Trying to hang on by her threads
Bella English, Globe Staff
Saturday, July 2, 2005
The communists in her native Vietnam couldn't stop her. The fire that
burned her Chinatown shop to the ground didn't defeat her. Her work days,
which sometimes stretch to 20 hours, haven't deterred her.
But corporate America is a tougher opponent, as Kim Pham is learning.
Barneys New York, the upscale retail
Goliath, is moving into Copley Place, and Kim's Fashion Design, a small
family-run boutique, is being moved out.
In a letter overnighted to Pham this week, the general manager of
Copley Place, where Pham leases a small spot for her hand-designed
fashions, gave her two weeks' notice to leave. ''Your space must be
vacated and turned over to the Landlord in broom-clean condition by 11:59
p.m. Friday July 15," wrote William J. Kenney, who manages Copley Place
for Simon Malls.
Kim's Fashion Designs, with its bright swatches of silk on the wall and
its ready-made clothes on the racks, is the last small business in Copley
Place. Sandwiched between Dunkin' Donuts and Au Bon Pain, the store
specializes in Asian-style clothes: dresses, pajamas, robes, shirts,
jackets, and bags, all designed by Pham and sewn by her or one of her
employees in her tiny Chinatown shop, where she also sells her
merchandise.
Pham says Copley Place is forcing her out because Legal Sea Foods,
which is losing part of its space to a new Barneys, is in turn taking
space occupied by Au Bon Pain and Kim's. The chain bakery already has a
large store on the ground floor. Kim's Fashion Designs had hoped to be
able to move around the corner in the mall, but The Walking Store, a shoe
store chain, got there first. Because Kim's operates under a short-term
temporary lease, it is fair game for eviction. (Officials from Barneys and
Legal Sea Foods could not be reached for comment yesterday.)
Copley Place in the Back Bay is one of Boston's most prestigious
shopping addresses, boasting more than 100 stores, including Neiman Marcus, Tiffany, Bally, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and
Montblanc. Three years ago, Kim's opened, the only locally owned clothing
store in the mall. Since then, Pham has attracted a small but regular base
of customers. Though her rent is steep -- $4,500 a month for about 600
square feet -- Pham is desperate to stay because she attracts a more
upscale clientele than at her Chinatown location. At Copley, she also gets
tourists and conventioneers.
Once a well-known fashion designer in Vietnam, Pham had to start from
scratch in Boston, in cramped quarters on Chinatown's main drag, Kneeland
Street. But she was used to hard work and adversity. Pham came from a
tailoring family whose business was shuttered after the communist
takeover. After the war, her fiance, Minh Tran, a South Vietnamese
soldier, was imprisoned in a labor camp for five years; they married upon
his release in 1980. Tran made it out of Vietnam by way of an Indonesian
refugee camp and ultimately settled in Boston. Pham stayed behind with
their son, Tin, until her husband made enough money to send for
them.
But she wasn't content merely to get herself and her son out. After
witnessing the misery of her fellow citizens, she bought fishing boats,
disguised them as communist naval vessels, and arranged for passengers to
be smuggled out of the country. In all, 500 people escaped via Pham's
boats. She and her son made it to a Malaysian refugee camp, and eventually
to Boston, where in 1989 they were reunited with Tran. Her husband had
taken a job as an engineer, and she opened her Chinatown shop. They rented
an apartment in Brighton and had another child, Dorothy.
Through word of mouth, Pham became known in fashionable circles for her
silk and satin mandarin-collared jackets and dresses at affordable prices.
In 1997 she made 70 blue silk Chinese jackets for members of a children's
chorus performing with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at Symphony Hall. Later she made
white jackets for a concert the chorus gave in Carnegie Hall. She began to
earn a following from brides, who would bring her pictures from fashion
magazines and ask her to make their dresses. On Thursday, one of the
newlyweds dropped by the Chinatown shop to show a beaming Pham her wedding
photos.
But in 1999 Pham's Chinatown shop burned down. With no insurance -- she
couldn't afford it -- she was left with nothing. City Hall stepped in,
helping with small business grants. Loyal customers, friends, and
relatives pitched in to help rebuild her shop. Three years ago she was
able to rent a second shop in Copley Place.
The family's troubles were far from over. Two years ago her husband was
laid off from his job at
Teradyne and
then developed kidney disease. He is on the waiting list for a kidney
donor at New England Medical Center. ''Pretty soon," says his son, ''he'll
need to go on dialysis." Without Tran's paycheck, things have been tight;
the Copley store, the family says, has helped the bottom line. Dorothy,
now 10, will not be going to summer camp because they can't afford it,
says her father.
''The store gives us more exposure to higher-end customers," says her
son, who is now 23. ''In Chinatown, it is what it is. We're not going to
be able to grow. It's more a mom and pop shop."
Today, their Copley store faces a huge red wall, the future home of
Barneys, on which is written in large letters: ''BARNEYS NEW YORK, TASTE
LUXURY HUMOR." Inside Kim's Fashion Design, Anna Haas is perusing the
racks of clothes. Pham has custom made things for Haas before: pajamas,
shirts. ''You can pick your fabrics and she'll make whatever you want,"
says Haas, 26, who lives nearby. ''I think it's a lot more fun to shop
here than the other stores. You get personal attention." Haas, who used to
live in Jamaica Plain, says she likes to support ''neighborhood stores,
and this is like a neighborhood store."
Boston City Councilor Maura Hennigan, a customer of Pham's, has helped
her out a few times. When she called the Copley general manager recently
to inquire about the eviction letter, Kenney told her he could postpone
Pham's removal until the end of July. He also told her he would meet with
Pham next week to discuss options.
Kenney did not return the Globe's calls, but a spokesman confirmed he
has set up a meeting with Pham next week.
''I know the importance of having an entrepreneur like Kim, who is able
to reflect diversity in Copley Place," says Hennigan, who is running for
mayor. ''I'm hoping there will be a spot there that works for Kim. She's a
lovely woman, and she has had so many struggles."
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