Footwear Insight

16 • Footwear Insight ~ January/February 2023 footwearinsight.com SHOES-n-FEET, Bellevue, WA. "Variety is a particular challenge for brick-and- mortar stores, and it's a fine line we walk to ensure that we have sizes and widths in options to accommodate every foot. for me. When I look at them and notice that they have five-plus pairs of shoes, insoles, and other products in their bags, I think to myself 'they just thanked me and spent $600 plus in my store.' It shows that my team cares about the customer and wants to wow them with amazing customer service." — Chris Bentvelzen, SHOES-n-FEET "Our best highlight is the overwhelm- ing support we've received from the community during the pandemic. We have customers coming in every day saying they are so glad we survived and how they wanted to continue to support us. Our customers choose to come in and enjoy the personalized service we offer. It's not just about shoes, it's about our community and what we can do for them." — Alicia Murray, Murray's Shoes Solving the Staffing Situation "Finding people who love selling shoes in the 'sit-and-fit style' is challenging, as is weekend staffing and the strange loss of the college age person. ey are not working. Not only us, but quality restaurants and breweries are having the same problem. Also, it is hard finding people to stick with a job for more than a couple of years. To deal with the staffing issue, we are constantly looking for new employees especially those with a background in shoes. We are trying to be more open to a few more weekends off for full time staff and we are paying a lot more for new employees out of the gate and have raised the current wages of employees we don't want to lose." — Greg Augustine, Brown's Shoe Fit Co. Ft. Collins "Two challenges are training and time. As a small business owner, the number of hats we have to wear is always a balancing act. Spending time and having an onboarding game plan for new sales employees is essential to setting expectations and setting people up for success. Create a hybrid of training with your existing salespeople mentoring new employees and have weekly sessions with the top dogs for the nitty gritty." — Anthony Chiappetta, Chiappetta Shoes "We do not have enough staff to fulfill the needs we have in my business. We give the customer as much time as they need and want. We like to be able to spend time and get to know our customers and what issues they are trying to solve so we can help them accomplish their goals by guiding them to the correct footwear. Some days we are so busy, I feel we do not serve people like we would like. To solve this problem is what everyone is dealing with — the difficulty in hiring good competent help." — Melissa Walker, Walker's Shoe Center "We know being in the industry that we are always going to be hiring. We attend local job fairs. We also like to snatch up young talent, typically kids of customers that we fit from the time they were kids. For example, the Hicks family who owned a Caribbean Restaurant here in Chicago brought their daughter Ivvy in since she was a child to be fitted for shoes. Well one day, I decided to check out the new restaurant they opened not far from our store. When I arrived, the place was packed with customers. Little Ivvy who was probably about 12 years old was running around. Ringing the register, servicing clients and directing the traffic like a conductor in an orchestra. A couple years later I noticed that the restaurant had closed so I gave the Hicks family a call and asked how their daughter Ivvy was doing. ey told me she was in honors classes and she was now about 15 years old. I immediately said 'she's got a job here… part time.' She is now one of our top perform- ers on the floor and is attending the University of Chicago." — Bruce Wesley, Wesley's Shoes Finding the Right Fit "One of our biggest challenges is find- ing shoes for customers with unique fitting concerns and challenges. ese customers simply can't walk into any storefront or order shoes online because a standard width or style simply will not work for them. Back in the day, we could easily find widths for women from 5A to D and sizes for men from 3A to 3E. A large percentage of our customer base Ready For Anything

• Cover