Footwear Insight

footwearinsight.com December 2020 ~ Footwear Insight • 19 not wear a mask and stormed out of the store. But only one since we reopened." Karavel is also offering curbside pick up and is working to turn its website into an e-commerce site. The store is also active on social media offering new product information and doing Facebook live sessions featuring the store's sales associates. Key categories keeping business humming include athletic and outdoor. "We were able to add additional athletic vendors which increased our athletic business from 30 percent to almost now 50 percent of our sales," Ravel says. "We dropped 35 women's vendors and concentrated on the top 15. Our men's business is steady but moved from dress and casual shoes to outdoor footwear." While Ravel notes that the challenges of 2020 have made it difficult to plan for the future, he says he has gotten to the point where he is feeling comfortable with his spring 2021 budgets. And the retailer is looking to ramp up in the next year. "We are planning hopefully to remodel in the early part of 2021," he says. While Ravel says he doesn't expect business to really take off until fall of 2021 once vaccines are potentially widely available and customers hopefully start traveling again, he is adding to his staff and planning for an upward trajectory of his business in the year ahead. —Cara Griffin Reyers Shoe Store It's been a year of tough choices with an eye on survival for Sharon, PA-based Reyers Shoe Store. Forced to close on March 20 due to COVID restrictions, and unsure of when the store would be allowed to reopen, Reyers president Mark Jubelirer says, "we had to make some hard choices if we were to survive, one of which was cancelling as much spring product as we could if it had not already arrived. We knew that such cancellations might hurt us. Some did. But sometimes, you just have to listen to the accountants." In the end, Jubelirer notes that he has been able to retain every one of his employees. "Our buyers worked overtime to develop extended terms from our vendors, which allowed us to maximize our inventory levels in advance of reopening," he says. Upon reopening, the store followed CDC guidelines and added a couple of its own. Masks are mandated by Reyers and are provided for free if customers need them. "There were a few noncompliant souls unwilling to wear the masks," says Jubelirer. "We turned them out. Sometimes the right thing to do is to miss a sale." While the vast majority of customer interactions this year have been positive, Jubelirer says some have resisted the mask mandate. "We have lost a couple dozen potential sales as noncompliant customers are shown the exit, but they are becoming fewer," he says. "Early on as instructions came from on high for citizens to liberate themselves, several customers came in looking for a fight, but they only slung foul words and epithets. We had trained our team in tactics of de-escalation." As for the year ahead, Jubelirer says, "It will be good riddance to 2020. We learned nothing from it. We always learn from the immediately passed season. Take spring 2020 for instance; ordinarily we'd have some gut feel and metrics to go by, when planning our spring 2021 buys and marketing calendar; but not this year. Likewise for next fall 2021; this fall 2020 is again an aberration; fewer customers, much less scheduled inventory, and no financial room for fill-ins, a massive curb in marketing, and no way to maximize the season. We are living now just to get by." Jubelirer's biggest concern for the year ahead is the uncertainty. He asks, "Will customers want shoes next spring? Will they be quarantined for some period of time between now and next June, if only for a week or two? Which week or two? If our advertising is planned in advance to run during those weeks, do we pull the ads in hopes that our customers keep us top of mind when they are set free again? Will Reyers have to close our doors for some period of time once more? How does one plan for the unknown?" Still, as Reyers looks to celebrate its 135th year in business in 2021, the owner says, "The accountants say that we still have some fight left in us." —CG Wesley's Shoes During a period of personal heartache and business upheaval, Bruce Wesley's faith and focus has guided him through a difficult year for Wesley's Shoes. Wesley suffered the loss of his 31-year old son Langston in early April. "We are thankful to God that we have been able to stay focused and "Early on as instructions came from on high for citizens to liberate themselves, several customers came in looking for a fight, but they only slung foul words and epithets. We had trained our team in tactics of de-escalation." Mark Jubelirer, Reyers Shoe Store Reyers Shoe Store

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