this man…….Ultimately the company has to answer to it's stock holders and too whom it sells it's clothes too so this will not bode well for them. This protest has stirred the 60's revolutionary socialistic leanings of George Zimmer…it has reawakened his leftest leanings…. of course he can "afford" to want communism now…..he made his in the very system he previously and currently is protesting. This communistic utopian ideal is based on the most profound wishful thinking on Marxist ideas repackaged ad nauseum. It is evil, it is stupid and it is even more elitist than the system it proposes to replace.
I will never buy a single article of clothing from the Mens Wearhouse again and speaking of protest, I encourage everyone else to never buy anything there as well!
Way before M.W. went public and George Zimmer still had his office in Houston and moved it to Freemont Cali we could smell Marijuana coming from his office…..People played golf on these worker reward type outings he had for employees and he would leave huge half smoked roaches tossed on the green pardon the pun….I know M.W employees who personally got high with the man…….I am no saint and yes I stupidly partook quite a bit way back when i worked there from 89 to 95…..but it was well known that George was a stoner hippie radical who made good in business and i partied with some of the people who partied with him…..Clothing was a business his father was into as well…George was a buyer for a major retailer that rejected his ideas on product buys…..And his instincts we're right no doubt, just look at the Mens Wearhouse and how they blew up….. he is a business genius and I personally think he has a good heart but that is all offset by his radical ideas from the left…..people like George Zimmer ( Founder of the Mens Wearhouse ) are lost in an ideology of utopian World View that would be laughable if it's so called intentions of equality were not so tied to anarchy, communism/socialism, which always devolves into Tyranny over and over and over and over…..what makes all this so stupid is we only have thousands of years of history to look at that proves my point. Give me freedom or give me death!
“The issue affects our employees and customers across the political spectrum,” the company’s statement concluded.
and they guarantee it!
I worked for The Mens Wearhouse for 6 years…..I saw the company go public and grow and grow and grow thanks to the free market and a nasty prisoner take all company model that shuttered the doors of many clothing retail outlets…….The company primarily services the business guy so you may ask why they are doing this? George Zimmer is a very smart, avowed pot smoking drugged out anarchist hippie in a suit who happens to love money and power as well…..hypocrite to the extreme…….Ultimately the company has to answer to it's stock holders and too whom it sells it's clothes too so this will not bode well for them. This protest has stirred the 60's revolutionary socialistic leanings of George Zimmer…it has reawakened his leftest leanings…. of course he can "afford" to want communism now…..he made his in the very system he previously and currently protested. This communistic utopian ideal is based on the most profound wishful thinking on Marxist ideas repackaged ad nauseum. It is evil, it is stupid and it is even more elitist than the system it proposes to replace.
I will never buy a single article of clothing from the Mens Wearhouse as long as I live and speaking of protest I encourage everyone else to never buy anything there as well!
Wow Kelley well said. I don't know about the whole drugged out anarchist hippie stuff, but the rest of it is right on. This is nothing more than a token political statement to satisfy his buddies. I suspect his store in Oakland is a low revenue location. It would be more meaningful to close a high revenue producing store or if he wrote a large check out of his own pocket to pay back the student loans for many of these occupiers. Better yet maybe he can chip in financially with George Soros and the group previously known as "Acorn" since I suspect they could use the financial help in keeping this thing going.
good to know, I wont be going there again. ACORN a part of this… NOOOOOO never. lol
Sarcasm.
Richard Rick Jackley ….way before M.W. went public and George Zimmer still had his office in Houston we could smell Marijuana coming from his office…..People played golf on these worker reward type outings he had for employees and he would leave huge half smoked roaches tossed on the green pardon the pun….I know M.W employees who personally got high with the man…….I am no saint and yes I stupidly partook quite a bit way back when i worked there from 89 to 95…..but it was well known that George was a stoner hippie radical who made good in business…..heck, clothing was a business his father was into as well…George was a buyer for a major retailer that rejected his ideas on product buys…..And his instincts we're right no doubt, just look at the Mens Wearhouse and how they blew up…..no doubt he is a genius and I personally think he has a good heart but the radical ideas he expoused are just so dangerous…..people like George Zimmer ( Founder of the Mens Wearhouse ) are lost in an ideology of utopian World View that would be laughable if it's so called intentions of equality were not so tied to anarchy, communism/socialism, which always devolves into Tyranny ober and over and over and over…..what makes all this so stupid is we only have thousands of years of history to look at that proves my point…
Kelly Hanna, Kelly, you are a breath of fresh air and obviously well versed in your understanding of the pitfalls of egalitarianism. As you well stated, attempts to institute such social structures has resulted in the loss of ambition, innovation and ultimately loss of wealth and quality of life. The interesting element of the mind set of the liberal elites such as Zimmer is that they plan on maintaining their wealth and life style regardless of the social restructuring . They have no interest in participating in what will be the economic standing of the masses and see themselves as the guiding light and decision makers for the perceived myopic general population. Much of this perception is in a earnest desire to resolve the issues of poverty and perceived social injustice. The war on poverty has been ongoing for 50 years and has had little success in resolving the underlying issues…which are under-education, social decline and lack of job skills. The issues of access of been resolved. Finally, you are correct, history has proven that when instituted these ideological systems ultimately lower the quality of life dramatically for all with the exception for the states elites.
Kelly Hanna, Kelly you are a breath of fresh air and you obviously have a firm understanding of the pitfalls of ideologies that profess to create an egalitarian society. I too believe that wealthy liberals like Mr. Zimmer have a sincere desire to resolve poverty and social injustice, but they never address the true aliments (cause)….inadequate public education, community and social decline, absence of relevant job skills. And when efforts are made to remedy these glaring problems….school vouchers, teacher performance incentives, testing to determine certain school district resource needs…..They side with their typical political constituency groups….i.e. teacher unions and leftist judges who flex their political muscle to stuff out any reform. Yes and history has taught us that these ideologies still result in a ruling class, the only difference is this group of states elites claim to really care.
thank you richard!!! absolutely!!! To me it is just common sense…..no special brain power needed though ……unfortunately there is a profound indoctrination perpetrated in the media and in our education system especially on the college level that marxism is great but of course worded differently…they use words such as progressivism, socialism, humanism, equality, wealth redistribution, and on and on…..At least with capitalism hard work is mostly rewarded……class warfare is alive and well!!!!!
You are so correct regarding the relabeling and packaging of the same ideological bunk. I am mostly concerned with the indoctrination in the school system. My son (who is in the university of Central Florida) advised me that the liberal bias was much worse in High School than what he is experiencing at the university.
The CEO of Men's Wearhouse as you know is George Zimmer his net worth is $800,000,000.00 and he worked hard for it. The OWS want to punish the likes of him, there is nothing illegal about "corporate greed" sure it's immoral but that is the way it is, The OWS should instead occupy their respected representatives to Congress, in a professional manner like the TEA- Party.
Thomas – I guess I have to disagree with you on the idea that "corporate greed" is immoral if I understood you right. Under the free market system there is nothing immoral about it at all. If corporations do not make a profit, none of us have jobs.
Marvin Huddleston what I ment by "corporate greed" was how I figured the OWS people were defining it as those who have and give bonuses to their executives, which I'm all for. In the U.S.A you are free to do with your money as you please, the rich corporations in this country have built America, just look at the big businesses that have their names all across this country, and the world. I'm all for a free market system from the smallest business to the largest, the laws need to change so it's affordable for business to stay here, and compete fairly.
I hated their commercial anyway.
OK Purcell, then educate us….Just what is socialism and how does it differ from what the "protesters" are advocating?
If you were lacking a tangible starting point for boycotting all things OWS, here's a pretty clear one for you.
I never liked Men's Wearhouse anyway.
http://www.planetcommonsense.wordpress.com
Hit this.
So a company who's CEO and other officers are part of the so called 1% who sells suits to other 1%ers is showing solidarity with people who would like to shut down places like Men's Warehouse because they are part of the 1%. Define Irony…
I will never shop there…I guarantee it.
Business's like MW and Jos. A. Bank are the whores of the industry.
I am a mens retail store owner and if these firms had to operate in a legitimate retail manner they would cease to exist. They tout themselves as if they were a mom and pop store, all the while buying cheap, sweatshop goods from China. They put in their own private labels so you as a consumer can make no comparison and then swoon you with glitzy marketing.
They buy suits for $40 dollars, mark them $800 and offer buy one get three free. They buy silk neckties for 3 bucks, mark them $60 and tell you its free with a regular priced dress shirt that you bought for $79 and they paid $10 for. What a good deal you got!
They have singlehandedly put many American garment workers on the unemployment line so their customers can be swindled with supposed bargains.
MW didn't decide to just deal with less markup one day. A corporations' first obligation is to their stockholders, not the consumer. The customer is simply their pawn. When this business model was designed there were only two things they could do to bring up the bottom line as far as cuts were concerned and those were service and or quality. Guess which one won?
They have made the average consumer pay more for less quality. It is a game of bait and switch, smoke and mirrors and all of the other cliches.
I have to look my customers in the eye. I walk the same grocery aisles with them. I see them at church and at ballgames. I contribute to my customers' fund raisers etc…where their customers are anonymous pieces of the puzzle on a giant board game. The only thing they care about is whether your credit card clears at the register and nothing more.