At what was once a thriving men’s wear and leather apparel shop, the lights have been turned off and it’s once proud name covered in black paint.
North Bay’s Classic Men’s Wear and the Leather Trend on Main Street East has been involved in plenty of controversies in the recent past. What had been built as a successful family-owned tailor shop, in the end, unravelled into a mess of substance abuse and criminal behaviour.
From the Dunaj the Downtown Doberman affair, in which the store’s owner, Rob Szalas, eventually spirited his dog away to avoid the animal’s destruction; to drug trafficking charges resulting in incarceration, Szalas brought the wrong kind of attention to the business. While in jail, the public raised concern over two cats left inside the shuttered store that drew negative attention.
See also: Where are the Leather Trend kitties? (PHOTO GALLERY)
At 175 Main Street East, the once thriving shop’s awning has been painted black and presents a new opportunity for revitalization and business in North Bay’s downtown core.
