Its downtown home lost to fire, Crescent will return to a former location
The owners of Crescent Work & Outdoor have found a silver lining to the plume of black smoke from the fire that destroyed their longtime downtown store Friday.
He and his sister, Tiffani, have the opportunity to create a new, service-oriented retail store from the ground up, Craig Stott said Monday as he stood outside the gutted 801 Eighth St. building. As he spoke, Modesto Fire Department personnel were flying a drone to look for hot spots, and had a tanker in the alley to extinguish any flare-ups.
Within days, Crescent will open in a space familiar to longtime customers, Craig Stott said. It’s returning to its 321 McHenry Ave. store, which for 33 years operated concurrently with the downtown location.
Crescent left McHenry in early 2003. The building, smaller than the downtown location, is owned by the Stotts. Until about two months ago, it was Ripon Christian Schools’ Priceless Treasures Thrift Shop, which has relocated to 2720 McHenry. “The timing worked out correctly for us,” Stott said.
Crescent, opened in 1946, is a well-known retailer that supplies uniforms to Modesto’s first responders, as well as outdoor gear. Over the years, the owners bought out several other uniform stores, but that’s much different than starting from scratch, Stott said.
This time, manufacturers 5.11 Tactical and First Tactical are employing 3-D computer technology to help Crescent make the most of the 321 McHenry space.
“We have enough history to know what our customers want from us,” Stott said, “This gives us the opportunity to downsize and bring in products and services that are niche-oriented.”
In the meantime, all of Crescent’s operations, sales and alterations are being done through the company’s Stockton location, Weber Point Uniforms.
The downtown blaze consumed hundreds of uniforms that were having alterations done, including at least 50 for a Department of Corrections graduation ceremony coming up Friday, Stott said. “I feel terrible. They’re having to turn to other businesses.”
Crescent’s tailoring department also had just finished uniforms for graduates of the Ray Simon Regional Criminal Justice Training Center, he said.
The outpouring of support from customers has been amazing, Stott said. “Every phone call I’ve received, even if we owe them hundreds of dollars in uniforms, they’ve been very understanding.”
Crescent staff knows there are many uniforms and special orders for which it doesn’t have computer information. The company has set up an email address, cs@crescentmodesto.com, to help determine whom is owed what, Stott said. “Any information they can provide — a name, receipt, email, phone number — we have a team monitoring the emails, and we’ll get back to them.”
So early into recovering from the fire, Stott was cautious Monday in speaking of the long term. Crescent has been a part of downtown for more than 70 years, he said, and “if the scenario lends itself ... the ability to remain downtown would be wonderful.”
But he added, “Who knows the state of retail in the next 10, 15 years?” It’s a time when institutions including Toys R Us and Orchard Supply Hardware are shutting down, Stott said, and Crescent has that same online marketplace competition to contend with..
As for Friday’s four-alarm fire, it remains under investigation, Modesto Fire Department spokeswoman Jessica Smart said, and determinations of origin and cause aren’t likely to come quickly.
The blaze spread between two commercial buildings. Two businesses initially reported by The Bee and other news outlets as destroyed — AJ Batteries and Albert’s Tire & Wheels — suffered only minor damage and are open for business, Smart said.
This story was originally published September 17, 2018 at 4:47 PM.