After 40 years in a historic building in downtown Birmingham, Robert Hill Custom Tailors will move to a new home. At the end of September, the shop will leave its storefront on 3rd Ave North for a building on the city’s Southside.

Robert Hill was hoping to come to an agreement on new leasing terms with Kupperman Companies, the New Orleans-based real estate development and investment firm that bought the building last December. The tailoring and alteration shop is the third and last business to vacate the building after a substantial rent increase. Magic City Grill and Bizarre: The Coffee Bar left earlier this month.

For the past few weeks, Robert Hill and his wife Barbara have packed up the shop. The store routinely closes Mondays, Saturdays, and Sundays, so the couple comes in those days to get an early start on taking down displays and organizing inventory.

The Hills were busy at work on a recent Monday. Inside the shop, folded shirts lined the tables next to copies of Sports Illustrated and GQ, ready to be placed in boxes. Framed photos and awards, formerly on the walls, were propped up on shelves.

Robert Hill sighed heavily as he stood near the shelf on the back wall.

“Forty years,” Hill said as he looked around his showroom.

The tailor shop is the longest tenant in the building. And for the past few weeks, the shop has been the building’s only tenant.

“I’m the loner now,” Hill joked.

It’s not the first time. But it would be the last, at least in the building on 3rd Ave North.

“When I first came here, I was one of a few places. There was a used furniture place and a little dental place. They vacated. And for years I was here in the complex by myself,” Hill said.

Businesses have come and gone, but Robert Hill Custom Tailors has remained an anchor.

Throughout the years, the Hills remodeled and made improvements to the shop, little by little. At one point, the couple expressed interest in buying the building before it was sold to Kupperman Companies.

Barbara Hill said they would have loved to stay in the building, but multiple downtown developments, including the $30 million project that converted the Red Cross Building into lofts made parking near the shop difficult.

“We were down here Saturday, working, trying to move stuff and we couldn’t even park in front of the building,” Barbara said.

Then, there was the impending rent increase. Kupperman Companies plans to invest $1 million in the building. The building’s rent has remained so affordable throughout the years because the previous owners let it decay, the company’s founder Zach Kupperman told AL.com earlier this month. They allowed tenants to have month-to-month leases paying “practically nothing” because the building was in such bad shape.

Robert Hill previously told AL.com that Kupperman Companies planned to increase the rent five-times the amount he had previously paid. Hill expected the increase, but that price, he said, was just too high.

“An astronomical amount,” Barbara Hill said.

The couple actually started the process of looking for a new building this past spring. They thought they’d found a suite, but the real estate brokers overseeing the space ended up negotiating a deal with someone else. But then, a few months later, the agent circled back with the Hills. She told them that the potential tenants had changed their minds and asked if they were still interested in leasing the property.

Hill took it as a sign.

“Maybe it was meant for me,” he said.

Given the series of unproductive negotiations with Kupperman Companies, Robert Hill knew he’d be in the same situation of looking for an affordable suite next year. So the couple decided to stop postponing the inevitable and sign a new lease elsewhere. They took the new space — a 1,500-square-foot suite at 712 32nd Street South.

Hill said the rent is “decent” and the building is working to accommodate them.

This move comes at the beginning of the fall — Hill’s busiest season of the year. So the couple will try to get all of their ducks in a row as fast as possible. In an effort to eliminate downtime, they’re moving gradually, packing inventory while keeping the shop open to tend to customers.

Their last day running Robert Hill Custom Tailors out of the 3rd Ave North building will be Sept. 28. They’ll close the shop on the the next day to move the heavy items, including the sewing machines. The business is usually closed on weekends and Mondays, so the Hills plan to use those days to finish setting up the new showroom and installing equipment, including the phone. They hope to be up and running in the building by Tuesday, Oct. 3.

The Hills put a sign on the door letting customers know the tailors would be moving about two weeks ago. They’ve known for longer, but the couple wanted to be sure they’d made their final decision before officially alerting the public.

The move was hardly a surprise, especially for Hill’s frequent and longtime customers. During the past year, the couple notified people a change eventually would come, and in the past few months, some folks have called to ask if they were located in the building on 3rd Ave North.

Over the last few weeks, they’ve mailed out cards and called suppliers. And there’s still more to do. The Hills also plan to put up a “Coming Soon” sign at the new space.

Robert Hill hopes he won’t lose any customers in the moving process.

“I have a nice clientele,” he said, warmly. And so far, Hill says the reception to the move has been positive.

The new shop is only about two miles and six minutes away, nestled between two law offices. “So I think it’s going to be a good move for us,” Hill said. “And we’re excited about it”

They’d hoped to have a street-level open storefront where people walking by on the sidewalk could see the shop’s clothing through the windows. The new shop has smaller rectangular windows and is not street-side, but there’s a perk: Free and convenient parking.

The building sits on a small parking lot with more than 10 spaces. There’s also room for parking on the street.

“Very convenient parking, right in front of the door. Not clustered, you know, like downtown. There’s [less] circling the block, trying to get a parking spot. So, I’m very excited about that. Because a lot of customers complain about parking, you know,” said Robert.

Barbara Hill is looking forward to making the building feel like home. ”I already have a rug,” she said, smiling. “We’re we’re going to put out mums.”

Although the Hills are downsizing to a smaller space, the plan is to keep most of the old shop’s furniture and decor. The challenge is figuring out where to put some of their larger, cherished decorations, including two mounted buck heads — gifts from a son they lost to cancer.

“He loved to hunt and fish,” Barbara said.

“He wanted me to have those when he, you know, knew was going to pass away,” Robert said. “He wanted me to put them in my shop. So I’m going to keep those.”

Naturally, the Hills have mixed emotions about moving.

The couple are high school sweethearts. They’ve been married 61 years — 21 before they opened Robert Hill Custom Tailors on Aug. 3, 1983.

Over the past four decades, the shop has seen the tail-end of the early 1980s recession and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And the business survived the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Through it all, we’re still here. You know who did it, right? God,” Hill said. He smiled and pointed his finger to the sky.

The Hills have built 40 years of memories at the downtown shop. They’ve hosted celebrations and open houses for holidays. One of their fondest recollections is Robert Hill’s 80th birthday party. “It was a nice little gathering,” Robert said, as he and Barbara sat down at the big table in the showroom. He took out a photo album and flipped through the pictures of cake and smiling guests. “Look from the beginning! That was a surprise!”

Barbara beamed as she looked down at the album. “My daughter loves to take our pictures. And she’ll make little books like this.”

The Hill’s son wanted to throw Robert a surprise party at the shop. A friend of the family was in town, so they all worked at the shop that night getting everything prepared.

When Robert got to the tailors that morning, the shop was decked out in decorations. “It worked out beautifully!” Barbara said.

Robert always thought the shop at 3rd Ave North would be his permanent home. He’s not ready to retire just yet, but he hopes to eventually hire someone to come in and run the shop two days a week.

“I’ve been working sometimes seven days a week and it’s caught up with me,” Hill said.

“I’m getting…” He started the sentence, then leaned forward and whispered, as if he wanted to tell a secret. “Worn out.”

But despite the emotional goodbye, the Hills are looking forward to the next chapter of their shop. Robert thinks they’ll be happy over on the city’s Southside. And he’s still looking to find more help, possibly an experienced seamstress to add to his small team.

“I’ve got a lot of customers now that have really nice clothing. They want to update the pants and tailor the coats and take them up to more of a tailored fit. Give them more of a slim look,” Hill said. “That’s been keeping me kind of busy. And I’m excited.”

Robert said he’s noticed a pattern. Relax-fit blazers and slacks are in fashion now. A lot of people own high-quality relaxed-fix clothing, but desire a more fitted look. That’s where Hill comes in.

“That’s what we’ve been doing and we’re really excited about making more relaxed fit clothing more of a tailored clothing,” he said. “That’s really a feature that people look forward to doing. Especially with the nicer clothing. So we stay busy.

“And now people are getting more into dressing again. So that’s going to increase our workload too. So I’m excited about it. I really am.”

Tuesday morning at Robert Hill Custom Tailors was business as usual. Around 9:30, a customer paced outside of the shop having an intense conversation on a cell phone. Inside was Robert Hill, good-natured and dressed to the nines in a pink button-down shirt, suspenders, and tie. He reached into this tailor’s apron and took a look around the shop.

“It breaks my heart to have to move,” Hill said.

Colorful shirts and ties normally on display in the widows had been packed away. Besides some empty stands, the shop was still neat and cozy. A blazer was draped over a chair near the table.

In the back, three employees worked on sewing machines.

A few minutes later, John Terenzio — the customer on the cell phone — opened the front door and rushed inside, apologizing for taking a call during his fitting.

“I’m so sorry Mr. Hill!” he said, as he picked up the blazer and put it on in front of the mirror.

He shifted his shoulders and looked at the blazer’s fit.

“You don’t think this side is higher up? Or is it just my imagination?”

“It’s just your imagination,” Hill responded.

“OK! I’ll listen to the professionals!” Terenzio said.

He took the blazer off and handed it to Hill, who showed him to the counter. Terenzio followed enthusiastically.

“And I’ll bring you many more things, Mr. Hill. I have a lot of nice clothes! I just got a sports coat from the Brooks Brothers store in Leeds and I have some jackets from Banana Republic.”

Terenzio, a veteran television executive whose producing credits include “Swift Justice with Nancy Grace” and “Judge Joe Brown,” recently moved to Birmingham after a long stint in Los Angeles. He has a place at the corner of 22nd Street and was on the way to church one morning when his son saw Robert Hill’s Custom Tailors. Terenzio had been in search of a new tailor, so he googled the shop. That Tuesday, he stopped in for the first time.

“I saw your shop. And I went, oh boy! That’s nice,” Terenzio told Hill. “And I Googled you. You’ve got famous reviews!.”

“My reputation,” Hill said, proudly. “That’s what I live by!”

Hill is known for being friendly and working fast. Throughout the decades, he’s built a roster of clients that include Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington, television news anchor Steve Crocker, former Alabama football coach Gene Stallings, and ESPN Radio host Paul Finebaum.

Hill’s face lit up as he recalled a recent encounter when he was walking down the street near the shop. A man stopped and called out to him.

“You’re a legend!” he exclaimed.

“Who, me?” Hill said.

“Yes, you!” the man responded. “And you know it!”

Experiences like that make the 82-year-old Hill smile. He’s made so many memories over the years. He’s looking forward to making more in the new building and he’s confident his clients will follow him along the way.

“I’m not starting a new business,” said Hill. “I’m just relocating.”