By DAN RATTINER

Brooklyn is going through a revival, and one of the highlights of its revival is the bridal store Kleinfeld on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, which has for generations been the premier bridal salon in America, if not the world.

Founded in 1941 by Hedda and Jack Schacter, it started as a small furrier, but soon expanded into the bridal business as more and more families began to realize the incredible talent Hedda Schacter had.

She could take a designer bridal gown, accessorize, change it and then, with a battery of seamstresses and tailors, hem it and tuck it to make a beautiful bride a sensationally beautiful bride.

By 1991, when the Schacters retired, people were coming from all over the world to share in the Kleinfeld experience. It was not uncommon for young women, with their mothers or aunts, to come in from Argentina or Spain or Iran to spend a few days in Brooklyn and work with Mrs. Schacter and her team. By the time the store was sold, in 1992, Kleinfeld’s was grossing $30 million a year. It had 450 employees and was about 20 times the size of its nearest competitor. Its name was known around the world.

The buyer of Kleinfeld, however, knew almost nothing about the bridal business. He simply cut costs, in an attempt to make it more profitable, but he achieved the reverse. The staff became demoralized. People were being let go and the number of customers began to decline. By last year the revenue was down to $10 million. Things were not looking good at all.

At this point, an investment group came in with $3 million to revive Kleinfeld. The main investor is Wayne Rogers, the actor, who is best known for his portrayal of Trapper John on the TV series "M*A*S*H.

Rogers today owns a variety of businesses around the country, including a boat building company, a string of convenience stores in the south and a firm called Country Cupboard. Now, at the suggestion of Ron Rothstein of New York, he teamed up with his longtime friend and investing partner Clay Hammer, and, along with Rothstein, bought control of Kleinfeld’s.

To run the store they hired Mara Urshel, a senior vice president at Saks Fifth Avenue, who has worked at the store before.

"The thing that is so valuable about Kleinfeld," Rogers said, "is that it has served generations of women. Grandmothers have bought their wedding gowns here when they were young, and their granddaughters do now. The bad times there have only been eight years, which is not yet a generation, so the reputation remains intact.

"Mara is going to restore that reputation and she is going to polish it," Rogers said. Once again the line of young women and their mothers should snake down the street around the corner, waiting for Kleinfeld’s to open in the morning. "It’s kind of a no-brainer," Rogers said.

I talked with Wayne Rogers about his remarkable investment career. His training embraced the philosophy that . . . "you buy something for X and sell it for 2X. You don’t have to go to Harvard Business School to know that," he said.

His 550 convenience stores are located throughout Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. "It’s a business that doesn’t require any genius," he said. "Just beer, gas and cigarettes. We’re great believers in clean bathrooms, because that will attract women and they’ll come and bring their husbands. The convenience stores will do about $800 million this year."

Rogers seems truly delighted to be involved in the revitalization of Kleinfeld. "Mara knows all about this business," he said. "And all that’s been wrong is that there hasn’t been any proper management there. Now we’ve fixed that."

Rogers said that he and his partners have discussed expanding the Kleinfeld product line, but have for now rejected that idea. The first goal is to do again what was once done well. After that, they might look to opening smaller Kleinfeld units in other cities and then after that they might expand into other product lines. They are also looking into the opportunities the Internet could provide.

Welcome back, Kleinfeld.