PHILADELPHIA — In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s here, as in many big cities, there were dozens of independent men’s clothing stores selling tailored suits, sport coats, dress shirts and “furnishings” (socks, ties, pocket squares) to dapper professionals. Among these were the Arrow Store, Morvilles, Diamonds, Irving’s and Jacob Reed’s Sons. Today, professionals no longer need be dapper, and only one store from that period remains in business: Boyds. Like the Liberty Bell and the stone Rocky Steps, Boyds is a local landmark, and one equally impervious to the shifting seasons.

For 80 years, the family-owned business has outfitted lawyers, bankers, doctors, politicians and famous athletes, with all-American brands like Hickey-Freeman, groovy European labels like Pierre Cardin and Tiger of Sweden and lately high-end Italian suiting and sportswear from Brioni, Isaia and Brunello Cucinelli.

When the former basketball star Julius Erving flew into the city for a visit from the Bahamas during the January cold snap and found himself in need of warmer clothes, he called Boyds, as he has since back when he was Dr. J., slamming dunks for the 76ers.

“Boyds was the place to shop,” said Mr. Erving, who all these years later still deals with the same salesman, Bill Bolling. “They always had somebody who would make sure everything was just so: sleeve length, cuff length. They know what you like.”