Photo: The Ultimate Look (QueensPost)
Dec. 28, 2018 By Meghan Sackman
A women’s clothing store that has been on 37th Avenue for more than 40 years is closing at the end of the year.
The Ultimate Look, located at 79-16 37th Ave., will close on Dec. 31, as its owners, Ronnie and Asher Ianceu, a husband and wife duo, have decided to retire. The couple first opened the boutique together in 1975.
Asher said he and his wife put “store closing” signs on the boutique’s windows on Dec. 6, and that customers began flooding the boutique the next day. Within three days, most of their merchandise was gone.
Many customers were saddened, he said, that they were leaving after all these years.
“I would never have believed it,” Asher, 74, told the Jackson Heights Post. “People came by in tears saying, ‘How can you do that? You don’t look so old,’ but there comes a point where we have to do it.”
Asher, from Romania, and Ronnie, from Israel, immigrated to New York in their early 20s.
Asher moving to Astoria with his family and studying textile engineering at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he met Ronnie, who was studying fashion marketing at the time and living in Woodside.
The couple eventually got married and lived in Woodside before moving to Great Neck, where they still reside today. They have two daughters together, currently 37 and 40 years old.
The Ianceus opened their Jackson Heights boutique after seeing an advertisement in the New York Times.
The pair loved the location, and eventually expanded the store in 1981, when they took over the space next door that had been a beauty salon. Ronnie took care of customer relations, while Asher handled the administrative side of the business.
Over the years, the pair have sold many different styles of clothing to keep up with changing clientele and fashion trends, which they credit for helping them stay in business.
Ronnie, 68, said her first customers in the 1970s mostly wanted conservative dresses, while trends in the 80s called for more colorful clothing, with customers also expressing interest in pants.
The Ultimate Look (QueensPost)
Today, outer and athletic wear reign supreme, Ronnie said, adding that she picked up Spanish to better communicate with her customers.
“I gave my life to the neighborhood, but that’s what a small store in the neighborhood should do,” Ronnie said. “You have to care about people, and I love my people.”
The couple looks forward to retirement and they plan to stay busy with their young grandchildren and visiting Florida to escape the cold weather.
It is yet to be determined what will replace the store.
