Alumni focus: Mike Cummings

February 13, 2012

Quality men’s clothing sold with personal service can be rare to find these days. That is why Mike Cummings, co-owner of the Sir Shop in Dublin, Ga. takes pride in bringing this service to the community. Thirty-seven years ago Cummings, along with his business partner, Bill Hoyt, started the Sir Shop and the two have never looked back.

Cummings attended Georgia Southern College in 1970. Although he always knew he wanted to own his own business, Cummings was unsure about what major to declare. “I went into the school of business and took some accounting and finance classes,” Cummings said. “I got involved in some of the management classes which interested me more than the accounting and the finances.” 

While attending college he worked at a men’s retail clothing store and became close friends with his co-workers Robert Lamb, Jim Long, and Bill Hoyt. Little did Cummings know these men would become his future business partners.

Cummings graduated in 1974 with a bachelor in business administration (BBA) in management. The last six months of his college career he was lucky enough to work with Commercial Credit Equipment Corporation as an accountant. After graduation Cummings accepted a full time job with the company.

A year passed and the Statesboro office of Commercial Credit was closing. The company was moving to Atlanta and Baltimore. Cummings was working and traveling an ample amount of miles a week when he was approached by his friends he worked with in college. They were interested in opening a new men’s clothing store in Dublin.

“I decided moving to Dublin and starting a men’s clothing store was a little bit more attractive at the time than my current job, and that’s what I decided to do,” said Cummings. “That was on April the fourth 1975.”

Lamb and Long had started their own men’s clothing store called the Sir Shop back in Statesboro when Cummings was still in college. Lamb approached Hoyt and Cummings about opening a second location of the store. At the time Hoyt was still in graduate school, but decided to take the chance anyway. While finishing his master’s in business administration, Hoyt and Cummings worked together to start a Sir Shop in Dublin.

Over the years, Hoyt and Cummings managed the Dublin store and Lamb and Long managed the Statesboro store. However, the Statesboro Sir Shop is no longer controlled by Lamb and Long as it has been bought and sold several times since its originally opening in 1972. Nevertheless, 37 years later Hoyt and Cummings are still partners and business in Dublin is going strong.

“We have been pretty blessed and successful from the get go,” said Cummings. “There have been some tough times of course during those years but we have been blessed. We have raised our families and kept doors opens.” The Sir Shop in Dublin is a quality men’s clothing store which carries an array of dress and casual clothing. Handling both formal wear and foot wear, Cummings and Hoyt have reached customers all over the country thanks to their website www.sirshop.com. Currently, the store is doing 12 percent of annual sales over the internet . Cummings and Hoyt only hope to increase this percent in the future.

In the years to come, Cummings and Hoyt hope to continue the reputation of selling quality products and giving personal service which they have worked to build over the years. “Hopefully we will continue to be successful as we have in the past,” said Cummings. “It is an everyday challenge just to be able to do business the way you have always enjoyed waiting on customers. Keeping the latest trends in front of them and been able to offer new lines as they appear in the industry is tough.”

As for any entrepreneurs looking to start their own business, Cummings advises possessing passion. According to Cummings, if there is passion for a business there is a better chance of overcoming obstacles and being successful. “Another huge factor in small businesses is work ethic,” said Cummings. “You have to be self-driven enough to meet the challenge of coming in every single day and working hard.”