The late John Wagner, right, and his son Matthew, pictured in 2006, ran Waldorf Tuxedo at its Lark Street location in Albany after it moved in 1965 from its original State Street spot further downtown.
MICHAEL P. FARRELL/Albany Times Union
The longtime Waldorf Tuxedo Company and the building it occupies at the corner of Albany’s Lark and Lancaster streets are for sale, as a sign in the closed shop’s window can attest. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
A for-sale sign sits in a window of 204 Lancaster St. on Thursday in Albany. The building, at the intersection of Lark Street, is the longtime home of The Waldorf Tuxedo Company. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
A for-sale sign sits in a window of 204 Lancaster St. on Thursday in Albany. The building, at the intersection of Lark Street, is the longtime home of The Waldorf Tuxedo Company.(Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
A plaque outside 204 Lancaster St. on Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Albany, NY. The building, at the intersection of Lark Street, is the longtime home to The Waldorf Tuxedo Company and is now for sale. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
A for sale sign on 204 Lancaster St. on Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Albany, NY. The building, at the intersection of Lark Street, is the longtime home to The Waldorf Tuxedo Company. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
A for sale sign on 204 Lancaster St. on Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Albany, NY. The building, at the intersection of Lark Street, is the longtime home to The Waldorf Tuxedo Company. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
In 1936, Waldorf Tuxedo Co. opened on Broadway as part of a small chain of formal-wear shops. Who at the time could have guessed how important the business would end up being for Albany?
In that story, there were two turning points.
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The first came in 1956, when John Wagner, then in his mid-20s, began working in the downtown shop. Four years later, he bought the franchise from the chain’s Rhode Island owner and made it independent.
The second happened in 1965.
That’s when the shop, forced from its downtown storefront by the construction of a State Street tower, moved to Lark Street, then considered somewhat seedy and an unlikely location for a tuxedo business. Though it would have been easier to move to the suburbs, Wagner renovated and occupied an elegant building at the intersection with Lancaster Street, investing in the city when many were heading out.
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There, on the intersection’s southwest corner, Waldorf Tuxedo has since sat, a touch of formality on an informal street, pulling in governors, mayors, athletes and generations of local people who needed to look their best for some fancy event or another.
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Wagner, instrumental in the creation of the Lark Street Merchants Association and events such as Lark Fest, was an Albany evangelist, a gracious man who could make newcomers and longtime residents alike feel good about his hometown. Maybe it’s strange that the owner of a formal-wear store would help make Lark into a funky corridor, but he did.
“The street has always been an incubator of sorts, where a young entrepreneur with a good idea and not a lot of money can get a start,” Wagner said in 2000. ‘I’ve seen Lark Street metamorphose over the years, and things have really come around.”
More: A look back at Lark Street through the years
About six years before he died in 2015 at 85, John Wagner turned over the business to a son.
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And Matthew Wagner carried on the tradition. Inside the store, he made customers feel good, making the perhaps-awkward process of renting a tuxedo fun. Outside on Lark, he was known as smiling, kind and generous, described as a sweetheart of a man and the kind of dedicated business owner any city would be lucky to have.
In December, though, Waldorf Tuxedo abruptly closed, with a Facebook note saying the shutdown would last “until further notice” and thanking followers for their loyalty. Customers were referred to Choppa & Son Formal Wear on Central Avenue.
The Facebook message didn’t explain why, but members of the close-knit Lark Street business community were soon aware of the situation. Wagner, 63, had been diagnosed with an aggressive type of Parkinson’s.
“It just came on so quickly that he couldn’t operate it,” said Stephanie Heverly, Wagner’s longtime fiancée. “He’s OK, but he just can’t function at that capacity. He was a one-man show for a lot of years.”
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A few days ago, the business and building at 204 Lancaster went on the market for $649,000. The historic structure, constructed with gray, rusticated stone in 1889 by builder James Eaton, includes the central retail space, two upstairs apartments and the 3,000 pieces of formal-wear inventory stored within.
“Everything is for sale,” said Philip Sabatino of Hanna Commercial Real Estate, adding that the family would prefer Waldorf Tuxedo to continue. “In a perfect world, if everything could stay the same, they would love that.”
That seems unlikely, though, given the uncertain state of the tuxedo-rental industry. Instead, it’s anticipated that a buyer will want the building for, say, a restaurant conversion or some other use that could make the most of a prominent Lark Street location.
But even if a new owner continues renting and selling tuxedos, a chapter has closed. For the first time since 1965, neither John nor Matthew Wagner is looking over the street or singing the city’s praises to customers.
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Over the years, patrons included former governor Mario Cuomo, former mayor Thomas Whalen, boxer Mike Tyson and football giant Lawrence Taylor. More important, though, were the generations of ordinary Albanians with proms or weddings to attend. People who maybe only needed a tuxedo once or twice in their lives, but knew just where to go.
Together, John and Matthew were a part of thousands of special days and nights. As they clothed customers in upscale fabric, they became part of the city’s fabric.
The Wagners and their business, said Elissa Halloran, longtime owner of a nearby store, were neighborhood institutions. Without father or son, Lark Street won’t be the same.
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