Longtime Washington, D.C., Retailer Maxine Rizik Tanous Dies
Maxine Rizik Tanous, a Washington, D.C. specialty store doyenne who helped to dress first ladies, cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices and diplomats, died Dec. 13 at her home in Bethesda, Md.
Tanous, 95, died of natural causes surrounded by her family, according to her son-in-law Paul Jacobson. Services will be held Wednesday at 3 p.m. at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Bethesda, and Tanous will be interred beside her late husband, Peter, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
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Born and raised in the Beltway, she devoted six days a week and nearly 70 years of her life to Rizik Bros., an upscale boutique that flourished thanks to more formal dress codes and generations of Washington insiders in search of polished looks for day and evening.
The fifth of seven children born to Ayoub and Soraya Rizik, she grew up on Woodland Drive near the National Cathedral. Her father and uncle Joseph, who started Rizik Bros. in 1908, each built stone houses a few doors down from one another. The brothers had immigrated to the U.S. from Tyre, Lebanon, and started out importing lace, a sought-after commodity at that time Stateside.
Initially uncertain about how they might make their way in America, family lore has it that someone suggested that the brothers build upon their heritage of being Phoenicians, who were great traders, and start importing goods and clothing to Washington, Jacobson said. Unlike the more culturally rich and commercialized New York City, the nation’s capital was then primarily a government town. The arrival of Rizik Bros. — and other high-end retailers like Julius Garfinckel & Co., another Washington institution — was a novelty.
When the first outpost bowed on F Street, the brothers and the store’s other male employees dressed formally in tails to cater to their well-heeled shoppers, who were ensconced in salons and individual dressing rooms and were presented with styles as opposed to making their own selections. Home deliveries were executed by horse and carriage for the affluent clientele, who included the spouses of diplomats, politicians and socialites.
After a fire gutted the original location, a reconstruction was completed in 1929 in a French Baroque style with a hat salon, as well as furs and scarves showcased on the main floor with a vividly colored decor inspired by modern art. A Louis XV salon on the second floor displayed evening gowns and wraps and the third floor’s “Empire Room” was patterned after the period of Napoleon I. Ebony, walnut and holly woods were incorporated into the design.
As a high school student, Maxine Rizik started pitching in at the store and she remained heavily involved until it shuttered in 2021. That milestone capped off what had been a 113-year stretch for the family-owned operation. While others might have welcomed retirement at that stage in life, she did not. When a Washington Post reporter called inquiring about the closing, Rizik hung up on her four times before reluctantly hearing her out.
While the store’s chandeliers and ivory-colored loveseats may have been popular in another era, such retail lavishness and its comparable clothing were no longer in demand to the degree they had once been. Moreover, the casualization of America, online shopping, the pandemic shutdown and shrewder price-conscious shoppers had chipped away at full-priced retailers. “Let’s be clear: Back in the day, people spent their money on clothing and accessories. Today they spend it on mobile phones,” Paul Jacobson said. “In the later years [of Rizik Bros.], an H&M opened across the street. How do you compete with an H&M?”
One category that held fast up until the end was wedding gowns, he said.
Speaking of Tanous, her son-in-law said, “Mainly, there were three things in her life: the store, her family and the Catholic church. That was how she approached everything. She was very doctrinaire in a good way. Now we know how many traditions have been lost. She was what Washington was — right down to making sure there was a spoon on the saucer when you were served a cup of coffee. That’s the kind of detail that she got involved with.”
After graduating from Marymount College in Tarrytown, N.Y., she returned to D.C. and Rizik Bros. By the time she wed Col. Peter Tanous, a West Point graduate and a White House military aide under President Dwight Eisenhower, she had become a buyer for Rizik Bros. WWD reported news of her engagement.
In the early years of their marriage, the couple lived intermittently in Leavenworth, Kan., West Point, N.Y., and Bonn, Germany, due to Peter being stationed in those cities as a military diplomat. By the late ’50s, they had returned to Bethesda to raise their three children: Bruce, Jacqueline and Joan.
Unfailingly businesslike and attuned to Washington standards whether that be political protocol, societal manners or dress codes, Tanous was known for Old World in her approach. “If she were alive, I would say, ‘Maxine is what Washington was,’” Jacobson said.
Despite having a great sense of humor, when it came to Rizik Bros. or dealing with customers, everything was handled traditionally in relation to society. Of medium height with her brown hair always perfectly coiffed, Tanous often crossed paths with the former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the salon, where they shared the same stylist.
For the family-run store, she routinely traveled with her sister Renée and brother Michel to New York’s Garment District to mine new and hard-to-find designers. With her siblings, she oversaw all aspects of Rizik’s business including merchandising, marketing and back-end operations. Tanous’ shoppers could always count on her for any occasion. Once a panicked National Geographic staffer rang up the store because a scientist would soon be flying in from Africa to deliver a speech, and she had nothing to wear. Asked if the speaker could buzz by the store beforehand, “Maxine said, ‘Absolutely.’ She could size up anyone literally by glancing at them.” It turned out to be Dian Fossey, Jacobson said. “Maxine had it all laid out for her and then Dian went from the store straight over to National Geographic to deliver her speech.”
A few female Supreme Court justices frequented the store — the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of its regulars, as was the late Madeleine Albright. After starting out on F Street, Rizik Bros. was later housed at two different addresses on Connecticut Avenue.
Her daughter Jacqueline recalled Tuesday how “the store prided itself on exacting taste and desire to bring breakthrough designer fashions from notable ‘houses’ that were not readily available in other local women’s stores. Many were sourced from Europe [including Valentino] as well as Lanvin and Poiret dating further back in the company’s trajectory.”
Tanous’ daughter Joan also noted Tuesday how the store put several designers on the map in America by giving them their first chance, such as Maggie London, a label that is now a department store staple. In the years before the closing, Max Mara was a key resource as it was not as readily available in D.C. as it was in New York.
Despite amping up social media and majorly refreshing the boutique in 2017 to add designer resources like Christian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell, Adam Lippes, Oscar De La Renta, Carolina Herrera and Monique Lhullier, the more contemporary approach wasn’t enough to elevate the business. The introduction of a designated bridal and eveningwear area with exclusive styles also was another attempt to buoy sales.
Understandably, the store’s closure rankled Rivitz. “It was her life and it was her father’s store. She was sad that it wasn’t able to continue, due to many things that were outside of her control,” Jacobson said. “Her life’s work was maintaining the store’s presence as the foremost boutique for upscale women’s fashions in the national capital area.”
Along with being a devout parishioner of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, where she served as a eucharist minister, she was a steadfast Washington Commanders fan. She also liked to read, both the newspapers and nonfiction books, to mingle at the Congressional Country Club and unwind at home in historic Irvington, Va., by tending gardenia trees, picking fresh figs and pruning flowers.
In addition to her husband, Tanous was predeceased by her siblings Madeleine Cury, Denyse Malouf Michel Rizik and Jacqueline Rizik. She is survived by her sister Renée Kalil, her brother Philip Rizik, her son Bruce Tanous and daughters Jacqueline Jacobson and Joan Tanous. In keeping with Tanous’ wishes, in lieu of flowers donations can be made in her memory to St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Bethesda or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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