Shot taken at the Lysakov Gallery in Pacific Grove - 65° Magazine

“I had a dream of a better men’s clothing store and
a newer, fresher approach to men’s clothing,”
For the past sixteen years this exquisite men’s
store has been an anchor at the Barnyard
Shopping Village, offering their loyal customers
American luxury brands as well as top brands from
Italy and Europe. Khaki’s has only had one owner
during its existence, entrepreneur and visionary,
Jim Ockert, who works side-by-side overseeing
every detail of the store’s operation with his wife,
Connie.
It’s not surprising that Ockert has done so well with
his own clothing business for nearly two decades.
Retail is ‘in his blood,’ so-to-speak. His parents
owned their own store while he was growing up,
so he was around the business at a very early
age. Ockert’s career path has included performing
as a professional drummer in a rock band and
working in timber mills, but he eventually invested
his time and talents in the clothing business. He
honed his skills and gained invaluable knowledge
while working in the fashion denim business, at
JCPenney and for Nordstrom. Ockert said that
while working at Nordstrom the idea of maintaining
a career in the clothing industry really ‘clicked.’
“I had a dream of a better men’s clothing store
and a newer, fresher approach to men’s clothing,”
Ockert said.
Ockert says that Khaki’s was a success from the
start, and there’s definitely no sign of its popularity
ever waning. Khaki’s has been honored as one
of the 100 Best Men’s Clothing Stores in America,
and by MR Magazine as one of the top 25 men’s
clothing stores. But besides being a savvy businessman,
Ockert also has a generous, charitable
side as well, and has done what he can to help
others throughout the years, both personally and
professionally.
Ockert has two grown children, Nick and Amy, who
are doing very well in their own respect. Ockert
dearly believed in making the family home an
open haven for anyone who wanted to visit. Many
of the young men who’d come to the house were
kids who played sports with Nick.
“There were always guys at the house; it was a
revolving door,” Ockert explained. “Some of them
stayed there for awhile.”
He always took the time to spend with his son’s
friends, especially when they were encountering
difficult situations in their lives. Ockert said that if
he weren’t in the clothing business he would love
to be a coach, but admits he doesn’t have the
training. “My version of that is, I do what I do,
and people come my way,” he explained. A part
of his benevolence comes from witnessing his
parents giving to friends and the community,
but they never expected anything in return,
and neither does he.
Several years ago Ockert expanded his philanthropic
efforts and decided he wanted to do
something that would benefit both the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Association as well as the
Carmel Valley youth Center. That was just the
beginning of the highly successful Khaki’s Ferrari
fundraising event which is held during the same
week as the Concours d’Elegance. All proceeds go
directly to the two charities; about 80 percent to
the Juvenile Diabetes Research Association and 20
percent to the Carmel Valley youth Center.
“We want to raise as much money as we can,”
he said. “The interesting thing is we’re a store, a
clothing store, and there’s no clothing store in the
United States that tries to do this. We do it and
we tie it to a cause. Anything that comes into the
event goes directly to those two causes.” °
PERSONA 56
Tracy Cruysen, Non-Surgical Hair Replacement Specialist
A native of the Monterey Peninsula, Tracy has been a hair designer for the past 15 years. After serving
an apprenticeship with Paul Mitchell, he spent several years with Aveda in Monterey, Carmel, and
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his prominent area of expertise is non-surgical hair replacement. After meeting Chris Buzbee and
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BuzBee Studio 3 NE Mission at 4th, Carmel-by-the-Sea (831) 622-9691
buzbeestudio@aol.com www.buzbeestudio.com