Footwear Insight

bringing in new products and will focus on what we do best." —CG Shoe Mill In a year full of obstacles and uncertainty, Shoe Mill is taking an aggressive path forward. After acquiring two stores earlier this year, the Oregon-based business has its eyes on potentially acquiring more. The retailer currently has nine stores under two brands in the Portland and Eugene areas — Shoe Mill and Burch's (acquired in February). "We have accelerated our growth plans," says president Josh Habre, noting that he has recently fielded calls from other independents looking to sell. "We see enormous opportunity. We are well funded and we have been fiscally careful over the years." That is not to say that the year hasn't been a struggle. "The biggest challenge right now during COVID is that the customers who are coming in to shop do not want to spend a lot of time in the store," says Habre. "They just point at what they want and when you can't do a full fitting service you can't create the big sales that really make days. A customer who might buy three or four pairs will only buy one, and that has affected the add-on sales of things like insoles and socks as well." The retailer is taking precautions with masks and sanitizers and has Plexiglas barriers available, though not all customers like that, says Habre. The staff has gotten comfortable doing sales via FaceTime or similar apps and having customers set up appointments on the website before coming in — though the demand for that has tapered off. Habre says he likes the idea of appointments because they can create the type of personal interaction where a salesperson can hand over a business card and invite the customer to come back for another personalized shopping session. During the initial COVID shutdown, Shoe Mill kept its store managers on staff to handle curbside service and pull orders for the web, and to have the stores ready to hit the ground running once they reopened. "We were able to rehire our furloughed employees when we reopened," he says. "We have invested a ton of energy on our best of class staff, so when we reopened we wanted to make sure we had no hiccups." Habre also notes that Shoe Mill's e-commerce business has been particularly strong this year. Like other retailers, Shoe Mill reports declining sales in "anything dressy," but Habre says his clientele has always been a little more casual, so Shoe Mill was not over inventoried in dress. "We'll be focusing on more casual, more walking, not a huge shift, but we'll be shedding fringe categories and focusing on our core of walking and comfort." Habre says it is "worth noting how many vendors were great to work with during this time, helping us through when we had invoices due and our stores were closed. It felt like as an industry when the times got tough, some of the vendors really stepped up and helped us not be crushed under a burden we just couldn't pay." —CG Becker's Best Shoes For Amy Becker, owner of Florida retailer Becker's Best Shoes, it's been a year of challenges and change. Beginning the year with two stores, the retailer closed one location and relocated its remaining store to a larger space. Forced to temporarily close her stores in March and April, usually her busiest time of the year, Becker says the store ramped up its website to offer e-commerce options and also focused on upgrading its VIP customer list and its social media interactions and posts. The current trend away from fashion and towards more athletic styles has been tough for Becker's, which traditionally does a lot of business in sandals and colorful, fashion-oriented styles, says Becker. The DeLand, FL, Becker's Best location struggled once it opened back up and Becker made the decision to close it. She says, "The DeLand store was barely making it before COVID hit. When it opened back up, many merchants in that downtown did not come back. You can't sell two pairs of shoes a day and survive." The decision to close that location was done in conjunction with the decision to move the remaining Becker's Best store in Mount Dora, FL, to a bigger space — increasing the selling space from 550 square feet to 1800 square feet. The new store fits six couches, all socially distanced, and allows for more breathing room. "We had been planning to move to a bigger space," says Becker. "We decided to go big or go home. And dealing with COVID now, people do want more space." After losing a few months of sales and being "stuck" with a lot of inventory, Becker says it has been "frustrating to see vendors discounting shoes on their websites but not discounting our invoices." Says Becker, "We ended up with way more inventory than we could sell as we had ordered for the whole season. We had a few vendors that worked with us, but it will affect our future orders — they won't be as big." Since reopening after COVID, Becker says she has focused on marketing "kindness" and a "we're all in this together" message. She has also connected with her VIP customers, doing things like sending out thank you notes offering $20 off of a $100 purchase. —CG Brown's Shoe Fit Co., Fort Collins Located just down the road from Colorado State University, Fort 30 • Footwear Insight ~ December 2020 footwearinsight.com "The biggest challenge right now during COVID is that the custom- ers who are coming in to shop do not want to spend a lot of time in the store." Josh Habre, Shoe Mill Becker's Best Shoes has ramped up its website to offer e-com- merce options and has also focused on upgrading its VIP customer list and its social media interactions and posts. RETAIL Shoe Mill

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