The Wall Street Journal - 09.03.2020

A10B| Monday, March 9, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

quickly without breaking

stride, a small smile or per-

plexed expression on their

faces.

But other people stopped,

doubled back, grabbed their

friends’ elbows and pointed.

Some pulled out their phones

for a photo. Ron Tenenbaum,

57, was window shopping with

his nose close to the glass

when he made eye contact

with Mister Comfortable.

“I looked up—I thought it

was a mannequin. Then I find

out that it is a real person be-

cause he smiled at me. I

laughed,” said Mr. Tenenbaum,

a jewelry manufacturer who

lives on Long Island.

Wolf & Shepherd is primar-

ily a direct-to-consumer men’s

dress-shoe brand that started

online in 2015. Hope and Justin

Schneider, the company’s mar-

ried co-founders, decided to

open a New York store to at-

tract more customers. They

started as a pop-up, with a

three-month lease, before sign-

ing a one-year extension in

January.

Live mannequins have been

used as a marketing technique

for decades. Michael Lisicky, a

historian and author of a book

about the former Brooklyn de-

partment store Abraham &

Straus, said the store hired fe-

male high-school students to

work as mannequins in the

early 1970s.

“They were stationary on

pedestals throughout the

store,” Mr. Lisicky said. “They

were chosen for their poise

and enthusiasm.”

More recently, luxury re-

tailer Barneys New York used

live performances when it un-

veiled the holiday window dis-

play for its Madison Avenue

flagship in 2014. Clothing chain

Abercrombie & Fitch employed

shirtless male models to greet

customers before rebranding

five years ago.

Mark Cohen, director of re-

tail studies at Columbia Busi-

ness School, said live manne-

quins and other marketing

techniques, like using people to

hold signs or hand out fliers,

have long been used with lim-

ited success. He wasn’t con-

vinced Mister Comfortable

would sell many shoes.

“This is a gimmick,” Mr. Co-

hen said.

Whatever his return-on-in-

vestment, Mister Comfortable

has become part of many Mid-

town workers’ commutes since

he first hopped on the tread-

mill in November. Justin Rose,

who walks home from his job

as a consultant, said he passed

by several times before realiz-

ing that it was a live manne-

quin and not a robot.

“Now whenever I walk by I

just kind of acknowledge him,”

said Mr. Rose, 42. “He waves

back to me.”

Rhode Alkhani, 50, said she

thought about Mister Comfort-

able in the elevator as she was

leaving her job as an office

manager Monday evening.

Ms. Linsky sees him several

times a day while she is run-

ning errands in the neighbor-

hood and has gone into the

store to introduce herself. She

said she doesn’t really know

him, but feels like they are

friends.

“There will be one day when

I walk by and he won’t be in

the window,” she said. “I know

I won’t be the only person who

will be like, ‘Wait a minute,

what happened, where’d he go?

I didn’t get a chance to say

goodbye!”

GREATERNEWYORKWATCH

BASKETBALL

Yeshiva University

Reaches Sweet 16

First came the prayer cere-

mony at the conclusion of the

Sabbath with their families, then

the celebration on the basketball

court and the overflowing joy of

March Madness victory.

Yeshiva University beat Penn

State Harrisburg 102-83 on Sat-

urday to reach the Sweet 16 of

the NCAA Division III Tourna-

ment for the first time in the

history of the Jewish Orthodox

institution.

The Maccabees, named after

the ancient Jewish rebel war-

riors, fought against all odds.

They won their 29th straight

game in season that began amid

concerns over a global rise in

anti-Semitism and has now been

engulfed by fears over the new

coronavirus.

The game was played at an

empty gym at Johns Hopkins

University because of concerns

over the virus. The legion of

Macs fans who chant out their

names from the stands and of-

ten follow them on the road

was replaced by the squeaking

of sneakers and the support of

their bench players, some wear-

ing Jewish skullcaps, who

chanted “De-fense! De-fense!”

“It means everything,” for-

ward Gabriel Leifer said about

the victory and reaching the

Sweet 16. He got his fourth tri-

ple-double of the season, scoring

10 points and leading all players

with 20 rebounds while dishing

out 10 assists.

The team’s records this sea-

son include the best start in

school history, the longest win-

ning streak and the first national

ranking.

—Associated Press

HARTFORD

One Dead, Many

Rescued in Fire

One person is dead and doz-

ens were rescued by firefight-

ers after an early-morning fire

at a five-story Hartford apart-

ment building, officials said

Sunday.

Hartford Fire Chief James

Errickson said the blaze was re-

ported at 1:19 a.m. Sunday and

75 firefighters helped rescue

the residents, including a baby

and mother through the win-

dow of a third-floor apartment.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin’s

office said one person died and

31 residents were treated at a

hospital. The identity of the de-

ceased victim wasn’t released.

The fire displaced more than

60 families, Mr. Bronin said. The

city’s Health and Human Ser-

vices agency opened a tempo-

rary shelter and is helping the

families find other housing, he

said.

The cause of the fire is un-

der investigation.

—Associated Press

NEW JERSEY

Murphy Back on Job

Following Surgery

Gov. Phil Murphy is back in

the state and has resumed his

duties as governor following sur-

gery last week to remove what

officials said was likely a cancer-

ous tumor on his kidney.

The governor’s office said

Sunday that he had resumed his

duties as of Saturday evening.

Sheila Oliver, who was

elected with Mr. Murphy as the

state’s lieutenant governor in

2017, had been serving as acting

governor.

—Associated Press

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GREATER NEW YORK

Few things can slow down
New York commuters rushing
to catch their trains home.
But the sight of a handsome
man in a suit, walking jauntily
on a treadmill in the window
of a Madison Avenue store has
triggered more than a few dou-
ble-takes. What the—is that a
robot?
Andrea Linsky said she
stopped in her tracks the first
time she saw him.
“He’s so handsome and ele-
gant,” said Ms. Linsky, 53 years
old, who works in the Diamond
District. “He has this air about
him.”
The man on the treadmill is
human. His name is Jovan Col-
lins, although he goes by Mis-
ter Comfortable when he is on
the clock.
A 32-year-old model and on-
line entrepreneur who lives in
Harlem, Mr. Collins spends two
hours during the evening com-
mute walking in place, cover-
ing the equivalent of 3 miles,
or 9,100 steps. He strolls in a
snug rectangular nook with a
velvet curtain backdrop and
view of the sidewalk across
from Grand Central Terminal’s
north entrance.
“You get the chance to re-
ally think, just be alone and go
through your day,” Mr. Collins
said.
He never looks bored and he
is always on brand, smiling and
nodding to passersby while
sporting a pair of the men’s
dress shoes that his employer,
Wolf & Shepherd, is pitching as
comfortable enough for long
commutes. He wears tailored
suits, except on Casual Friday.
He often carries a briefcase,
when it is raining he has an
umbrella. On the days leading
up to Valentine’s Day he toted
flowers or a box of chocolates,
and now that spring training is
in full swing he sometimes
wears a Yankees cap.
On a recent Monday eve-
ning, people engrossed in their
phones or power-walking with
their eyes fixed on the pedes-
trian signal ahead failed to no-
tice Mister Comfortable. Oth-
ers saw him and glanced back

BYKATEKING

Mister Comfortable Walks the Walk

Jovan Collins, also known as Mister Comfortable, does his daily walk at the Wolf & Shepard dress-shoe store at Madison Ave and 47th St.

KRIS CHENG FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

NY