MK Clothing, the fine men’s fashion store on Burlington’s Church Street, has been sold to McNeil & Reedy, the 70-year-old haberdashery in Rutland.

Casey McNeil, the third-generation co-owner of McNeil & Reedy, said the Burlington shop will maintain its current identity and staff. 

“It’s a special store, and the goal is to keep it as is,” said McNeil, 37, who joined his family’s business after a career in finance. “But we’ll also put our own spin on it.” 

Customers can expect to see an expanded stock of ready-made suits as well as more casual wear options, McNeil said. The Burlington store will also be able to use McNeil & Reedy’s in-house tailoring shop, which will allow it to take on more jobs and turn them around more quickly — important for those who remember just two weeks before their cousin’s wedding that they need a new suit.

Casey McNeil

“Guys are super last minute,” McNeil said.

MK Clothing — originally known as Michael Kehoe’s Men’s Clothing — opened in 1977. The store, one of just a few in the region to offer fine men’s clothing, has become a local fixture.

When the store’s cofounder and namesake, Michael Kehoe, retired in 2020, he passed the business over to his longtime business partner, Tom Pierce, who reopened the store the following day with a new co-owner, Hagen Peyser, under the current name. (Kehoe died last year at age 82.)

The sale comes at an interesting time for Church Street. The brick-lined pedestrian mall has become a stage to some of the intractable social ills affecting the Queen City and has experienced significant turnover in the years since the pandemic, such as recent departure of Lippa’s Estate and Fine Jewelry, which relocated to Colchester this summer after 93 years. And yet Church Street remains one of Vermont’s most iconic tourist destinations, and some business owners have said they believe the marketplace has turned the corner.

McNeil, who attended Champlain College and lived in Burlington for nearly 15 years, said he is “100 percent committed” to keeping the store in its current location.

“Church Street is special, Burlington is special, and I was super excited this opportunity came up,” he said.