We asked, you answered.<\/p>\n
In The Baltimore Sun’s Best: Readers’ Choice 2025 poll, our readers voted on what\u2019s best in the region, from wedding venues and roofers to pediatricians and hair salons. This year\u2019s winners highlight people and businesses recognized for outstanding service and customer satisfaction over the last year.<\/p>\n
The poll includes more than 550 winners in nearly 200 categories in six areas \u2014 Arts & Entertainment, Home & Garden, Food & Drink, Lifestyles & Shopping, Personal Services and People & Media. More than 47,000 ballots were cast, cultivating a list of your favorite museums, pizza joints, boutiques, TV anchors, radio hosts and more.<\/p>\n
Best Clothing boutique, Menswear, Shoe store: Gian Marco Menswear<\/strong><\/p>\n 517 N. Charles St. 410-347-7974. gian-marco-menswear.com.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n For what it’s worth, everyone gripes about the prices at this trendy men’s shop.<\/p>\n “They’re entitled,” said Marc Sklar, CEO of the Charles Street boutique that deals in luxury clothing and footwear.<\/p>\n Who would pay $100 for a bow tie, $260 for a cotton shirt or $400 for a pair of crocodile-and-python sneakers?<\/p>\n “Someone who appreciates quality,” Sklar said. “People who come here want a good product. It’s like eating fine steak rather than something from McDonald’s.”<\/p>\n Well-heeled patrons agree. For 35 years, they’ve been buying European dress and casual wear off the fashionable racks at Gian Marco, while touting the top-notch fabrics and customized apparel.<\/p>\n “This stuff is so well made that it will go out of style, and then come back in, before it wears out,” one reviewer wrote online.<\/p>\n “That’s almost true,” Sklar said. “Except that the merchandise we buy is so timeless that it never goes out of style.”<\/p>\n Twice a year, he and co-owner John Massey fly to Italy and browse the high-end clothing factories, awaiting that Eureka!<\/em> moment.<\/p>\n “We’ve literally climbed through vaults of fabric to find things that are really unique,” Sklar said. “We’re looking for buried treasure.”<\/p>\n Fabric found, they make their orders, mindful of their customers’ breadth.<\/p>\n “Sometimes we have Italian manufacturers produce sizes they would normally not produce,” he said. “They have to understand that there are a lot<\/em> of big Americans.”<\/p>\n How old are Gian Marco’s clients?<\/p>\n “Age 25 to death,” Sklar said. “We’ve done many of their burials.”<\/p>\n Also weddings, graduations, confirmations and Bar Mitzvahs.<\/p>\n “We’ll go to people’s homes to fit them, or to redo their wardrobes,” the owner said. Truth be told, customers like to peruse the shop in Mount Vernon, if only to hear the good-natured banter between Sklar and Massey. Said the former, “We’ve been in this business so long that John used to dress Moses.”<\/p>\n Have a news tip? Contact Mike Klingaman at jklingaman@baltsun.com and 410-332-6456.<\/em><\/p>\n