Men?s shop Aston & Gunn is poised to close for good at the end of August, but the store?s doors will not remain shut for long as its owner plans to reopen this autumn under a new name and with a new merchandising plan.

David Hamshere, managing director of The English Sports Shop (TESS Ltd.) which owns Aston & Gunn as well as a dozen other shops in Bermuda, is staging the revamp of the store on the heels of two successful changeovers at other shops owned by his group.

The Crown Colony Shop successfully reopened as Boutique C.C. last year while Archie Brown was transformed into the luxury accessory store Lusso.

?Both of those ventures were successful so we felt it was time for Aston and Gunn?s premises to have a new lease on life,? he said.

The group actually only renovated the shop five years ago in a move that saw it step away from trying to cater to tourists to become a high quality men?s store with a strong European influence.

Menswear will remain the focus of the new store, but Mr. Hamshere said that with the closure of the Trimingham?s ? the Island?s largest department store ? last summer it was time to take a more central position in menswear.

?The public have said that they are looking for menswear that is good quality but less trend orientated merchandise so that is the way we?ve decided to go,? he said adding that while the store will continue to carry high end lines such as Hugo Boss, it will exit really edgy lines such as Iceberg.

?There is less of a demand for that. This is what the customers are telling us particularly the ones who are missing the Trimingham?s/Smith?s feel for clothing,? he said.

?We?ll still be bringing in European brands and we?re certainly not closing our minds however to some American designers as well. It is just effort to get a much larger market share.?

While this will be the TESS Group?s third major makeover in almost as many years, it is certainly not going to be the last according to Mr. Hamshere who hints that the next change may involve the English Sports Shop which remains ?the old man in the whole company?.

TESS Group?s investment in its stores comes at a time when other retailers have complained that Internet shopping and resident?s growing use of couriers to import goods is hurting business. However, Mr. Hamshere simply brushes off the Internet as a fact of life.

His stores, he said, still bring in the customers by staying on their toes and keeping up with customer tastes, providing great service, product that fits and after care so if something does goes wrong customers can have it dealt with on the spot.

?The Internet is a business that is there and we have to combat it with what we can offer on Island,? he said.

Besides, TESS Group can hardly complain about overseas imports since they are exporting overseas themselves.

The group plans to move into online sales in the near future, but even without the Internet the shops are recording plenty of overseas sales.

Yesterday alone, there were five packages containing everything from sweaters to Bermuda shorts and jackets waiting to be shipped out to customers in New Hampshire and West Virginia.