Mr. Perci’s Bow Ties
By Laura Coburn
Mr. Perci stands behind the counter shining a pair of cowboy boots. He sports a light blue striped button down, an intricate gold ring, crystal cufflinks, bright red shades initialed D&G with matching red suspenders and red suede shoes. His ensemble is tied together with a red and navy bow tie, perfectly positioned just a few inches above his navy blue apron with the embroidered words, ‘Houston Shoe Hospital.’
Just inside that little shop with the giant florescent orange shoe on the roof, Mr. Perci is hard at work every single day. He is the manager of the Houston Shoe Hospital on the corner of Bissonet and Kirby and will never be seen without one of his 200 bow ties.
“It makes me just totally different from anybody else or anybody that I work with,” Perci says. “And everybody loves them. It’s kind of like a present—all good presents have a bow on them. So it’s kind of like a walking present. It makes people happy.”
Mr. Perci received his very first bow tie as a Christmas gift from a customer about two years ago. It was purple, black and white and Perci’s son taught him how to tie it. Perci says that he has the greatest sentimental attachment to this particular tie.
“The best one has to be the first one because that’s what started it all,” Perci explains. “At first I couldn’t even tie them–you know, it’s kind of difficult–but once you learn how, you’ve got it. And if you wear them every day, then that is a lot of practice. Now I can tie them in the dark!”
Perci quickly began to be known as the bow tie guy. While he was the same vivacious and generous man he always has been, everyone that met him now had an easy way to connect. The bow tie broke down barriers for Perci. It was a conversation starter, a unique quirk to bond over, and it helped build Perci a community. The bow tie became his trademark.
“So I think I missed one Saturday and the customers were all over me—where’s your bow tie?–I mean I had like seven to ten customers say the same thing,” Perci reminisces. “So I was like okay, that’s it. Saturdays we get to relax, and I still wear bow ties. It doesn’t matter. Even with my blue jeans I still wear my bow tie.”
His collection blossomed. He goes shopping for new bows and receives them as gifts from customers and even non-customers. Perci recalls that he would always see one man walking around who also wore a bow tie. He would admire his ties and the man would return the compliments. Perci says that one day he saw the man walking by the shoe repair store with a bowtie around his neck, but also many more festooned accross his arms.
“He brought me 13,” Perci recounts. “I couldn’t believe it. They were hanging on his arm and I’m thinking ‘what is going on?’ The cleaners are right here so I thought I’m not going to mess with it, but he came straight to me, put them on the counter and said ‘Do you like these? Do you want them?’”
Perci asked the man how much he owed him for the bow ties, and he replied, “nothing, you can have all of them.”
And last Saturday Perci received another bow tie. A customer came in for a shoeshine and asked Perci if he could teach him how to tie a bow tie. “I said sure, let me work with you,” Perci recalls, clarifying that it was not busy at the time. “So I was trying to teach him and when he got it, he gave it to me. It was a Tommy Hilfiger!”
Perci says that even with the frequent compliments and gifts, he loves to help others learn the refined art of the bow tie. He has given some ties away to people who wanted to learn and has traded some with others. But he emphasizes that bow ties help him make connections with others.
“I gave my pastor one two weeks ago,” Perci says with a smile. “So for the one I gave him, I already got it back because I got a brand new one yesterday, and then I just got two on Saturday.”
But Perci says there is nothing like going on a shopping spree for a brand new hand-picked bow tie. “And Steinmart, I’m gonna buy them out,” Perci boasts, describing the racks and racks of inexpensive, high quality bow ties at the store. “And so I was thinking, alright I’ll be back, and I’ll keep coming back. They even gonna know my name. I’ll keep getting two or three, whatever I can afford.”
However, his dream bow tie is still in the imagination stage and can’t be found in stores. When he finds the time, Perci–a dedicated Texans football fan–will create his own tie. It will be one of the nicest ones he owns, embellished with the Texans logo.
For now, his job working at the Houston Shoe Hospital keeps him busy. He served in the U.S. Navy for six years, based in Corpus Christi and Japan. During boot camp he would shine shoes for his fellow soldiers. This expertise paired with his leadership and what he calls his “customer service skills” earned him his current job in Houston.
“I love my job; this is what I do for a living,” Perci remarks enthusiastically. “The bow ties are just extra.”
Perci says that bowties were one of the best things that ever happened to him. He and his son, a college student, both wear bow ties every day.
“You do something every day, that’s what people will know you as,” Perci projects, pointing at his neck. “I’m not ever wearing a regular tie ever. This is what I like–if it ain’t a bow tie, I don’t want to wear it. If it’s a clip on, I don’t want it. I want it to be where I can tie it, so I can fix the knot the way I want it to look…Bow ties are me.”
