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Kirschner Furs at 3801 Bull St. is among the oldest family owned businesses in Savannah, and, as far as anyone can tell, is the only furrier within 250 miles. Even Charleston doesn’t have a comparable service.
They started out on Bryan Street in the old City Market where people would take pelts straight to the shop and make the coats in the 1800’s before the business gradually grew into a full service furrier.
The current owners are Charles and JoAnne Ellis, who bought the business — where they already were working — in 1997.
“Old Mr. Kirschner knew Charlie, who was a full furrier from North Carolina,” JoAnne says about her husband. “They had met in Montreal and became friends. Mr.
Kirschner’s son Dave, who ran the business for years, was into marketing and advertisement and he lived in Atlanta. So he ran the business side and Charlie did the buying, the selling, and the fur, with the understanding that when Dave got ready to retire, we would buy the business.”
“A lot of people don’t even realize that we’re not the Kirschners because they are so used to seeing us,” JoAnne said.
Recently, BiS sat down with Charles and Joanne to talk about their business.
Q: What do they do?
A: “We can give a fur a new attitude,” JoAnne said. “We can size it if it’s too small or if it’s too big. We can totally restyle it so it is more modern because there is nothing wrong with the fur, but you just want it to be different.”
Q: What is a furrier?
A: “Well, it’s somebody who knows a lot about fur and its history,” said Charles. “There are different kinds of furriers. There is the fur mechanic, who is the one who does the actual cutting and sowing. There is fur finishers.”
“And then, there are people like us,” JoAnne said. “We sell the furs, but we know all the aspects of the industry.”
For instance Charles knows how many skins it would take to make a certain size coat. JoAnne knows the different furs and how to sell them. Charles knows the technical side of repairing and cleaning furs.
Q: How do you find the fur?
A: “We don’t kill the family pet,” JoAnne said. “Our animals are farm raised. Obviously, the fur wouldn’t be really pretty if you just picked up a stray animal.”
Q: How do you store the furs?
A: They store more than 11,000 furs a year in a vault positioned in the back of the store, and as the only full service furrier from Columbia, S.C., to Orlando, Fla., they say Kirschner Furs not only hangs the fur in the vault set to industry standards, but they also make sure to clean and repair it as needed.
“There are other places that you might could take your coat to be stored, but somebody you don’t know is taking your fur, packing it up, shipping and unpacking it. You don’t know where it is being shipped or how it is hung. Then when you want your coat, you have to give them a two-week notice. With us, you know your coat is stored.”
Storage is $55 a year, and you don’t have to give them notice when you want it. You can walk in the door and borrow your coat for as long as you want whenever you want. When you bring it back, they inspect it and hang it back up.
Q: Do you love your job?
A: “I love the people and seeing what is new in the industry and finding new, but very talented, designers,” said JoAnne. “My favorite is mink.”
Q: A new view?
A: JoAnne makes sure to find the furs that fit the Savannah market.
“We find furs that are light-weight,” JoAnne said. She holds up a light brown fur. “This one is not only light-weight but reverses into water-repellent silk.”
Q: Employees?
A: “Between Angie who works for us and Charlie and myself, we have over 77 years of fur experience – professional fur experience.”
Q: Fur for different budgets?
A: “We have every price range,” JoAnne said. She picks up a short fur jacket. “I think this is on sale for like $1,600.” She picks up another one made of black water-repellant silk on one side and fur on the other. “And this is like $900, but it is reversible and you can wear it several different ways.”
Q: Why should you let them store your fur?
A: “People who store furs at home may have a fur that looks pretty, but the hide’s disintegrating underneath,” JoAnne said.
Another reason to store: cleaning. Every other year a fur coat needs to be cleaned. Not just because of the dirt, but for the hide itself, she said.
“The cleaning process has a special process in there that keeps that hide soft. So your fur’s going to last a long time. Otherwise, people buy these nice expensive coats and they store it in a wine cooler or hang it up in a cedar closet and it looks like it’s got the mange, but there is nothing we can do for it.”
When the coat is left with Kirschner Furs, it is guaranteed 100 percent.
“I don’t think we have ever had to give money back for anything,” JoAnne said. “If you do what you are supposed to do and you give the coats personal attention from the moment they come in the door, then the damages are minimal. We’ve never been sued for loss or damage.”
Q: Designer label?
A: The Kirschner Furs label is on the store’s traditional furs and also on their custom pieces, JoAnne said.
“We have the traditional furs that you can find at any furrier,” she said. “Then, we have also developed an outerwear line. We have exclusives that they put our private label in.”
JoAnne looks at the designs being produced and tweaks them to fit her customer base.
“We can have it custom-made and custom-designed for you. We can make it what you want and it still has our label. We can take you from an oyster roast to a formal gala.”
Open Hours: For the spring and summer months, Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and during the winter months, Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Contact
Address: 3801 Bull Street
Phone: 912-231-1122
Web: Kirschnerfurs.com