Footwear Insight

to receive it quicker, but we never sacrifice the fit or quality. We have also explored new companies that can accommodate our inventory needs." — Giuseppe Lombardo, Lombardo Comfort Shoes "We have had to deal with the same supply chain disruptions that every other retailer has. To overcome these issues as well as possible, we have partnered with vendors in key categories that have a better in-stock inventory position. For customer special orders, we are able to access a vendor's real-time inventory to see if the item is available. If it isn't, we will find an alternative option while the customer is still in the store." — Bill Smith and Althea Schlumpf, Althea's Footwear Solutions "e at times overwhelming growth of our walk-in traffic has presented some challenges in giving each customer a one-on-one experience. We try to encourage our sales team to multi-task as well as be more efficient with the time spent with each customer. We pride ourselves on typically having a very large inventory. is helps us keep our conversion rate very high. Unfortunately our team has been spending a lot more time lately fitting our customers for shoes they'll be buying online from someone else." —Troy Dempsey, e Heel Shoe Fitters "Making sure our customers understood the importance we placed on maintaining a clean and safe shopping environment was one of the biggest customer service challenges we came across this past year. We continue to fine-tune our customer service experience to meet the needs of those who we welcome in our store, online, and via curbside pick-up. We have had to react to the ever-changing supply chain issues and how that has affected our ability to fulfill our customer's needs." — Jim Sajdak, Stan's Fit For Your Feet "The biggest issues we faced were COVID absences of our staff as well as traffic, which was down the first half of 2021, in our stores. While we had some supply chain issues, thankfully we also had a lot of future orders. We schooled our employees to offer alternatives to our customers." —Alan Miklofsky, Alan's Shoes "Staffing is down 30 percent. Some of that is due to business, some due to people moving on. e challenge is being able to service more customers without the staff on a timely basis… However, most consumers understand. ey see it everywhere they go, restaurants, hotels, et cetera. Myself as a consumer, I am much more patient when I don't receive the service I am used to. is doesn't mean we give less service, just that the customer has to be more patient waiting." — Steven Rueda, Turnpike Comfort Footwear "We have done our very best to comply with local health ordinances in all our jurisdictions, in particular, keeping our staff and customers safe. We have asked permission to measure and put shoes on the customer's foot rather than automatically doing these things as we want our customers to feel comfortable with our process. As for supply chain/inventory issues, our strong commitment to training has served us well. In 2021 our sales associates know their No. 1 job is to help the customer and at the same time take them out of the market. About 20 years ago, we instilled a S.W.A.T. policy, which means Sell What's Available Today. is past year we've seen a big increase in our large sales. Oen, we see individual sales of $2,000 or more to a single customer. I think in October, we had at least eight individual sales over $3,000." — Maurice Breton, Comfort One Shoes "Regarding the supply chain, our buying team geared up to do more business in Q3 and Q4 anyway, since we [recently relocated or store] to a mall-based location. So we bought plenty of product and placed more backups. We booked earlier than usual deliveries… we have plenty of product. And we're rarin' to go. Our habit has always leaned to doing business with vendors who are long-term partners. Who give us high quality product at fair prices and reasonableness in terms of discounts and dating; who have some degree of in-season stock inventory; who don't keep screwing up shipments; who don't themselves sell to my customers; and who treat us as fellow human beings should be treated." — Mark Jubelirer, Reyers Shoe Store Shoe Fly of Harrisburg, PA is a 2021 Gold Medal Service Award winner. In the November/ December 2021 issue of Footwear Insight, Shoe Fly was inadvertently le off of the listing of winners. Shoe Fly's score was 93, making them one of the top 25 scoring stores this year. A beautiful sight: The Heel Shoe Fitters. An inside look: Ted's Shoe & Sport. CORRECTION 18 • Footwear Insight ~ January / February 2022 footwearinsight.com RETAIL

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