Bell’s Clothing in Ottawa celebrates 100 years of business

When Irving Bell opened I. Bell’s Clothing in 1922, he opened it because he saw the need for it in downtown Ottawa.

One hundred years later, Bell’s Clothing still is providing Ottawa with men’s clothing at 601 La Salle St. under the ownership of Patrick Graham, who became a partner with Paul Baker in 1978. That need, according to Graham, never went away and it’s why Bell’s Clothing is celebrating 100 years in Ottawa.

“We have a huge trade, especially in the farming community and the normal everyday person, because we sold a lot of work boots and heavy stuff for the winter instead of just selling clothes and sportswear,” Graham said. “You just have to find your niche and keep working at it.”

Graham said customers are looking for a good product, and the pandemic has changed the business for the better in Bell’s case. While Macy’s and every other big clothing supplier had to deal with product restrictions, Bell’s didn’t have to worry about it.

It provides its own product and orders didn’t slow down for its private business like it did for the rest of the world. It’s certainly not the only time Bell’s has weathered a once-in-a-lifetime event. Many memories come when a business has been around for 100 years.

Irving Bell, known as Israel Kubelsky when he immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in 1913, escaped a pre-World War I Europe at the behest of his mother to work at his uncle’s haberdashery in Waukegan. According to a March 2010 Times Newspaper article, he lived with his first cousin, famous early-radio era comedian Jack Benny.

“Irv was 22 years old when he bought the store from Joe Richards,” Graham said. “Joe left Ottawa after that and went out to run a company store out west, one of those deals where the people that work for the company can go in and buy their goods at the store. He tried that for about four years before he came back out and started another store for his son, which was called Leon Richards’ Men’s Wear.”

That store eventually became known as Donahue’s Men’s Wear.

“That’s just one guy that gave life to two stores in Ottawa’s downtown,” Graham said.

Bell’s partner, Leo Thompson, bought into the store two or three years after Bell opened and worked there until 1983, after Graham had bought in with Paul Baker. Baker is currently living in Ottawa at 94 years old.

“We’re lucky enough to have a lot of good help over the years and I still have good help,” Graham said. “That’s the most important thing.”

Graham said he shopped at Bell’s Clothing when he was a child and had a charge account there by the time he was 12 years old. He knew the store and became good friends with Bakerç

“I was working for Bill Walsh at the time and Paul called me up and said, ‘Hey, I know you’ve always been interested in the business,’ and asked if I wanted to come down and bridge him out,” Graham said. “That’s what he wanted and when I came down, we bought them out and went on from there for a long time.”