A once in a century pandemic has revealed much about the character of several small businesses in Waterbury. Some price gouged and are now under investigation by the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office. Other’s opened their heart and showed terrific community spirit.
One of the really good ones was Ram’s Clothiers at 579 Wolcott St, Waterbury. Ram’s closed two months ago when non-essential businesses were shut down, but when Governor Ned Lamont ordered residents to wear face masks in public, and they were hard to find, Ram’s began making cloth face masks and distributing them to the community for free. Hundreds of them.
Now Ram’s will reopen on May 20th, and they sent out this message to their customers.
“Our staff and their families have stayed healthy, positive and in good spirits during these unprecedented times. We are all looking forward to getting back to the new normal while following all the state mandated guidelines for opening.
What’s Changing? Our store will continue to be it’s warm and welcoming self with some additional precautions for our staff and our customers. Some of our changes now will also include call ahead appointments, curbside pickup, shipping and local delivery as new available options. And coming soon, the option to purchase some of our inventory through our website.”
The store’s founder, Ashok Ramchandani started out traveling from Hong Kong to the United States, going up and down the Northeast selling custom made clothing. He would spend three months at a time and travel from Maine to Georgia. Setting up in hotels with customers coming in by appointment to take care of their clothing needs.
Ram opened his first store in Waterbury CT in the mid seventies. Today Ram’s three sons have followed their dad into the clothing business and each has a store in Connecticut. David, pictured here with his family, owns and operates the store in Waterbury. His brothers Steve and Michael operate stores in Meriden and Middletown.
As we begin to emerge from this historic health crisis it’s important to remember the individuals and small businesses that exemplified strength and community spirit during these uncertain times.
David Ramchandani and Ram’s Clothiers have been exceptional.
