Columbus, Ohio USA
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TORSO
20 Years of Retail Surprise

by Karen Edwards
May/June 2018 Issue

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Scott Rousku | Photo © Larry Hamill

Shhhhh!

“Victoria’s not the only one with a secret…”

If you haven’t heard that tagline, you haven’t been in or around the Short North for the last 20 years. That’s how long the eclectic clothing and gift shop Torso, 772 N. High Street, has been offering its brand of unique, often one-of-a-kind fashion – including, yes, one of the largest selection of men’s underwear in the world (hence the clever turn-of-phrase tagline).

That Torso is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, that it has survived as long as it has, as successfully as it has, is due to one individual, and that’s Torso owner Scott Rousku. Like his shop, Rousku is a Short North fixture. He’s worked in the area for more than 30 years, but that’s not the reason he was celebrated late last month at this year’s Short North Gala. Rousku is one of those dependable community types who always comes through in a pinch. Your sports team needs a sponsor? Rousku is there. Need someone to handle the details of a community event? Sure, he’s done that. Or maybe you just need someone in the community to lend your event some moral support. Rousku has been there, done that – a hundred times over. Sometimes, it even pays off. “The contestant we’ve sponsored the last seven years for Miss Gay America won last year,” he says. Giving back to the community is actually a Rousku family tradition.

“My father was an electrician with his own company. He told me it’s important to always give something back to the area where you live and work,” Rousku recalls.

So last month, Rousku was properly recognized by those in the Short North community. But all that giving doesn’t make a shop successful. It may help, but it doesn’t account for 20 years of successful retailing in an area that has evolved tremendously during those years, and continues to evolve even now.

What explains it, then?

Creative roots
Could be Rousku’s formative years, growing up in Detroit as the youngest of seven (yes, that’s right), seven children.

“My family was liberal-leaning and creative,” he says. His mom was always involved in some do-it-yourself project, and his four brothers and two sisters were definitely creative types. “One of my brothers is a ballet dancer and costume designer for the San Francisco Ballet.” Another brother painted some of the murals you can still see in downtown Detroit.

Because his family loved the arts, especially theater, Rousku says he was exposed to plays and live theater from an early age. “And we loved to travel,” he continues. The family went everywhere – from the mountains to the seashore and to exotic-at-the-time destinations like Puerto Rico. “But my dad loved Las Vegas, and we were there a lot. I remember being there when I was seven – at a time where there were no sidewalks.” It was dangerous but fun, even for a kid.

After his high school graduation, Rousku moved to Florida to attend the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. There, he took courses in interior design and later fashion as well as visual merchandising. “I graduated at the top of my class,” Rousku says.

So, now we’re beginning to understand a little more why Rousku has had such retailing success. But nothing accounts for real on-the-job experience.

From Décor to Functional
“I worked for Petrie Stores and then Décor Corporation after I graduated from the institute,” Rousku says. Décor is the parent name for shops like Art Explosion, Art Works, and the Picture Show. During the time that Rousku was with the company, working his was up from store manager to corporate, he designed and facilitated the opening of 76 stores, all east of the Mississippi, all within a two-year period. “I was never home. I never slept. I traveled a lot, but I was younger then and could manage that kind of schedule.”

Bev Whaley, who worked with Rousku at Décor in Columbus and has been friends with him since, recalls Rousku as a high-energy person. “He was always full of creative ideas. That comes across, now, at Torso,” she says.

After leaving Décor, Rousku found his way to the Short North, a place he would visit whenever he was in Columbus. “I made a lot of friends here, and knew this was the kind of area I would eventually want to live. I liked the people and I liked the area’s cultural focus,” he says.

Because he has a Finnish background, Rousku says he is naturally drawn to the kind of sleek, clean lines favored by European and Italian furniture designers, so Rousku’s first job, when he arrived in the Short North, was at the store that anchored the area at the time, Functional Furnishings. Rousku served as the shop’s manager, as well as its designer and visual merchandiser.

“The store had never had a manager with a corporate background before,” says Rousku. “They didn’t understand how to maximize window displays by checking your inventory list to see what objects you have a number of, and designing your window to promote those.”

One time, Rousku saw night stands had made it to the top of the inventory list. He wanted to try something a little different, so he designed a window with just a solitary night stand in view. “Then I had a sign made that read, ‘One Night Stand.’” There again, that clever turn of phrase, that subtle sense of humor.

The window drew a lot of attention – a lot of kudos – at first. Then, shortly after the night-stand window appeared, there came pleas from the community to please change the window to something else.

Rousku was unsure why, until someone explained it to him.

“The Short North, at that time, was a place frequented by ladies of the night,” he says. It seems these women found the window to present a perfect message for their services, so they would congregate in front of it to troll for customers. “We took the window down,” he says. But he still laughs about it. “It’s a pretty funny story.”

A dream fulfilled
At that point, though, Rousku’s creativity was in need of new outlets – a business where he was the boss.

That was the birth of Vanguard Visuals – a party, retail, and event planning company that Rousku ran for several years. “John (Allen) at the Short North Tavern encouraged me to do it,” Rousku recalls. To launch the company, he planned an event during a Gallery Hop evening, where costumed people, wearing elaborate masks, passed out his business cards. “I got a number of jobs that night,” says Rousku. Vanguard Visuals was up and running – but like his work with the Décor corporation, it meant travel, long evenings and a lot of work. All of that was fine – but somewhere, in the back of Rousku’s mind – he wasn’t yet satisfied.

“I’ve always wanted my own shop,” he says. No matter how successful he was as an employee, a manager, a business owner, Rousku wasn’t about to settle. He’s never imagined himself doing anything else but running his own store.

So how did Torso come to be?

“I looked in my closet,” says Rousku.

What he found were racks full of fashionable clothes – none of which had come from Columbus. “I’m something of a clothes whore,” Rousku says. “But I’m picky about what I wear. I used to pick up clothing when I traveled, and it dawned on me that all the cool clothes in my closet were from somewhere else.”

Checking the area, Rousku realized that there were no mainstream apparel stores in the Short North at the time. There were vintage clothing stores, and a tee-shirt shop, but nothing that sold the kind of clothing Rousku had in mind. The inventory was easy enough to locate. All of the clothing he owned had labels, so it was a matter of doing some research and making some calls.

So, Torso was born – 20 years ago. Sure, it has made some changes since opening its doors. The shop went through a recent remodel, and clothing lines have expanded. But what hasn’t changed is the nature of the shop.

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” says Rousku.

Scott Rousku and staff show off their exclusive tee shirts | Photo © Larry Hamill

A shop full of fun
In fact, from the minute you walk into Torso, you feel like you’ve just crashed someone’s really great party. There is upbeat music that almost makes you dance through the space, and everywhere there
is color, in the racks, on the mannequins, a heady, kaleidoscopic rush of reds and greens and blues and yellows. And always, there is a surprise around every corner, whether it’s upturned chairs displaying stacks of merchandise, or the merchandise itself.

Just wander through the aisles and you’re sure to stumble across something you’ve never seen before – something that is sure to delight – whether it’s a tee-shirt with a sharp, satirical political message or one of the hundreds of men’s briefs, or an elaborately decorated mask, a Superman badge, a package of unicorn poo.

“I’ve bought some great jewelry there,” says Whaley from his Décor days.

“We have something for everybody,” says Rousku. Don’t think this is just a men’s clothing shop – even though much of the merchandise here is for a male audience. There are women’s fashions, too. “I’m surprised how well we do with women’s clothing,” says Rousku.

Art Hanthorn, a friend of Rousku for 20 years, recalls the first time he met the Torso owner – auspiciously, at a fashion show Torso was holding at the then Garage bar. “I went up to him after the show and said ‘I want to work with you.’” Since then, Hanthorn has helped Rousku plan events. Like Whaley, Hanthorn is impressed with Rousku’s creative mind. “And he has more energy than a human ought to have,” he says. “When he’s passionate about something, he goes at it full tilt.”

Taking chances
Hanthorn recalls a trade show in Cleveland where the pair set up a full Torso shop each year. “One time, we built an 8-foot-tall entrance with metal grids, and Scott had this prop, a full-size horse skeleton he wanted to mount on top of the entrance. I’ve done enough events to know that was not a great idea. If just one person knocked the grids the wrong way, the horse skeleton would come crashing down. But Scott was determined to put it up there. He rigged it so well a hurricane wouldn’t have knocked it down. And of course, it drew attention to our space. He really is a great visual marketer,” Hanthorn says.

One thing Rousku will not do – will never do – is shop at department stores or malls for inspiration. Instead, he turns to art and culture, to the internet, to see what’s currently trending in New York and Los Angeles.

“Scott is always watching trends,” says Whaley. “It’s why he’s been so successful.”

Exclusivity counts
That and ensuring that Torso stocks clothes you’re unlikely to find anywhere else.

“We have exclusive contracts with many of our vendors,” says Rousku. He is focused on having unique merchandise in his shop. Before he will buy from a vendor, he’ll ask, “Do you sell anywhere else in Columbus?” A positive response isn’t exactly a game-changer, but Rousku will ask for exclusive contracts in the Short North zip code area.

“Our vendors are also good about being open to suggestions. We can suggest a change in the design or color, and that makes it more exclusive to us,” he says.

Years ago, Torso started its own tee-shirt line, and that, too, is constantly evolving. The tee-shirts are printed with messages relevant to what’s happening politically, artistically and culturally. “They reflect what’s happening today, says Rousku.

Of course, it’s the men’s underwear that is Torso’s raison d’etre. There are over 230 styles from designers all over the world. “We really are known as the Victoria’s Secret for men,” says Rousku. Rousku has a passion for fashion fabric, and you can certainly find a variety of fabric here – even in the underwear category. And in colors, textures and patterns you never imagined possible. It’s part of what makes shopping Torso like spending a day going through Hugh Hefner’s closet.

“Shopping at Torso is just fun,” says Hanthorn. Yes, it’s the unique clothing, the imaginative displays, but it’s also the energy that comes not just from Rousku but his entire sales staff. “They’re honest. They’ll tell you, maybe that’s not your color, or they’ll let you know this label runs small so you may need to go to an XL. Even if you’re shopping by yourself, it’s like shopping with a friend, because the staff will be honest with how you look, and if something doesn’t work out, they will help you find something that does.”

Adapting to the times
Rousku says he hasn’t been adversely affected by all the construction in the area – or by the evolving nature of the Short North from small boutiques and art galleries to a more corporate presence.

“Change is good,” he says. “You have to be a chameleon, grow with the changes, adapt to your surroundings.”

That’s the kind of philosophy that has stood him in good stead through 20 years of retailing in the Short North.

“Torso has basically remained the same store. Our clientele may be younger, but we still attract a large gay clientele as well as people of all ages and sizes and demographic groups.” If there is a noticeable change, says Rousku, it’s that the Gallery Hop crowd seems to be drawing more locals and tourists. “When Gallery Hops became big, we were drawing primarily from the suburbs. Now, that’s no longer the case.”

But if there’s one thing Rousku embraces, it’s the Gallery Hop. “It pays the rent,” he notes. “With 700 to 2,000 people coming through your doors that night, you’re going to make sales.”

Of course, Torso also makes the night an event. There are often activities planned, and in June, Rousku says he’s bringing back the artist wall – a dedicated space that will show the work of a local artist. It’s in keeping with the original spirit of Gallery Hop.

Domestic life
During the hops, you may find Craig, Rousku’s partner of 23 years, helping out at the store and at other times as well. “We were married before it became legal to do so,” says Rousku. The two were joined in a commitment ceremony at COSI, back when the science museum was on Broad Street. “There was a Street of Yesteryears there, and we had the ceremony in the old theater.” Whaley served as Rousku’s best person. Then, in 2015, when gay marriage became legal in Ohio, the couple went to the courthouse to marry legally, “Then we had the marriage officiated on High Street before the Doo Dah parade,” Rousku recalls.

When Rousku isn’t working, he likes to dabble in the kitchen, baking. “I like to experiment,” he says. “It’s another way to express my creativity.” His favorite dishes to make? Vegetarian and salmon quiches – but he also says his family counts on him to make dessert each Thanksgiving. After all, it’s not much of a leap from quiche to pumpkin pie.

Rousku says he’s happy with his work, with Torso, and his second store, Torso Leather & Fetish in Merion Village. “It’s really more tasteful than it sounds,” says Rousku about his second shop. Clothes here lean more toward the cool, clean and funky style, and Rousku is especially proud of the shop’s environmentally friendly nature. “I’d say 80 percent of the store is made with reclaimed, refurnished materials.

Both shops keep Rousku busy. He still travels for his job. He still insists on trusting his gut when it comes to buying inventory. He’s proud of the last 20 years, and looks forward to more.

But if he were to confess to one secret wish – one item he’d like to check off his bucket list – it’s to return to Ft. Lauderdale. Not to open another retail store. This wish has nothing to do with retail or fashion.

“”I’d like to return to the Art Institute to teach,” he says.

That really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. After all, if you were a student heading into the marketplace, in retail, in fashion, in event planning, or visual merchandising – could you imagine a better teacher?

Torso is located at 772 N. High St. Visit www.facebook.com/TorsoShortNorth or call 614-421-7663 for more information.
Open 7 days a week.

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