Established in 1980, with a membership of 25 specialty stores, DLS has evolved to be the number one better buying office with the strength of 175 men's and women's specialty stores across the country. We started with one simple idea let us group together specialty stores to compete with the majors in every way by making the product special, and so we began!

In the 28 years of business, our location has remained the same – Midtown Manhattan between 55th Street and 56th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenue in New York City and we proceeded as follows:

• The initial main objective of this buying office was to create packages of clothing and furnishings with extreme markup, but time moves on...
• Dress casual sportswear evolved for the work place with a roller coaster ride of interpretations – The goal of the office was to build items for the stores and find newness and exclusivity by creating a unique presentation.
• Fast forward to the present with 175 specialty stores in the group and a cooperative of information in merchandising, operations, and marketing with new strategies – we pursued a blending of luxury, classic, and contemporary apparel with a focus of building the areas of gifts, personal grooming, gourmet packaged foods, select home accessories, novelty books, and other items to create a lifestyle and modern attitude for the future.

Keeping pace with the changes of the market place and the world and not forgetting our history, has helped us to create a stage for the future. The world is our oyster...