Valentine's Day is not just for the ladies
Flowers and chocolates are the standards for Valentine's Day for women, but what about the men in your life? This year, how about checking out an area store that caters to men for a gift.
Orr's Clothing
In Branchville, there's a country store with some history and finds. In the late 1800's Isaac Silverman began his clothing business by going from farm to farm in his wagon, selling bib overalls and other clothing items. In 1898, he dropped the route and built a store on Main Street in Branchville.
Upon his retirement in 1939, he passed the store on to his eldest son, Samuel. As a teenager, Wayne Orr worked for Samuel Silverman in the same store, and when Silverman decided to sell the business in 1976, Orr bought it and has continued to offer clothing. Orr's is an authorized retailer for Red Wing Boots, Carhartt and Woolrich clothing and also carry Stetson hats, Buck Knife cutlery and leather goods.
The Spa at Bella Boutique
Men also like to be pampered, and on Newton-Sparta Road, The Male Room at The Spa at Bella Boutique is featuring several Valentine's Day specials for men. Specials include gift certificates for a $15 haircut or a Male Room Facial designed scientifically for a man's skin for $70 (usually $95).
Owner Laura Rinaolo and her staff are on hand to accommodate women looking for gift certificates for their beaus.
The Style Shop
Located on Spring Street, in Newton, for many years. The Style Shopped offers an array of brand-name men's clothing, hats, ties, scarves and other accessories.
One of the unique items The Style Shop carries is a line called Royall Fragrances imported from Bermuda. Complete with a wax seal on each box. Royal Lyme is the company's hallmark cologne, but others include Bay Rhum and Royall Rugby.
"We have some costume jewelry, great colognes and other good gift items," said co-owner Donna Marion.
They also have a sale running which offers up to 75 percent off winter items.
Frogmore Country Elegance
In Byram Township, on Route 206, head into Frogmore Country Elegance for men's bracelets and other gifts. Owner Kate Reinhardt also features a line of men's jewelry called Aagaard made of leather and steel. The combination of these materials results in some unique designs.
"Aagaard is basically what Pandora is to women," Reinhardt said.
The store's other male specialty is men's rings.
"We special order your man's exact size and style and there's a very quick turnaround time," Reinhardt said. "The brand name is Heavy Stone Rings.
Cher's Delights Designer Clothes
When Ed Watt's wife died, he was left with all her favorite items including fine china, crystal, Hummel figurines and many other items.
"These were things she took great pride in and thus were her delights," Watt said, "Unfortunately, now that it was just my son and myself living together, these items became dust collectors."
His nieces, Julie and Christine, were into antiques at the time and introduced him to Ebay.
"I'm a peddler at heart, so we started looking for items to sell," he said, "After a few mis-adventures into antiques, we decided on men's clothing. That was an item we knew something about."
Now, 12 years later, they sell both men's and women's apparel. The online store, Cher's Delights Designer Clothing, is based in Byram, but there is no store front. It is named in memory of Watt's wife and her collections. Products are kept at Watt's house and in local storage, and customers can pick up or inspect by appointment.
"For the fashion conscious man, or woman, (our fashion leather and terry cloth robes are unisex), we offer the very popular leather sweat pants in red, a great Valentines gift, sure to surprise," he said.
Black and white leather is also available and they have sizes XXS to 6XL available in most styles.
"Our silk pajamas are exquisite, with 8 percent spandex to provide maximum comfort. They are available in red, sizes Large and X-Large," he added.
The leather Cher's Delights carries is high end smooth sheepskin, first quality fashion leather. For more information visit www.chersdelights.com.
Onore
In business for more than 30 years, Onore recently moved to Sparta in the White Deer Plaza section of Lake Mohawk.
"We pride ourselves in the services we offer, which range from ready-made better men’s clothing in all sizes, outerwear, shirts, ties and accessories. In addition we offer made to measure suits, sport coats and shirts from some of the finest Italian manufacturers," said owner Edna Cintron.
They offer on-site tailoring seven days a week and also make home and office calls.
"For Valentine’s Day gifts we offer exquisite dress and sport shirts, hand blown glass cuff-links by Daniel Dolce, a selection of colognes, and that perfect suit, sport coat, or custom shirt. And for the man with a very distinctive taste, we have gift certificates that allows him the personal Onore experience," Cintron said.
Outlet options
In Old Lafayette Village, there are several options to find men's items. Outlet stores include Van Heusen, Bass Company and Izod.
Check out The Cigar Room, too, where manager Larry Gonnello said, "We'll have some specials coming up for Valentine's Day that we're currently working on creating."