FRANK FLETCHER
COMPANIES, LIMITED

Fletcher-Bensky now the only game in town
by Jennifer Christman
(Originally appearing in Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 19, 1997)

Looking for a fur? If you were shopping in Arkansas' capital city as recently as last spring, you would have had three separate fur stores to browse through: Fletcher, Bensky and Spector.

Now there is just one.

First, Fletcher, a west Little Rock furrier with 13 years in the business, bought Bensky, the city's oldest furrier, which had been in business downtown for 72 years. Then the owners of Spector, which had been in business in west Little Rock, declared bankruptcy in August.

It's a combination of economics, changing attitudes and retirements that caused this recent furrier shuffling.

Now it's Fletcher-Bensky Furs. The showroom is on Rodney Parham Road, and the furriers five storage vaults (it took over Spector's vaults as well) are downtown. Aside from a few garments at local clothing stores, they are the only deal in town when it comes to fur.

While furriers across the nation had reported drastically low sales since the late 1980's, Nancy Smith, manager of Fletcher-Bensky, says the Arkansas fur market was not hit as hard. Where animal rights activity might have enjoyed a strong influence on the buying habits on patrons in places like New York, its effect on Arkansas was not as prominent.

“Arkansas is such an agricultural state. We've got all the hunters,“ Smith says. “I think people weren't going to go for that [anti-fur stance] anyway. It's sort of a faddy thing to do, sort of an in thing to do.

“It didn't affect our business that much.”

Judy Fletcher, owner f Fletcher-Bensky Furs, agrees.

“I think there was a period where people here still wanted to have a fur, but they might have though ‘I'm not going to wear this if I go to so and so — like Colorado,’” Fletcher says. “But they still were going to have a fur.”

“I don't think it deterred many people here from buying what they wanted.”

WEATHERING FASHION

Other regions of the country have been a different story. At least during the past 10 years. “When we'd go to New York or Las Vegas, you'd see the effect,” Fletcher says. “One year at a [fur] show in Las Vegas, they really had to beef up security. I know at one time if you were walking down the street in New York, people would yell at you about furs. It was frightening. If you were just walking down a street with a friend, it was scary. But that has never happened here.”

Both women say that it's too early to predict how business is going to be since they don't have anything to compare this year to. After all, this year — in which they took over one entire business and the storage business of another — has been rather unusual.

But they say they are encouraged.

“I think people are more interested in fur and realize it's popular now,” Smith says. “It's in all the magazines. Fashion designers are using it more. There was a time when people were not interested in it and didn't promote it with their lines. But now the number of how many designers are working with fur has tripled. That helps.”

Fletcher says she has seen a boom in interest as well: “I got a catalog from Saks and there's nothing but furs in it.”

So will Little Rock women buy more fur this year?

That will depend a lot on the weather, Fletcher says. During the warmer winters, obviously, furs aren't on the top of everyone's wish list. But if the weather steers towards chilly, she says, you'll see plenty of furs.

But you probably won't see that many of the multicolored furs that fill the fashion magazines. They're a trifle splashy for Little Rock. And furs like fox are too heavy for Arkansas winters.

Little Rock women typically go for mink, which makes up about 80 percent of Fletcher-Bensky's fur sales. It's not as heavy as some of the furs so it's more climate-friendly and it's classic. Another favorite for this year, Fletcher says, is shave beaver, which has a velvety texture.

“I think women here are more conservative,” she says. “You'll see women in New York wearing things that are just off the wall, but they can carry it off there. Here, if they wore those things, people would go ‘Oh my gosh!’ Those colorful furs are wonderful, but when you think about spending $3,000 for one, you go, ‘I think I'll buy that mink.’”

“You can wear it everywhere.”

Except maybe to a PETA meeting.

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