Sy Syms, the discount clothing retailer whose signature pitch -- "An educated consumer is our best customer" -- has endured for 35 years, died yesterday of heart failure, his company said.
He was 83. Syms, born Seymour Merinsky in Brooklyn, began his apparel business in 1959 in the Financial District -- in competition with a clothing store run by his father and brother around the corner.
By 1983, he'd expanded to 11 sites and taken the company public. It eventually grew to 30 stores in 13 states.
Syms personally created the company's slogan, which debuted in its first TV commercial in 1974.
The company expanded again last June, when it bought the Filene's Basement chain and grew to 52 stores.
Syms was CEO of the company until 1998, when his daughter Marcy took control.
