The Pants Store, a casual lifestyle men's and women's clothing store based in Leeds, Alabama, is coming to downtown Auburn in August 2022.
Founded by pant wholesaler Taylor Gee out of the trunk of his Mercury in 1950, the Pants Store’s original inventory did consist of only pants.
“Hence the name ‘the Pants Store’… it started from there, but obviously we eventually started selling a whole lot more than just pants,” said Michael Gee, president of the Pants Store and grandson of founder Taylor Gee.
According to Gee, although the store originated out of the trunk of a car, it was the opening of the warehouse in Leeds, Alabama, that led the public community to coin the name ‘the Pants Store.’
“That original location is still where our central office, warehouse and headquarters is today,” Gee said.
Since its founding, the Pants Store has expanded across Alabama from Leeds to Mountain Brook, Trussville, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa. The store also has an online site, at pantsstore.com.
It will be adding a Hoover location in September, as well as the Auburn location within the next month.
“We feel like we can probably be open by that last week of August. We really want to be open for that game day,” Gee said.
According to Gee, one of the most exciting things about the Pants Store coming to Auburn has been the public response.
“It’s been unbelievable. We have over 120 applications to work at the store right now… we’ve never had a location with that much interest,” Gee said.
Another detail Gee said excites him is the specific location of the store—within the Shops at Gay Street, a new downtown Auburn development that will consist of a Publix Supermarket as well as retail space.
The development will also have its own parking lot, directly off South Gay Street, that will consist of 120 parking spaces open for use by customers of the Shops at Gay Street.
“I know parking is an issue downtown, so we feel like our customers aren’t going to hesitate to come shop with us because they will be able to pull in the parking lot, park and walk in,” Gee said.
According to Gee, the Pants Store has wanted to open in Auburn for years.
“We’ve always been interested in Auburn because it’s such a vibrant city. We’ve looked at some locations before, but they just didn’t work out. This location was just a no brainer that we couldn’t pass up,” Gee said.
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Catherine Haynes, junior in journalism, is the opinion editor for the Auburn Plainsman.
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