Perhaps young Moses Goldman’s parents named him after a great leader because they wished for him to become someone extraordinary. Little did they know at the time that their young son was truly going to rise above the crowd – oceans away from his birthplace outside of Warsaw, Poland. Moses’ parents moved from Poland to Montreal, Canada in 1923 when he was three years old. Money was scarce, father worked as a steam presser in a clothing factory, mother made wigs at home. He completed public school through grade 7 until the ripe young age of 13. Then his career began.
Always wanting to forge his own path, and not willing to share a name with someone who was already more famous than him, Moses changed his name to Murray. Then, like his original namesake, he undertook a long and arduous journey that ended with him leading the citizens of Vancouver from a fashion desert to an oasis of choice. But that’s another part of this story.
From the age of 13, Murray tried to find his groove, working various jobs. At age 16 he started as a shy salesman with the Fuller Brush Company in Montreal. Murray quickly found his voice (by learning to avoid the inevitable Fuller Brush-offs) and continued to use it from that day onwards. Always attracted to fashion, Murray moved from selling brushes to using one – sweeping the floor at Cortley’s menswear in Montreal. Talk about starting from the ground up! Murray moved into sales in Cortley’s soon after this.
At the age of 21, Murray was recruited into the army where he joined the Military Police. His claim to fame here was his prowess in the boxing ring, where as a member of the Canadian Army Boxing Team, he was dubbed ‘The Kosher Chicken’ and mostly remembered for 4 knockouts, 6 pass-outs and losing his shorts twice. He was discharged from the army in 1943, on compassionate grounds to care for and financially support his ailing father.
Having been stationed in BC during the military, Murray then moved to Vancouver in 1944 and married a local girl, Shirley, and managed to get a job at the Hudson Bay Company’s men’s clothing department. When Shirley became pregnant with their daughter, Murray decided that if he needed to cut his cloth according to his means, he would increase his means. So he decided to start his own clothing business.
He managed to secure a loan for $3000 (a fortune in those days) and moved on to open a men’s haberdashery store on Cordova St., which he called Boston Clothing. His first child, Penny, was born around the same time as his first store – in 1946. A lot of hard work lay ahead of him. Fashion didn’t mean much in a city with very little nightlife. Men’s suits at that time came in 3 colors – medium grey, charcoal grey and black. There was no such thing as getting stuck with old stock! And if the clothes weren’t cheap, they didn’t sell. Goldman soon discovered that even if the clothes were cheap, you still had to get people into the store.
In 1949 he made a decisive move to Hastings and Cambie and changed the name of his store to Murray Goldman Men’s Wear. Through a love of retailing men’s clothing, plus a huge dose of heart and soul, Murray Goldman turned the store that carried his name, into the store that carried his personality. He realized that he had to be different in order to survive. And in doing so he discovered that the best way to sell suits was to sell himself. Soon after, he was able to move his parents and sister out from Montreal and they were all together once again.
Murray soon embarked on a marketing campaign that is today the stuff of local legend. Overheads were low in those days and advertising was cheap. Murray was self admittedly even cheaper! He wrote, narrated, appeared in and directed his own commercials. He was a 1-man marketing show – buying up blocs of 60 second radio spots at 5 dollars a pop, and later, taking over TV ad space with his distinctive, very funny brand of totally off-the-wall humour. His sense of comedy and frequency of airtime made Murray Goldman the success he is today. Everything he did was funny, or in Murray’s words, ‘hammy’ (a terrible confession for a Jewish boy) and larger than life. One of Murray’s favourite sayings was “If you don’t believe I’m funny, take a look at my suits”. People looked forward to seeing what was next and his clothes flew out of his ever more popular Murray Goldman stores.
Not only was his business booming, but he became sought-after as a personality and MC of many fund raising ‘roasts’. He also wrote a famous daily “tidbits” column in the now defunct Vancouver News Herald, that he used to end with the mysterious words….”good evening Mrs. Johnson”. Today, the mystery still remains on the identity of Mrs. Johnson. In time, Murray even had a half hour Sunday morning comedy show on CKNW. He was so well liked that in 1964 he was voted Vancouver’s most popular radio personality, on the strength of his commercials alone!
Murray went on to open two more Murray Goldman stores, as well as a ‘young men’s department’ within men’s stores, called The Ivy Room, which carried the looks of the 1950’s such as button down collar shirts and tight jeans. The Ivy Room was the first store in Vancouver to carry Levi’s.
Murray continued to grow the success of these stores through his flamboyant marketing and gimmicks. He gave away eviscerated turkeys with ‘turkey suits’, portable radios and Kodak movie cameras when they first came out. He sold two suits for the price of one with the locally well known jingle – “there’s not a single suit for sale at Murray Goldman.”
Then, there was “Mark Richards, the topcoat you can not buy” (you got one free when you bought a suit). And with the advent of TV, he quickly took to this visual medium with gusto, often bringing his family members in to appear with him. Who could forget the half price sale where Murray would cut his ties in half for countless TV viewers?
He was equally famous for stunts that guerilla marketing agencies could take a few tips from today! Being a lover of cigars, he wrote to Sir Winston Churchill to ask for one of his personal stogies – and received one. He appeared on the front page of the Vancouver Sun smoking it. When President Truman fired General MacArthur, Goldman wrote the war hero a letter generously offering him a free civilian suit. MacArthur didn’t respond, but the local newspapers did. Murray was even more of a hit. Then of course there was the time when ‘MG’ brazenly bid on 10,000 garments held by the bankrupt Rubin Bros Clothing Company in Montreal. He won, and staged an infamous ‘Clothing Event” which saw hundreds of customers lining-up around the block. Clearly, Murray Goldman’s true talent was for marketing.
With a keen eye for trends, MG saw the need for jean shops in the late 1960’s and turned the Ivy Room into Bus Stop for Jeans. In 1971, Murray’s son David Goldman entered the business as a partner and ventured out into expanding Bus Stop into a chain of 8 stores over the following years. Bus Stop began incorporating other trendy dressy fashions to evolve into a store selling contemporary fashion. In 1984, the Bus Stop concept was replaced by Boys’ Company (later shortened to Boys’Co), selling up-market designer sportswear and clothing.
Described by colleagues, friends and customers as colorful, interesting, optimistic and very funny, Goldman also showed a caring, sensitive and compassionate side through the enormous amount of community and charity work he has done over the years.
Introduced to Big Brothers by a customer who told him he’d only buy a suit if he’d get involved with the cause, Murray went on to become one of the founding members of this organization and is still active with them to this day.
This ‘man of cloth’ has also played an integral role in the growth of the Vancouver Jewish community, as a past President of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue Men’s Club, a founding member of the current Jewish Community Centre, a 50 year member of B’nai B’rith and as a board member of the Louis Briar Home. Murray has also been a member of the Vancouver Variety Club for over 40 years.
He has also accumulated a list of awards that go on longer than his 1st tape measure. In 1971 he received the Businessman of the Year award from the Vancouver Junior Chamber of Commerce. In 1972 he was voted Man of the Year by Big Brothers and in 1974 as Man of the Year by Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. In 1982, Big Brothers created the ‘Murray Goldman Award’ given annually to the person or organization showing exemplary support towards Big Brothers. In 1986 he was awarded the Vancouver Centennial Award by the Governor-General of Canada, Her Excellency, Jeane Sauve, in 1988 was appointed to the Presidents Advisory Board, Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver. In 1989 he was made honourary Chairman, Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver and in 1990 he won the National Presidents Award, only given every four years, from Big Brothers of Canada. In 2000, he was invested in the Order of British Columbia and in 2003 he received the commemorative medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
By the age of 75, Murray Goldman had turned most of the running of the company over to his son David who he describes as both his ‘partner and friend’. At age 78, Murray, who always used to come into at the office at 7am (in time to make coffee), used to quip that he had retired and now comes in at 7.15am. Even today at the age of 85, with the good fortune of having three generations working together as David’s son Sammy has been active in the business for eight years.
As a team, the three generations of Goldman’s, along with GM Michael Rowley who has been a Boy’s Co employee for 21 years, run the four Boy’s Co locations throughout the lower mainland. Both son and grandson of the well respected Murray Goldman began working in the family business when they were each in their mid teens as part-timers.
Though neither were brought up with the expectation that they would take over the family business, both David and then Sammy saw the incredible opportunity of joining a venture built on a very firm foundation. The youngest notes that “the opportunity only became clear in my late teens when I gave up on my hope of becoming an NHL superstar”. He has stepped into his role at Boy’s Co enthusiastically as the picture of what his family had began become even more clear.
Having taken a Fashion and Marketing Program in Montreal, Sammy has set his sites on a future of learning and taking in all he can from both is father and grandfather. “My dad has been working with his dad since he was a teenager, so I look at how he has been learning from his dad and try to emulate that relationship” comments the heir to a Vancouver fashion throne. Though he could easily feel a sense of entitlement, the humble student of the older Goldman’s recognizes the huge feet he has to fill “I really like working with my family because I can learn so much, and looking at what he’s built, working under my grandfather is an honour. He means so much to the industry.“
Looking ahead to the future, the youngest Goldman contemplates the succession of the business “if I have kids, I wouldn’t expect them to work here. I would let them choose to be a part of it like I did. But I do think that it would be neat to have a fourth generation in the business. That’s such a rare phenomenon these days in Vancouver.” As it stands now, the history and passion of Murray, the planning and business sense brought to the table by David and the youthful ambition contributed by Sammy is a recipe for current and future success that the BC retail scene is fortunate to have.
The long term success of Boy’s Co has no doubt been cemented through the example set by a determined and hard working visionary – Murray Goldman. At the age of 85, Goldman still likes to get into the office frequently, although, these days, someone else makes the coffee. His longevity is certainly an asset. Fashion trends may come and go, but Murray Goldman’s love for life, sense of humour and keen optimism will always be a guiding light to his family, friends and community. Never without his cigar, and always available for a martini, you can be sure that this Vancouver fashion icon and the Goldman family will always have the last word.
Until then – “good evening Mrs. Johnson.”
