Some of Jake Toman’s earliest memories growing up involved traveling around the country with his dad.
His father, Ric Toman, helped retail clothing stores, whether large scale chains or smaller local operations, with closing sales.
For Jake, it was his first look into a lifestyle he eventually would take on.
“I always kind of went on the road with him,” Jake told The Dispatch. “We’d do sidewalk sales and stuff like that. So I started out in front of the stores – doing like bow ties and tie bars and wallets and sweaters and hanging shirts and stuff like that – and then worked my way up from there.”
The Tomans company, R&J Toman Consulting, is assisting Jim Davis, owner of Jim’s Clothing on highway 45, with the store’s closing sale after 54 years of operation. Jake is staying in Columbus over the next couple of weeks, helping Davis with sales, interacting with customers and maintaining the store.
“I don’t think we could have handled it near as well, without having him every day,” Davis told The Dispatch. “… He answered questions and he made decisions based on where to place goods and price goods, and making signs and he solved problems, and he gave me confidence, and he’s made things run smoothly.”
Born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Jake Toman, 45, worked a variety of jobs in high school, ranging from a video store clerk to a short-order cook.
After high school, Jake attended Vermillion Community College in Minnesota for a year before enlisting in the Marine Corps, where he became a structural mechanic.
In need of a change, Jake left after five years in the military and started working as a training coordinator with Cintas Corporation. But after two years there, he still didn’t think it was the right fit.
Fortunately, Jake received a call from his dad in 2006 asking him to join his consulting company, then called Ddt Clothing Inc.
“He didn’t want to hire me right away,” Jake said. “He needed me to prove myself … and I totally respect him for that.”
‘Good intent and connection’
Since leaving Cintas and working full-time with his dad, Jake estimates they’ve helped run closing sales for roughly 300 local retail clothing stores in states like Minnesota, Iowa, Oregon and New York.
The duo helps with moving, going-out-of-business and anniversary sales during prime seasons in fall and spring. They assist with advertising, sale floor remodeling and occasionally take a hands-on role in the sale itself, like Jake is at Jim’s Clothing.
It can be challenging sometimes, especially when it comes to convincing store owners to make changes in their longtime businesses.
“Those guys, they’re in the business of staying in business,” Jake said. “So they have these perceptions. … When we come in and we start moving things around, it looks like a thrift store, but at the same time, it allows people to move through the clothing (quickly). … The perspective that you have keeping a store open is totally contrary to trying to generate quick revenue. You can’t run it like we run it forever.”
During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the consulting business slowed down for the Tomans, leading Jake to start bartending and shoveling barns, he said.
“We were doing them, but we weren’t doing them like we were doing them before,” Jake said. “Because my dad was doing surgeries and doing other stuff, and then I was still filling in … and it was just this hodgepodge.”
The two were effectively done until they got the call from Davis. That was the catalyst the duo needed to get back in the consulting game under the new name.
“That shook the dust off my dad … and we were coming just to do this, because we were helping the guy, and in that, the rest of this rolled forward,” Jake said. “Now we’re taking more gigs, and I’m going back on the road, and we’re gonna do it for real.”
Jake said the company has about three years worth of stores lined up after they finish their work with Jim’s Clothing.
Jake said he doesn’t feel tied to the consulting business long term. He is looking forward to traveling over the next three years and finding opportunities for other work when he’s not consulting.
“After doing this one and falling in love with it again … I plan on going until my dad retires,” Jake said. “… I might keep doing it, but I’m gonna take it one store at a time, and I’m gonna make sure that there’s a good intent and connection, and as long as I feel like I’m helping people and being beneficial, I’m gonna do it.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
