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56 • May/June 2022 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com Independent Retailers Weigh in on Brands, Trends, Persistent Challenges and More. By Bob McGee FOOTWEAR / RETAIL Retailers are juggling many challenges as they seek to keep their customers happy. A s we head into the spring season, independent shoe retailers are continuing t h e i r b a l an c i ng a c t s : Meeting the needs of eager consumers, while also dealing with a multitude of challenges that continue to impact their businesses. Since the start of 2020, external factors, many out of their control, have made it harder for retailers to conduct their normal business of sitting, fitting, and providing outstanding customer service. Few challenges have been — and con- tinue to be — more frustrating, retailers tell us, then seeing consumers who are ready and eager to part with cash for their desired style, only for the retailer to be unable to fill that need. Persistent COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain issues impacting many, if not all, footwear brands, has made it practically impossible for stores to have the exact inventory that they desire. So what's a retailer to do? Alter their ordering patterns, for one. Wait months for key products to be delivered, for another. And oen to use the art of persuasion to get customers to purchase two pairs of a desired product at a time or try a comparable style from another brand. Add in retail staff shortages, rising inflation and higher 2022 product prices prompted by the higher freight costs being paid by vendors and you get the full picture of the challenges being faced. Independent shoe retailers, however, are a resourceful and resilient group. We reached out to several leading in- dependent shoe retailers — all winners of Footwear Insight's 2021 Gold Medal Service Award for Outstanding Customer Service — to get their current takes on the issues, the business climate, and the retail road ahead in 2022. Brand Re-evaluation & New Buying Strategies Retailers we spoke to offered succinct assessments of trends and issues, oen specifically citing brands that are working closely with them and those who are failing to deliver on-time in the current environment. "Supply chain issues have had a big impact on our buying," said Brian Ferguson, CFO, e Foot Performance Center, Rochester, NY. "Our regular sup- pliers have not been able to fill our orders, preseason or at once, forcing us to look for other sources to find products that fit our customers needs." "Brand re-evaluation" has also been in effect at NYC's Eneslow Shoes & Orthotics, owner Robert Schwartz told us. "In the athletic category, we've added brands and increased our focus on existing brands that can deliver." Rick Ravel, president of Karavel Shoes in Austin, TX, and past chairperson of the National Shoe Retailers Association (NSRA), confirmed his business has shied to 100 percent open-to-buy and dropped over 40 brands in 2021. He cites HOKA, Birkenstock, Naot and Mephisto as his best-performing vendors and gives Merrell, New Balance and Vionic poor grades due to cancelled products or for moving delivery dates out 3-6 months. omas Peterson, owner of Foot Savvy in the Denver suburb of Greenwood Village, CO, said he is buying "slightly more than usual" during Fall/Winter 2022 pre-books to ensure product availability as he offered some perspective on his recent seasonal buying experiences. "For Spring/Summer 2021, we bought fairly heavily but found that many stores did not, so the manufacturers did not have enough product for in-season fill-ins, THE BALANCING ACT CONTINUES

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