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At first, Josef Glik sold his merchandise from a horse-drawn wagon. After his son Morris was born, the family moved to St. Louis, and he became a clerk in a bricks-and-mortar clothing store. Three years later, in 1897, he took what he’d learned and opened a store of his own on Second Street.
In 1902, Glik rolled the dice and opened a 1,000-square-foot store in Madison, Ill. Morris, now graduated from high school, took charge, and by 1925 he’d turned it into one of the area’s largest department stores.
Morris was also, luckily, good at investing, and his wise choices made it possible for him to offer customers credit during the Depression. After his death in 1945, his widow, Elsie, ran the store, then handed it over to their son Joe.
His gamble was to open a Glik’s in a strip center in Granite City. A suburban clothing store, it was more personal than a department store and bigger than a boutique, and it created a new niche. By the 1970s, Glik’s owned seven stores throughout Metro East. Joe’s sons Jeff, Jim, and Robert Glik took note of their father’s methods—as did their sister Judy, who joined them in 1991 and managed a dozen $10 Or Less stores...
Those stores have been phased out, but the strategy of setting up shop in small Midwestern towns has held fast. Today, there are more than 60 locations across nine Midwestern states. Three more stores will open in Michigan next spring.
At 118 years old, Glik’s has been pronounced the 14th oldest multistore retailer in the nation, not far below Abercrombie & Fitch (1892). Joe Glik, the founder’s 89-year-old grandson, still shows up for work at the Granite City headquarters. He’s surrounded by activewear and “fast fashion,” trendy young brands that range from North Face to Roxy, Fox, and Under Armour. His sons saw them as a way to keep the business growing.
Now Jeff is president and Jim is vice president. Their father gave Jeff $2,500 in cash when he was 16 and told him to fly to New York and buy clothes. He bought small runs from vendors and had them shipped back to Granite City, and every summer weekend he’d run a “Jeff’s Bargains” sidewalk sale.
Robert Glik, a former Illinois United Way president, has worked in affordable housing and is marketing director for Doctor Will Travel, a firm that provides hotel guests and entertainers with swift, on-site medical care by experienced acute-care physicians. He also does PR for the family business. Judy Glik, also a former Illinois United Way board member, is principal of Firecracker Marketing.
