Business Q&A
Q&A: Christopher Mobley legacy continues to grow
By Charley Lacey
Christopher Mobley, co-founder of the Christopher Mobley store, sets up his new store in downtown Athens on Aug. 18. Mobley is part of a three-generation business, expanding stores from Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Athens, Ga. (Photo/Charley Lacey)
Christopher Mobley is co-founder of the Christopher Mobley store, a men’s luxury clothing store that has grown through three generations.
Q: How would you describe your father and grandfather’s legacies?
A: Grandfather's legacy is the epitome of that just old school you know, World War II generation, hard working as it can get, saved every penny. Did not spend $1. He and his wife both worked in the store, raised three kids, literally lived in the store. I mean, did not spend a penny, worked six days a week for 50 years, and gave away most of their money. I mean, just that kind of people. Dad, very much the same way, six days a week for 54 years now. He's an automatic machine every day. I mean, he's 74 still working six days a week, and loves it. I mean, they're just grinders. Very disciplined and very religious people. Definitely made a difference in the lives of other people. So their legacy will be that and living a very faith based life and living a very great example to their kids of what hardworking discipline can do.
Q: With that background and legacy, how would you describe the company’s culture?
A: I'd say our culture is very close knit, very family oriented. I can confidently speak for other people that I don't think anyone feels like employees. I'd say our culture is very like, relationship focused, employee culture is very family oriented.
Q: What is the mission and vision of his company?
A: We pride ourselves in being an extremely relationship driven clothing experience. We're a very religious background, we want to make a difference in the lives of other people, and we want to use this as a platform to do that. The vision also is the take of my grandfather. I mean, it's that classic old school story of built it with his hands, living upstairs of the store. My dad kind of made it a rock solid foundation in Tuscaloosa. My vision has always been like, if anyone wants to go, like, scale it and take it to truly the next level, next level, it's got to be me or it's not going to happen. So my vision is just, like, I said, a little vague, but it's just like, to really grow, grow, grow, because they built enough foundation that I would be, you know, almost selfish not to.
Q: What is something you would want Athens customers to know about your business?
A: I would want them to know that we genuinely, genuinely want to bring them an experience that will be more than just like, like, it'll be beyond just clothing. We want you to be our customer for life. We literally want to ask for people like, for their help, because we want to grow this so big that we want people to feel like they played a part in it. We want people to be able to say we remember, especially Georgia students, we remembered when their first big jump was Georgia, and now look where they are, and we want them to hopefully feel like they played a part in it.
Comments trimmed for length and clarity.
