Brick and mortar survival in an e-commerce world

By Mike Switzer

Published January 23, 2026 at 6:30 AM EST

Gary Flynn, CEO of M. Dumas and Sons in Charleston, SC.

Our next guest’s business began in 1917 as a small shop selling Navy uniforms and various hunting and outdoor apparel. Since then, the store has evolved into a successful upscale menswear establishment on Charleston’s fashion row, also known as King Street. How have they survived as a brick-and-mortar store in today’s world of e-commerce? Gary Flynn is CEO of M. Dumas and Sons in Charleston, SC.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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