Footwear Insight

20 • Footwear Insight ~ June 2020 footwearinsight.com CATEGORIES MAY SHIFT 2 As customers return to stores, owners are seeing material differences in how and what they are buying. THE PANDEMIC AND SHUTDOWN'S LASTING EFFECTS A s his five Alan's Shoes stores in Tucson, AZ reopened in the begin- ning of May, owner Alan Miklofsky said he and his staff have been diving into the numbers — and seeing changes. For starters: Men's sales have bounced back in a way women's have not. "Men seem less reluctant to come back in store," Miklofsky said, noting that the store will be tweaking its social media messaging to appeal more to women. But it's not just the gender split. "We've been data mining, and my athletic business is not down as much as other segments," he said. "We think after talking to other people that the 'need' business has resumed, and the 'want' business is lackluster." The shift has been dramatic, he said: "Since we've been reopened, athletic is 45 percent of our business when it was 31 per- cent of our business." For the 14 Beck's Shoes stores in Northern California and Nevada, a shift has occurred, too — but possibly in the other direction. With a portion of the workboot-focused chain operating continuously through the shutdown as an essential business and all doors open since mid-May, CEO Adam Beck said the industrial demand is "definitely there for us." But Beck's has seen a surge in lifestyle footwear and accessories sales. By volume, he said, the core industrial offering makes up 40 to 45 percent of the business, but has receded to about 10 to 15 percent of sales. He credits it to shoppers hungry to buy when so many places have been shut. Steve Rueda, owner of Turnpike Comfort Footwear in Queens, N.Y., said he's pre- dicting post-shutdown sales will follow the need-versus-want pattern as well, and he's adjusting accordingly. Rueda said his plan is to concentrate much more narrowly on the comfort staples and his pedorthic/custom modification business, and put less emphasis on fashion styles. "Going into the fall, I'm not going to build on dress footwear — no one's going out," he said. l "We think after talking to other people that the 'need' business has resumed, and the 'want' business is lackluster." Alan Miklofsky Alan Miklofsky The sales floor at Turnpike Comfort Footwear.

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