Looking good has been Cassara's business for most of his 52 years. At 6, he was threading needles for his family in their home that doubled as a clothing store in Monrele, Sicily. By 1969, he was working with his brothers, at the Cassara Brothers store at 125 S. Murphy Ave.

In 1971, he started Peter Cassara Inc. and broke out on his own. Since then, he has had almost a half-dozen stores around the South Bay, and on Oct. 1, he came home to Sunnyvale, opening Peter Cassara Clothiers at 842 W. El Camino Real.

While it may seem like a natural circle, Cassara said he was ready--after the recent economic downturn hit--to move back to Sicily, to fix up the home he recently bought there.

"But then I said to myself 'Wait a minute, I've been here all my life, I've got a name here, why not make it as good as it was 20 years ago?'" Cassara said. "A lot of people know the name Cassara, and I want to bring it out even more, because Cassara should be the 'Men's Warehouse' of the Bay Area."

Cassara now has two stores--one in Sunnyvale and one down El Camino Real in Santa Clara--but he's hoping to consolidate into the new location. While he's been in the South Bay, Cassara has helped dress San Francisco 49ers, San Jose Sharks and members of local groups such as the Sunnyvale Lions Club.

While the clientele is different at both stores--newer, more culturally diverse customers in Santa Clara; older, longtime residents in Sunnyvale--the product is the same, high-class Italian fashion and cutting-edge trends.

Cassara said he travels to Italy annually to take in new fashions and goes to trade shows several times a year in Las Vegas to buy from his dealers.

"Fashions in Italy are five years ahead of us here, so I always go over there," Cassara said. "By the time something hits California, it's old already."

The pairing of new style with old-world service helped Cassara weather the economic downturn. After a banner year in 2000, sales dropped after 9-11.

"But when 9-11 hit, that really put a cork in it, and it took about two years for things to turn around," he said. "But my gut feeling is that next year, things are going to change, things are going to be great."

Cassara said the need for attractive clothing will never disappear because there are always religious events, business meetings, proms and weddings to attend.

And the store has another advantage over its competitors.

"People come in to see the owner of the store, not just a salesman," he said. "I've moved five times, and people always follow me. That's kind of cool, I like it."

A full quarter of the store's budget is spent on marketing, from commercials to periodic postcard mailers to Cassara's database of more than 4,000 customers. He says his best advertisement is satisfied customers. "If they don't wear my clothes, it doesn't help me," Cassara said. "If they look good, I look good."

Cassara says that the same work ethic that makes him popular also makes it hard to manage multiple stores. He works six days a week and prides himself on doing all alterations himself. He is now spending most of his time in Sunnyvale, with a longtime employee running the Santa Clara shop.

His oldest son also helps in the store, but Cassara said he hasn't pushed his children to follow in his footsteps.

"It's OK if the store ends with me; I'm the youngest," he said. "I want all my children to be doctors or lawyers or architects."