A landmark clothing store in the Los Angeles Fashion District is shutting its doors for the last time, ending almost 60 years of history in the L.A. apparel business.

Academy Award Clothes, which served as the original providers of blazers for USC’s marching band and Century 21 Real Estate LLC, will close at the end of the year when owner Peter Kaplan retires.

Though he admitted that the troubled economy contributed to calling it quits, Kaplan said the main reason had nothing to do with lagging sales.

“I’ve been doing this all my life, and I just got tired,” said Kaplan, 69.

He hired a broker to sell the business, but so far there’s been no interest. None of his three daughters, two of whom work at the store, wanted the business either.

“It’s not a good time to sell a business,” Kaplan said. “But if someone wanted to buy it tomorrow for a fair price, then yes, I would sell it. It’s still on the market.”

In addition to its corporate accounts, which make up about one-quarter of the store’s business, Academy sells men’s dress clothes under its own label and those of name brands at a discount.

Kaplan outsources the manufacturing for Academy’s branded clothes and for the stores corporate orders, which have included special-order Disney theme-park uniforms and the white suits for the Tournament of Roses events.

Kaplan got into the clothing business through his father, Jules Kaplan, who came to Los Angeles from New York in 1949. On the way here, Jules Kaplan brought along some men’s clothing from his brother’s business and sold them on the road.

During one of his sales trips, he met Ralph Brown of Max Levine & Son on Los Angeles Street, and the two went into business together. Jules Kaplan bought Brown’s interest in the company in 1950.

In 1958, after “a little bit of junior college,” Peter Kaplan joined his father’s business and took over the day-to-day operations. Jules Kaplan died in 1998.

Academy did well in the 1950s by selling men’s Continental-style suits.

“The style revolutionized the industry,” Peter Kaplan said. “We were on the ground floor, and we took off with it.”

“Academy Award Clothes is one of the icons in men’s suits on Los Angeles Street,” said Kent Smith, executive director of the Los Angeles Fashion District. “They saw that there was a future for retail fashion in downtown Los Angeles.”

However, Smith noted that men’s dress clothes aren’t selling as well as they used to in the Fashion District. Shoppers are buying more sportswear.

Downtown’s Fashion District brings in $495 million in retail sales annually, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Out of the 4,000 businesses in the district, about 20 percent are devoted to men’s clothing.

Two of Peter Kaplan’s daughters, Laurie Rosen and Wendy Kaplan, also work at Academy.

“The business has changed in the way of manufacturing, and downtown is changing to a live-work environment,” said Rosen. “Our space could go to a different use at this time. A lot of places have turned into living spaces around us.”

Kaplan owns the four-story building where Academy is located, and Rosen, 46, suggested it could be turned into a restaurant or grocery market to serve the new local residents.

Kaplan said he doesn’t have any plans for either leasing or selling the building. He is mainly concerned with helping his customers find new clothing providers and with assisting his 10 employees, some of whom have been at Academy for nearly 30 years, find new jobs.

Brandon Operchuck, director of performance venues at USC, has been coming to Academy for the marching band’s “red coat blazers” for band members, band officials and USC ushers.

“You’d show up at Academy, tell them you need a USC blazer, and you’d be out the door wearing the right size and color in five minutes,” Operchuck said. “The quality of the product is great, but even more importantly, the quality of service is what really stood out. It’s definitely a loss for Los Angeles that those guys won’t be able to serve in that capacity anymore.”