Store Name Spells Trouble for Owner

SAN DIEGO — The catchy name of a second-hand clothes store is spelling trouble for its owner, who is being threatened by one of America’s fashion giants.

Sacks Thrift Avenue has drawn the ire of Saks Fifth Avenue, the well-known fashion chain, which is threatening to take owner Beatrice Hill to court if she doesn’t change the name of her store in a working-class San Diego neighborhood.

A letter from a Saks attorney warned Hill that other businesses have been stopped from using similar names and that a federal court ordered damages in one case.

“We are confident that a similar result will be obtained in this instance,” wrote Saks attorney Carole Sadler in the first of three letters Hill has received.

Hill said she is baffled as to how Saks, with its nationwide chain of 48 fashion stores, could possibly consider her second-hand store a threat.

“My customers can’t even afford to shop at Saks,” she said. She said she takes clothes up to 5 years old and sells them, splitting the profit with the original owner.

Saks has annual sales of about $1 billion. Hill said she takes in about $15,000 a year.

Saks insists, however, that the name of Hill’s store is “likely to cause confusion, mistakes and deception of the general public as to the source of goods and services.”

When Hill’s customers heard about the legal threats, they organized a petition, signed by about 250 people.

Saks officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Hill said she has not responded to the letters because Saks, complaining about a name, got the name of her store wrong. All three letters refer to “Facks Thrift Ave.,” she said.