Almost 90 years ago, Ralph Sarno, a native of Italy, arrived in Philadelphia and began his career as a custom suit maker. He had planned to settle in California upon arriving in the states, but the great depression forced him to change his plans. He moved to Scranton, where coal-mining was king, to find work in his trade. In 1940, he founded Sarno’s as a custom tailor shop.
Soon the business expanded to include alterations, dry cleaning, custom suit making and tuxedo rentals. Years later, Ralph handed the reins of the business over to his son Larry, eager to grow and take the business into a new direction.
In the late 1950s, tuxedo sales and rentals became Sarno and Sons’ main business, and by the late 1960’s Larry had built a chain of 11 stores extending from Williamsport to Syracuse.
In 1970, Larry moved the company’s operations to a 12,000 square foot production facility in Dunmore, outside of Scranton.
During the 1970’s, high interest rates and inflation challenged businesses throughout the country. Larry chose to redirect his business strategy by shifting Sarno & Son from a retail chain to a wholesale supplier of tuxedos. It all started with a big red binder catalog and a single local truck run into the Berwick/Mt. Carmel area. In 1978, Larry’s son Mark, joined the company full time, managing several stores in the chain. He had an integral role in modernizing the warehouse, delivery systems and computer inventory control systems.
In 1986, Larry’s daughter Nancy, joined the team upon completing her studies at Penn State. Her focus within the company has been in marketing and customer relations. Sarno & Son strives to be the innovator in customer support materials including catalogs, brochures and most recently the S.O.S. manual and custom poster program. Nancy continues to work by the philosophies handed down from Ralph Sarno, focusing on customer satisfaction: “ Don’t worry so much about the competition down the street, worry about the customer walking in the door.”
In 1996, following years of steady growth, Sarno & Son moved the business to blocks down the street from where Ralph first opened his custom tailor shop.
The new facility offered the opportunity to increase dry cleaning capacity and improve production.
In 1997, Sarno & Son expanded further, adding a sub-warehouse for distribution to Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. Through this location, Sarno & Son has provided rentals for former Vice President Al Gore, Senator Edward Kennedy, Alan Greenspan and Luciano Pavarotti. One of our distributors in Harrisburg provided tuxedos for Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, while he was Governor of Pennsylvania.
After 5 years of occupation in the new facility, Sarno & Son needed to expand again, and work began on a 23,000 square foot expansion to the warehouse. Sarno & Son’s growth as a company can be attributed to the ability of its workers and of the company as a whole to adapt to changing times and customer’s needs.
In 2004, Sarno & Son expanded once again, with the opening of a new retail store in Dickson City. Located on the Scranton-Carbondale Highway this new addition is a welcome to the Sarno family. Now Sarno & Son has two locations to serve its customers better.
Based on the business philosophies of the company’s founder, Ralph Sarno, the company forges ahead with a commitment to continue to provide quality tuxedos backed by outstanding service that has become nationally recognized.
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