Christmas 2017 Alley Cats

Did You Know? - The Reyn Spooner name - where'd it come from?

Reynolds McCullough (known to everyone as Reyn) grew up in California on Catalina Island. When he came home from service after WW II, he began working at a men’s shop in Avalon on Catalina Island. Reyn proved to have a keen eye for fashion and marketing; so in 1949, he bought his employer’s shop and renamed it Reyn’s Men’s Wear. Eventually he ran six stores in California, and was known for always carrying exceptional men’s resort clothing and sportswear. On his first trip to Hawaii in 1957, Reyn was captivated by life in the Hawaiian islands. He also saw an opportunity as jumbo jets made tourism possible and statehood was imminent. A year later, Reyn moved his family to Honolulu, and when Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu (the largest in the US at the time), opened in 1959, Reyn’s Men’s Wear was one of the first shops to open its doors.

Within a few years, the growth of Reyn's Ala Moana Center in Waikiki, and his other new Hawaii locations, convinced him to sell his Catalina business and concentrate his focus in the Mid-Pacific.

Enter Ruth Spooner who, in 1956 had established Spooners of Waikiki, and, with her one sewing machine operation on Waikiki Beach, was cultivating a reputation for the best 'kine' custom surf trunks in the islands. She made swimwear and shirts that Reyn designed, eventually selling him her business in 1962. Reyn set up four sewing machines in the basement of his Ala Moana store, and merging the two company names, Reyn Spooner® was born.