Bill Coffman and John Coffman will make their annual summer buying trip to New York City in July. There will be about 40 appointments in six days, all with a pitch about the latest trends in men's fashion.

"We'll take a lot of pictures — thank goodness for digital cameras — and then we'll come back and, over a six-week time, John will sit down with the rest of us ... and we'll try to weed it down to what we feel works best for our market and our climate," Bill Coffman said.

Rhett Butler/The Daily Reflector (ENLARGE)

Coffman's Mens Wear co-presidents Bill Coffman, left, and John Coffman will travel to New York this summer to accept one of 20 Uptown/Downtown awards given nationally by MR magazine.

But the brothers, co-presidents of Coffman's Mens Wear in Greenville, will bring back more than ideas. Coffman's has been chosen as one of 20 recipients for the Uptown/Downtown Awards given by MR magazine and will be saluted along with other winners on July 21 in New York City at the Four Seasons Restaurant. Each business also will be profiled in the July edition of MR.

With more than 18,000 subscribers, MR magazine is the leading fashion trade publication in North America. MR is an acronym for Menswear Retailing and was established in 1990.

"It's a huge honor, probably the biggest honor we've ever had for the store in 50 years of business," John Coffman said.

Uptown/Downtown Awards are given annually to about 20 North American retailers for their "savvy and innovativeness in the industry." Winners were selected by men's wear vendors and the MR editorial staff.

Uptown/Downtown winners range from classic to contemporary and include Barneys stores throughout the United States; Beecroft & Bull of Virginia Beach, Va.; Elton's of Las Vegas; Lansky Bros. of Memphis, Tenn.; Theodore of Beverly Hills; Saks Fifth Avenue stores nationwide, and J. Lawrence Khaki's Men's Clothier in Carmel, Calif.

Putting Greenville in the mix with major cities of winners like Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Boston, Chicago, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas shows that Coffman's has a pulse on national trends, Bill Coffman said.

"All these stores are great men's wear stores that do a lot of good things, and they're in larger markets," he said. "For us to be included in that group is a pretty big feat. ... We have some lines that you typically don't see in markets of this size."

Coffman's Mens Wear was established by George Coffman in 1956 and specializes in high-end apparel and accessories, carrying lines such as Canali, Lacoste, Peter Millar, Robert Talbott, Vineyard Vines, Allen Edmonds, Ermenegildo Zegna and Bills Khakis.

West Virginia native George Coffman bought Batchelor Brothers, a well-established downtown Greenville business, in 1956 and founded Coffman's Menswear.

Bill and John, George Coffman's sons, have handled the day-to-day operations since 1990 at the store in the Lynndale Shoppes on Red Banks Road.

Karen Alberg Grossman, editor-in-chief of MR Magazine, said stores like Coffman's are a rare breed.

"A family business with a 50-plus-year track record is not an everyday occurrence in the men's wear industry, where most family-owned independent stores have been unable to compete with the national chains," Alberg said in a news release. "The Coffman family is well-respected throughout the industry for their business integrity, their taste level ... the exceptional service they provide their customers, not to mention their Southern charm."

From tobacconists that traveled the world decades ago to corporate, university and medical leaders today, Coffman's strives to provide a big-city flair with small-town service.

"A lot of people in our market do travel, and they do go to the larger cities for work ... and being exposed to some things, so we like to let them feel like they don't have to go to a bigger city because they can find it all right here," Bill Coffman said.

That's why buying trips to New York and an occasional visit overseas are important, he said.

"It helps us stay a little bit different, stay a little bit unique and have some things that you would find in a store in Minneapolis or Pittsburgh or D.C.," Bill said. "There area lot of things that you find in those bigger stores that a lot of times you don't see in your smaller stores. We feel like we have a very diverse market as far as people are concerned, and we like to show them what's actually going on in the market."

Mike Grizzard can be contacted at mgrizzard@coxnc.com and 329-9580.