About Gail Levy & Suzy Frankel
Gotham owners Gail Levy and Suzy Frankel maintain a focused vision to meet the fashion needs of their customer while keeping her satisfied and living up to her highest expectations. The fashion experts not only set the trends, but their unique approach to merchandising has created an exciting and extraordinary retail experience for over 23 years.
From a young age, Gail always had a passion for fashion. She got her start at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City where she worked her way up from Sales Associate to Accessories Buyer. Gail was always ambitious and knew she would someday have her own business. As a single mother, she worked hard to support her daughter and herself. During this time, she had an opportunity to branch out on her own selling sweat shirts at local flea markets. Gail’s sweat shirt business appropriately named Super Sweats, focused on embellishing t-shirts and sweats with transfers, rhinestones and decals ideal for 80’s fashion. After much success and entrepreneurial instinct, Gail moved Super Sweats indoors and opened Gotham in 1984 in Millburn, NJ.
In 1996, Gail and Suzy turned their mother-daughter relationship into a business partnership when Suzy joined the family business. Suzy graduated from Rutgers College in New Jersey in 1993 and began her career in Public Relations at The Diamond Information Center in New York City. After much success, Suzy tried her hand at the family business where her mother, Gail always felt she had an eye for picking the hottest sellers.
In 1998, Gotham was busting at the seams, so when the opportunity presented itself the duo quickly moved to a bigger space and better location around the corner to its current location. The new space was a natural progression catering to Gotham’s teen customer while at the same time created a separate area for her younger sister size 7 to 14.
In the summer of 2004, Gotham got a makeover as they updated the store’s appearance to create a high-end glamorous yet girly atmosphere with chic chandeliers, posh furniture and pink décor. In November 2006, Gotham broke through the walls of the neighboring building to form a 5000 square feet mega-store. They added unique features such as a Dress Lounge, Shoe Salon and Gift Bar. The transformation incorporated both Gail and Suzy’s design and vision.
Today, the duo’s varying strengths compliment one another as Gail; the Operations Guru maintains vendor relationships and manages sales associates while Suzy is responsible for the creative side of the business. Together, they both do the buying and merchandising.
