McDormand’s Menswear Moves On

HAMPTON — On the day after Thanksgiving in 1954, McDormand’s Menswear opened its doors for business on Lafayette Road, Hampton. Now, on another post-Thanksgiving Friday in the first year of a new century, Joan McDormand will be advertising a going-out-of-business sale as she retires from the business begun by her husband, Harry, 46 years ago.

Joan McDormand’s beaming smile was as warm as ever last week as she recalled the circumstances surrounding the store’s beginning. She said when the family vacations took them from their Providence, R.I., home to New Hampshire’s seacoast, they discovered Hampton, and the simple qualities that endeared them to the town then are the reasons she continues to live here now.

McDormand said it was always a dream of her late husband to own a clothing store, and when he retired early from Hood Milk Company, he finally made good on that dream. They bought the building next door to the store’s current 447 Lafayette Road location, at the time taking over the two stores. In 1980, McDormand’s relocated to its larger present site, which formerly housed an A & P store.

Joan McDormand, still sporting a noticeable accent from her native home — Manchester, England — said Hampton was a good town to bring up a family of three daughters. Her husband, Harry, who passed away in December 1988, was active in town affairs, as a member of the budget committee and as a truant officer. The biggest change she said she’s noticed in her immediate business environment is the constant traffic, usually bumper to bumper, traveling through downtown Hampton.

The family business was no stranger to celebrities over the years. In fact, the legendary Liberace was a regular shopper at McDormand’s when he was in the area performing at The Frolics at Salisbury Beach, MA. Poet Ogden Nash was another who frequently traded at the shop. And one day, Joan McDormand remembers, a trail of teenagers marched into the store, following California’s own Beach Boys.

Performers at the Hampton Playhouse were others who found their way to McDormand’s year after year. And summer travelers still come by McDormand’s on their way from as far as Old Town, Maine, and Connecticut.

Joan McDormand says she has a host of good memories from her years at the store, and she says she’ll miss “a lot of nice people.” But now she’ll finally have time to spend doing what she loves best: traveling.

McDormand enjoys taking trips with her daughters and granddaughters and friends, and lists Egypt as a personal favorite. Cruises have also been a popular choice for her excursions. And when she’s back home in Hampton, in the home she’s lived in since she and Harry moved here in 1954, she’ll devote time to gardening, her other passion.

McDormand’s will start its clearance sale November 24, probably spending a few months selling stock which includes the same kinds of classic clothing the store has been noted for these past 46 years. Shoppers will find sports coats, outerwear, sweaters, shirts, slacks, ties and all sorts of accessories. For the Florida bound, summer shorts are still available. Any leftover stock will be given to charity, McDormand says, and the building itself, which she owns, will probably be rented.