PHILADELPHIA -- Christmas can be fun. And bar mitzvahs are a boon. But at Goldstein's Men's & Boys' Wear, there's no season like white suit season.
The South Philly storefront is one of the few spots around that specializes in the formal white suits boys traditionally wear for their First Holy Communion. Each spring, through early May, when most Philly churches celebrate the sacrament, hundreds of families from neighborhood parishes and diocesan schools in South Jersey and the suburbs flock to Goldstein's. The old-school shop on South Broad swells with proud parents and bored or beaming boys newly outfitted in snazzy, custom-fit white suits they will likely wear exactly once.
"It's tradition," said Brianna Robb, who waited with her mother, Jean, as her 8-year-old son, Cullen, was fitted in white on a recent weekend. "It's second to none."
These days, white communion suits can be bought on Amazon or at big-box stores. But Goldstein's, which has been selling boys' suits for more than 120 years, promises parents a quality, one-stop shop for their communion needs. Come spring, the boys shop bursts with elegant three-piece white suits, white shoes, white belts, white ties. Everything fitted, tailored, altered, and pressed with a personal touch that is a point of pride at Goldstein's.
"I treat every little guy like a little man," said salesman Jack Rehr, who has been selling white suits at Goldstein's for 20 years.
During the hectic spring stretch, when it's often appointment-only at Goldstein's, the shop sells over 200 white suits each year, said owner Vinny Talotta. That's about 20% of the store's total sales.
"Nobody does the white suits like we do," he said. "That's our thing."
The original Goldstein's opened in a storefront at Sixth and Queen streets in Queen Village in 1902. Vincent Talotta Sr. was barely out of short pants when he went to work for Julius Goldstein as a stock boy, eventually working his way up to salesman. After returning from World War II, Talotta bought the store from the retiring Goldstein in 1950.
Vince Talotta, or "Daddy-O," as everyone called him, was a dapper man who knew how to make customers feel special. A "gentleman's gentleman," Rehr said.
"He treated everybody the same," he said. "Guy came in for a pair of socks or a suit -- you treat them the same. That was Vince."
For a time, Easter was the biggest day, with Vince fitting out neighborhood kids in brightly colored suits.
"Easter was the bread and butter," said Vinny Talotta, who first went to work in the shop while in high school.
Eventually Vince Talotta expanded the Sixth Street shop into a sprawling, two-story showroom. He remained committed. When he fell ill in 2012, he made sure to hang on through Easter.
"He stayed strong until after the busy season," said Janice Talotta, Vinny's wife, who helps during communion time.
In 2016, Vinny Talotta sold the old shop and moved into the storefront near Broad and Shunk streets, right next door to his childhood home.
By then, Goldstein's had long ago cornered the white suit market.
"We probably sell as many white suits as any store in the country," Rehr estimated. "And we're just a little store."
Children have worn white for First Communion for centuries, said the Rev. Dennis Gill, director of the Office of Divine Worship for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. White, the priest said, signifies the new life celebrants receive in the body of Christ.
For Goldstein's, white suits represent continued tradition. Bygone days when parents, godparents, and grandparents crowded into the local clothing shop to gush over Junior and his new white suit.
"We try to make it fun for them, too," said saleswoman Bernadette Robison of the boys who come in the shop. "I try to tell them, 'you work with me, I'll work with you, and I promise I'll get you out as fast as I can.'"
At the store with his mother, Drew Kersic, who is 9 and attends Christopher Columbus Charter School, wanted out fast. He had things to do on this rainy Saturday.
"I wanted to stay in my room all day and play Fortnite with my friends, Connor, Sam, and maybe Jake," he said, having to admit he looked sharp in white.
Despite gentle urging from his parents and grandmother, Henry Franchi, 8, wouldn't budge on white. The color isn't mandatory for First Communion at Our Lady of Hope in Blackwood, Pa. Henry preferred navy blue, allowing for only a white bow tie.
"I wore a white suit to my communion," his father, Anthony Franchi, said with a laugh. "He sold me out."
Cullen Robb posed proudly in white.
Rehr knotted the boy's white paisley tie, before offering some advice.
"White is white," he said. "You gotta be careful. Even a man has to be careful with a white suit."