To our customers:
This letter is shorter than the previous two. 1973 was a year in which several things happened that I am not at liberty to discuss in full, and I will not pretend they didn't happen by writing around them. I will say what I can say and stop there.
Sales were up 14% over 1972. The Macomb Powerbroker became our best-selling pant for the first time, displacing the Forest Glen Special, which had held the position since we opened. The Forest Glen remains excellent. The Powerbroker had a strong year. Both of these things are true and I am comfortable with both of them.
Dolores reorganized the display floor in March. I was against it. I was wrong to be against it. Sales in March were up 22% over the prior March. I have noted this and I will note it again here so that it is part of the record: Dolores was right. I told her so. She said she knew.
In the spring of 1973, we received a letter from a procurement representative acting on behalf of a foreign government expressing interest in our product for purposes of modernizing a national textile supply chain. I will not say more than that. The arrangement was conducted through proper channels and involved a volume of business that was, by our standards, significant. It ended in January of 1979 for reasons that are a matter of public record and do not require elaboration here.
I mention it in this letter only because it happened in 1973 and this is the 1973 letter. I have said what I can say. I am now done saying it.
Several people have asked whether the arrangement described above — which I am, as I have noted, not describing in detail — represented an unusual risk for a store of our size. The answer is: yes. I made a considered judgment that the upside justified the risk, diversified our domestic operations as a hedge beginning in 1972, and accepted that I might be wrong. I was not wrong, though the arrangement ended sooner than I had expected through no fault of ours. I do not regret it. I would make the same decision again with the same information.
Risk is not the same as recklessness. A man who takes no risks is not being careful. He is being something else, something I do not have a polite word for. I take calculated risks. I account for them honestly. I move on.
President Johnson passed away on January 22nd. I closed the store for the day. He had been a customer — briefly, and through intermediaries, and in a way I am also not in a position to fully explain — and I felt it was appropriate. I will say only that he had taste. The Big Texan Plaid, which we have since renamed the Macomb Powerbroker, suited him. We have never discounted it. We will not.
1974 will be a year of consolidation. We will hire our first full-time employee beyond Dolores and myself. We will introduce a small number of new colorways. We will not hold a sale. We will continue to be honest with our customers about what fits them and what does not. We will write this letter again in December.