Selma Koch - BRA FITTER
New York Works: Audio Portraits of a Vanishing City
Produced by: Emily Botein & Joe Richman/Radio Diaries
WNYC's The Next Big Thing/NPR's All Things Considered 2002

Robert Siegel, host: From NPR news this is All Things Considered. I'm Robert Siegel.

Liane Hansen, host: And I'm Liane Hansen. Today, another part of our New York Works series that highlights jobs in New York City that are slowly disappearing. Emily Botein produced this story, featuring Selma Koch. She's the owner of the Town Shop, a lingerie store on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Mrs. Koch has a loyal clientele. They expect an expert fit and personal service when selecting their undergarments. The Town Shop motto is: "We know your size."

Selma Koch, bra fitter: I'm Selma Koch. I'm gonna be 95. Originally the store opened in 1888. It was my father in law's business. You know sometimes old ladies creep in with their nurses and their wheelchairs and their walkers like me, and they come in and they say, you know you sold me my trousseau. Say, what 70 years ago? I keep saying to you, I don't look like that. Course I do. But I say, you know they got terribly old but I'm fine.

MUSIC FADES IN

SELMA ON PHONE:

Selma Koch, bra fitter: Hello Town Shop? Yes we do. You want nursing-bras, don't you? Yeah fine, we'll fit you for that. You come in we'll take care of you. All right.

MUSIC UP

Selma Koch, bra fitter: We carry tremendous stocks. Thousands of bras. Different colors different numbers. A customer can come in and say, I'll take six, I'll take eight. We have them, cause there's depth to our stock.

CUSTOMERS TALKING IN BACKGROUND.

Selma Koch, bra fitter: We sold the first under-wire bra. In those days the undergarments were stiff and hard and boned and zipped and even hooked. The thing that's made this bra business so fantastic is that bosoms have gotten so big. When we started, cups were A/B. and C. Now some of the most successful brasseries many are making E, F, G and H! And they are big. You could almost live in them. Looks like a big tent, doesn't it? And they're young things. I mean they're not just stiff old ladies.

MUSIC FADES UP

Salesperson: Do you make that in 42c?

Selma Koch, bra fitter: We can try to get it for her.

Selma Koch, bra fitter: We don't let people roam around the store. The minute a customer comes in, she's approached. You can walk from end to end on the floor at Lord and Taylor and not see a person.

Customer: Can you pick out a bra for me that's very low-backed?

Selma Koch, bra fitter: What do you wear? A 34 b? Let me look, eh?

Customer: OK

Selma Koch, bra fitter: There's nothing more, I think, frustrating to keep on trying things and they don't fit and they don't fit, and you begin to think something's the matter with you.

FITTING CUSTOMER

Selma Koch, bra fitter: I'm going to make this a little bit tight okay:

CUSTOMER: I never wore one of these.

Selma Koch, bra fitter: Well they're awfully good.

CUSTOMER: Has this got straps?

Selma Koch, bra fitter: I'll put straps on for you.

Selma Koch, bra fitter: Bras are really my specialty. I never had to try six brasseries on a customer. Two was plenty. I mean, I knew in a minute what was right, finished, buy it, out.

MUSIC UP

Selma Koch, bra fitter: (ON THE PHONE) This is Selma Koch at Town Shop. I'm fine, I'm a little bothered. I ordered things in sets, I got the bra and not the pants, I got the pants and not the bra. In 9433, I got the gray and not the pink. In 9451, I got the pink but not the gray. Ten days isn't so terrible. Okay thank you! Nobody said the retail business was gonna be easy.

SCENE CHANGE: MUSIC UP

Selma Koch, bra fitter: Couple came in a couple of years ago. Very well dressed. And there were two robes, I said "let me shorten the sleeves for you". I said, you don't want to get them wet when you make the coffee. And she said, "I never make the coffee. My husband has always given me my breakfast in bed." So when he came to give me his credit card I said, "I've looked for you all my life. I said, if she doesn't survive will you call me, I'd love a guy who gave me my breakfast in bed." Well she did die, but he never called.

SCENE CHANGE

Selma Koch, bra fitter: (ON THE PHONE) Hello, Town Shop? Yeah, tell me you're putting them in the washing machine? Tell the truth. Are you? That's what's doing it. You don't put the baby in the washing machine do you? But if you come by in a cab just drop it off. Yeah we'll get your backs fast. People respond to people who are nice to them. People who come in with complaints and come in with hostility, and ... what are you carrying on about, it's brasserie. What are you wasting emotion on a brassiere for?

Selma Koch, bra fitter: To customer: Oh no problem to fit you for a bra.

Customer: Well is this one going to hide a lot of stuff?

Selma Koch, bra fitter: Well you don't have stuff.

Customer: I don't have stuff. I think I'll be more comfortable...

Selma Koch, bra fitter: I don't think you need the other.

Selma Koch, bra fitter: Honesty's important in selling. And If I think it's terrible I say, "It's awful. Take it off."

Customer: Yeah, it looks good.

Selma Koch, bra fitter: Now look in the mirror. And also this has a little pinch. It gives you a nice uplift. Isn't that better?

Customer: Much better.

Selma Koch, bra fitter: In the old days, the butcher was your friend, the grocer was your friend, the veg store was your friend. We still have maintianed that. There aren't many stores...

MUSIC UP

Liane Hansen: Our series New York Works is produced by Emily Botein and Joe Richman with help from Ben Shapiro and Deborah George. The series is a collaboration between Radio Diaries and WNYC's The Next Big Thing. Next week, we visit the last civilian lighthouse keeper in the United States. For more information about New York Works, visit our website NPR.org.

© 2002 Emily Botein & Joe Richman