Suiting up with the help of Sue

Plus: SouthPark condos removed from taxing district; 1/3 of Camp North End to be declared historic; City Council votes on development 'policy map'; Duke favored by 4.5; CMPD officer delivers baby

Mar 28, 2022

Sue Chanthakhot acts as a wise guide, helping men and teen boys through the journey of buying dress clothes at Belk in SouthPark Mall. Her own life’s journey has been a circuitous one since arriving in the U.S. as a refugee from Laos. (Photo by Amber Veverka)

by Amber Veverka

Sue Chanthakhot takes in the bewildered look on the mom’s face and the rabbit-trapped-against-a-fence look on the son’s — and sweeps in to save.

“He has a college interview tomorrow and he needs a suit,” the mom begins, holding up a plastic bag with a pair of black dress shoes. “This is all he has right now.”

“Size 38 jacket,” says Chanthakhot, without stopping her stride, and begins selecting pieces for yet another rescue mission.

Chanthakhot, men’s suit specialist at Belk in Charlotte’s SouthPark Mall, doesn’t need to measure the 18-year-old. In fact, she’s been taking the measure of customers for nearly 22 years — and she knows most teen boys would rather stab out their eyes with a fork than spend an afternoon with their moms, trying on suits.

“We’ll get him ready,” she says. And in less than 30 minutes, she does.

Chanthakhot, 58, is a Belk department store institution — and an artist of transformation. She takes boys and men from their track pants-wearing lives and sends them out into the world as prom dates, job candidates, polished wedding guests — in short, as guys who deservedly get second looks and raised eyebrows of admiration.

Mothers have been known to send their teen boys in to Belk with firm instructions to “see Miss Sue.” Spring brings proms, graduations, weddings — and now, the call of the cubicles. Lately men have been emerging from their Zoom cocoons to return to the office, and in need of Chanthakhot’s help.

A drift toward casual clothing? A culture in which crumpled khakis count as dressing up? These things do not ruffle the serenity of Chanthakhot’s outlook. She knows what customers need, even when they don’t.

“A lot of guys,” she said, pausing slightly for diplomacy’s sake. “They don’t know how to shop.”

But Chanthakhot does, and her mission is simple. “If they don’t look good, I don’t look good,” she said. “We want every customer who walks out that door to look good.”

Chanthakhot’s journey to her role as wise guide of men’s fashion was a circuitous one, and unlikely. In 1975, her family fled Laos after the fall of Saigon in Vietnam ushered in a time of great chaos and violence in former Indochina. Chanthakhot and her family were among hundreds of thousands who escaped Laos after the country’s Communist takeover.

“When we heard the planes come and the bombs, we had to hide. People would have to leave or their throats would be cut,” Chanthakhot recalled. Her parents decided to get their family across the Mekong River to Thailand. “My father came first. He crossed the river on bamboo. It was very dangerous and many people died,” she said. To avoid raising suspicion, her mother brought each of their children in trips separated by weeks.

“My mother paid a man in cash to take us across,” Chanthakhot said. “They put us on a fishing boat, one by one, to get to Thailand," she said.

The family spent five years in a refugee camp in Thailand. Finally, sponsored by a Lutheran church, Chanthakot, 16, and her family were able to emigrate to Minnesota. “We had one (set of) clothing,” she recalled. “The Lutheran church provided for us.”

Learning a new culture and a new language was tough, but Chanthakhot persevered. After high school, she worked as a nursing assistant in Minnesota in a nursing home and in a hospital, as a yarn spinner in a Cherryville textile plant and finally, as a clerk in retail. A single mother of two girls, she had grit and she had hustle — and it paid off.

As her time in retail added up, so did her knowledge. How to coordinate a killer outfit. How to mark up a suit for precision alterations. How to delicately navigate the path between what a customer wants and what a customer needs. Today she offers cheerful, respectful and relentless guidance — and customers seek her out.

Customers like Teresa and Phil Rollins. Once, Chanthakhot helped Phil pick out a suit for a wedding. On a recent weekday, the Rollinses were back in preparation for another wedding. Teresa had remembered Chanthakhot — and she was taking no chances with her husband’s formal attire.

“Sue helped us four years ago,” she said. “We came here and found her and she knew exactly what to do. When Phil walked out, I didn’t know him. He looked like a million bucks.”

Phil Rollins, meanwhile, readily acknowledged he was all too happy to turn the process over to a professional. The couple drove 52 miles from Jefferson, S.C., to put themselves in Chanthakhot’s hands. “I love it,” he said of his latest look — a Ralph Lauren suit, a soft blue shirt and a sharp Michael Kors tie.

During the conversation with the couple, Chanthakhot made a joke about retiring someday. Teresa looked mildly panicked. “I’ll want your number!” she said, laughing.

Ask Chanthakhot what she thinks about her work and the help she provides, and she talks about gratitude. Gratitude to God. Gratitude that her family found a new start in America. Gratitude that she was able to provide for her girls and build a successful career. Gratitude for the customers she sees every week, who sometimes come back to show her the photos of the parties, the weddings they attended as the better selves she helped them discover.

“I want to help people,” she said. “When (you’re) in a nice suit, it makes you look good. It makes you happy.”

Sue’s top tips for buying suits

Chanthakhot offered observations and tips for boys and men trying to suit up — and for the people who love them too much to let them go it alone.

◼️ She always begins with color: “They come in with a hoodie on I say, ‘What color do you like?’ And they say blue. They always say blue.”

Chanthakhot can nudge customers in a slightly more daring direction when it comes to socks and ties. Narrower suit pant legs that show off a patterned sock are a strong look, she said. And she sometimes offers ties in pastels to customers who are surprised with how much they like them. “Soft pink makes most guys look good,” she said.

◼️ Suit choices are overwhelming. But the jacket blazes the trail: “You start with a blazer,” she said. “You can alter pants. Make sure the blazer fits first.” As demonstrated with the teen bound for a college meeting — yes, it was this writer’s son — she can tell a man what size he needs just by looking.

◼️ Buy-in matters: When a customer tells Chanthakhot he needs an outfit for an event he’ll attend with a significant other, she makes sure the outfit the man is trying on is pre-approved. “I say, send a photo to your girlfriend,’” she said.

◼️ She gently discourages aspirational shopping. But in the end, the customer is the boss: “Yesterday I spoke with someone, and I said, ‘a 54 jacket.’ They were going to get a 52. The woman said, ‘he’s going to lose weight.’ I say ‘OK’ and just smile.” When in doubt, she said, buy bigger — and get the piece taken in.

◼️ Still, rules are rules: “I see some people wear brown shoes and a black belt. No.”

◼️ Neckwear can tie it all together: “Bowties are very fresh. They’re a young man’s look,” she said. When helping a man choose a tie to attend a wedding, Chanthakhot asks what his date is wearing, and the members of the wedding party. (She wants him to coordinate with the former, and not inadvertently match the latter.) And for funerals, where suits are simply black or deep charcoal gray, ties mean a lot. “The tie tells the story,” she said. “When people pass away, it can be very important. They say ‘he liked this color,’” and so they choose a tie in that person’s memory.

◼️ Kindness counts: “Always compliment,” she said. “When I’m out and I see someone looking nice, I say, ‘I love your outfit.’ Men like compliments, but they’re shy.”

Amber Veverka is a freelance writer and editor. She can be reached through her website, amberveverka.com.

Today’s supporting sponsors are Whitehead Manor Conference Center, a peaceful, private, and stress-free space for your organization’s next off-site meeting or event. Conveniently located in South Charlotte, Whitehead Manor is locally owned and operated and provides modern meeting capabilities with attention to stellar service!

… and T.R. Lawing Realty:

City to remove condo complex from SouthPark taxing district

The Charlotte City Council appears on track to approve a new taxing district for SouthPark at a meeting tonight — after carving out a condo complex that didn’t want to pay the higher taxes.

For several years, business leaders in SouthPark have sought the new district, which would levy a new tax on property owners in the neighborhood’s commercial center, with the money going toward projects and programs that enhance the area. It would be an additional 4 cents per $100 of property valuation, on top of existing city and county property taxes.

The boundaries of the proposed taxing district in SouthPark encompass mostly businesses but include a few condo complexes. (Source: City of Charlotte)

It would affect mostly business owners, but also a small number of residents who live in condo complexes, and would raise an estimated $1.4M a year. The Ledger reported last month that some residents of Piedmont Row objected to the new tax, though — and now the city is poised to exempt the entire complex from paying it.

In a 13-minute video message to Piedmont Row residents posted to YouTube two weeks ago, Republican city council member Tariq Bokhari, who represents the area, explained that the city could exempt the properties if they wanted that.

“I hate taxes more than any of you — I absolutely promise that,” Bokhari said. But he said it’s the only way he sees to ensure that SouthPark can address its needs. He said his south Charlotte district pays 25% of the city’s property taxes but receives less than 2% of the city’s capital investment. “Our infrastructure really, ultimately, needed this help.”

Three other condo complexes remain inside the proposed taxing district. The council is scheduled to vote on the matter tonight and next month, and the new tax would take effect July 1. —TM

Related Ledger articles:

“SouthPark considered for new tax district; would help with infrastructure, events, marketing” (🔒, Dec. 10, 2021)
“Outlook favorable for new SouthPark taxing district” (🔒, Feb. 10)

Tickets available for 40 Over 40 celebration on April 28

Come one, come all — tickets are now open to the public for our first in-person 40 Over 40 Awards celebration, presented by U.S. Bank. It’s on Thursday, April 28, from 6-8:30 p.m. at the beautiful Whitehead Manor and Conference Center in the Cotswold/SouthPark area.

Our 40 Over 40 Awards honor people who are making Charlotte a better place, even though they were born before 1982. We will honor this year’s winners, as well as the winners from our previous two years, at our ’80s-themed event. It will include dinner, drinks (with specialty cocktails from sponsor Old Forester), a DJ playing ’80s hits that might inspire some flashbacks for people over 40, entertainment … and a few surprises. We are designing it to be a fun night — no stuffy sit-down country club dinner here. There will also be an ’80s costume contest, but no pressure to break out the leg-warmers.

We have notified this year’s crop of 40 winners, and we will announce them in the next week or so, after we finishing dotting a few I’s and crossing a few T’s.

Charitable partner: We are also happy to announce that The Charlotte Ledger is donating 10% of ticket sales to benefit Dress for Success Charlotte.

We’re able to pull this off because of the generosity of our event sponsors: U.S. Bank; Heartwood Tree Service; online event company Jumbo; Ducie Stark, residential real estate broker with Dickens Mitchener; strategic communications firm Fionix Consulting; strategic and growth consulting firm CXN Advisory and Old Forester bourbon.

Tickets are $70 (plus fees) per person. (Paying Ledger members can get $10 off with the promo code found on this page.) We are firmly against price gouging and “pay to play” events and think it’s a reasonable price for a nice dinner, open bar and entertainment, with a portion of proceeds going to a charitable cause.

Get tickets to 40 Over 40

Any questions? Email Casey at casey@carbenevents.com.

‘YensRandomBracket’ picks 3 of 4 Final Four teams to lead Ledger NCAA Tournament contest 🏀

It was another exciting weekend of college basketball — and all the more so for participants in The Ledger’s inaugural NCAA hoops contest. Leading the pack is YensRandomBracket (who picked 3 out of the 4 Final Four teams) followed by Win Lose or Drew and a tie for third between Drew It Up (same user, presumably named Drew) and BarbiJ.

The top 10 finishers will win prizes including Harris Teeter gift cards and high-quality Ledger pens. Good luck! —TM

In brief:

Duke favored in hoops showdown: Duke opens as a 4.5-point favorite over rival North Carolina in Saturday’s national semifinal basketball game. It’s the first time the two have played each other in the NCAA Tournament. Tipoff is estimated at 8:49 p.m Saturday. (The Athletic)
Historic Camp North End: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission is recommending that a 25-acre portion of Camp North End be designated as a local historic landmark. The move, to be voted on tonight by the City Council, would increase the odds of preserving the World War II-era buildings and would allow about $130,000 in property taxes to be deferred.
Development guidance vote: The City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on adopting what it calls a new “policy map” — more or less new zoning classifications for every parcel in the city. In the next few months, the council is scheduled to vote on the Unified Development Ordinance, which would establish new rules for what can be built and how within the new classifications.
West Charlotte affordable housing: A Tennessee developer is planning an apartment complex in the Ashley Park neighborhood off Freedom Drive in west Charlotte that would have 220 units of affordable housing. Elmington Capital Group submitted plans to the city to build on 13 acres on Alleghany Street, across from Philip O. Berry Academy. The apartments would be for households making no more than 80% of the area’s median income.
Building still booming: Mecklenburg County issued 113,000 building permits in 2021, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The number dipped slightly during the firswt year of Covid but rebounded last year. (Axios Charlotte)
Hotels rebounding: North Carolina hotels are becoming more full but still have a long road to recovery after pandemic losses. Hotel occupancy in the state hit 56% last month, up from 45% a year earlier. (WFAE)
City government salaries: The Charlotte Observer has a new, searchable database with the salaries of the city of Charlotte’s 7,200+ employees. The city has 900 workers who make at least $100,000 and 20 who make more than $200,000. (Observer)
Raleigh eliminating parking-space requirements: Raleigh is eliminating the requirement to include parking spaces in new developments, part of a plan to encourage residents to walk, bike or take the bus and to reduce the costs of housing. “If a developer can include a couple fewer parking spots and a couple more housing units, over time that will add up,” one Raleigh council member said. Charlotte is considering changing its requirements for parking spaces in a new development ordinance scheduled for a vote this summer. (WRAL)
Carmel Road taproom: A self-pour taproom serving craft beer and wine plans to open in September near the intersection of N.C. 51 and Carmel Road in south Charlotte. It will have 52 taps for beer and wine, plus 12 taps for “craft sodas and other kid-friendly drinks,” and “a shade garden, village green, tree house mezzanine, as well as an integrated food truck stall.” (Team coverage: Axios Charlotte, CharlotteFive, Charlotte Business Journal)
Police officer delivers baby: An off-duty Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer who was directing traffic last week at Sugar Creek Charter School in northeast Charlotte wound up delivering a baby in the back seat of a car. On Thursday, Officer M. Brennan was alerted to a woman in labor nearby and “immediately sprang into action putting on gloves and instructed the mother-to-be to push. After one push, the baby arrived,” CMPD said in a Facebook post. The CMPD post quoted Brennan as saying: “I am a mother. I have children, too. I am glad I was there at the right time to help.” (Observer)

CROSSWORD ANSWER: Here’s the solution to Saturday’s Charlotte-themed crossword. Check out all puzzles and answers at the Ledger Crosswords page.

Watch: Last night’s Will Smith-Chris Rock smackdown at the Oscars

Taking stock

Unless you are a day trader, checking your stocks daily is unhealthy. So how about weekly? How local stocks of note fared last week (through Friday’s close), and year to date:

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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project

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