Though many Greater Des Moines retailers viewed last year’s opening of Jordan Creek Town Center as a threat to their livelihoods, the owners of Midwest Clothiers saw it as an opportunity for growth in a booming corner of the community.

“We looked at it like the weather,” said co-owner Dave Lemons. “There’s not a lot we can do to change it. The only thing we can do is react to it.”

With that in mind, Lemons and co-owner Tim Sitzmann, who also own Mr. B, Reichardt’s Clothing Inc., Badowers and The Backroom, broke ground the building in West Glen, which is now home to their newest clothing store, Sarto.

“To not address the fact that Jordan Creek is there, and that it’s a major retail presence, and to shy away from that, in our mind that was probably the wrong reaction,” Lemons said. “We felt pretty strongly that we needed to be aggressive and really go after the market that was out here.”

Sarto opened March 12 and welcomed approximately 500 customers through its doors during its first weekend. Lemons said the store doubled sales expectations for the first month, and is on track to exceed second-month goals by approximately 35 percent.

Lemons and Sitzmann put together a store that is “a little younger, a bit more aggressive, a bit more fashion-driven” than their other Greater Des Moines clothing stores. The men’s clothing lines include John Varvatos, Lacoste, Hugo Boss, Ben Sherman, Etro and Nat Nast.

“From a men’s standpoint, it’s a lot more Italian, European-driven,” Lemons said. “It’s a lot less business-oriented and a little bit more fun-oriented.”

Women’s manager Jane Bassman set out to create an inventory of items that shoppers couldn’t find elsewhere in Greater Des Moines, with everything from custom-made suits to jeans.

“I wanted a combination of the two, and it’s working really well,” said Bassman, adding that the mix of clothing options has created an initial customer base that ranges in age from 25 to 80.

The women’s clothing lines include Zanella, Seven Jeans, Margaret M and Philippe Adec. The owners have also assembled a large selection of ladies shoes’, something absent from their other stores, as well as a stock of men’s shoes, with the help of Frank Vaia, known to some in town as “The Shoe Guy.”

“We’ve sold as many pairs of shoes in one month as we ever did in a year in the ladies’ business anyplace else,” Lemons said.

The owners of Sarto expect to see more traffic with the completion of the Wells Fargo & Co. campus on George M. Mills Civic Parkway, and as West Glen continues to develop. Wireless Universe and Siren, a women’s clothing store, will lease space in the Sarto building. Josephs Jewelers is in the midst of construction on a new building adjacent to Sarto. Schaffer’s is expected to break ground on a new site in West Glen this year. A hotel and several restaurants are also expected to open in the area.

Lemons said that with a market that is fairly saturated with specialty clothing stores, he and Sitzman are unlikely to open another store in Greater Des Moines but might consider entering other markets.

Their focus now, after opening Sarto, is on bolstering the image of their other stores, investing more money on advertising, inventory and a remodeling project at Mr. B.

“We got pretty aggressive and felt the only way to combat that large presence in the community was to try to be more competitive and better at what we do to maintain our customer base and grow our customer base,” Lemons said.