Footwear Insight

footwearinsight.com July/August 2025 ~ Footwear Insight • 13 gaining momentum and has exceeded our expectations. Athletic remains our top- performing category, driven by demand for all-day comfort with style. While our core brands continue to perform, innovation is stagnating, making it harder to keep assortments feeling fresh. We're addressing this by introducing emerging brands—some are gaining traction quickly, while others are still in the process of building. Overall, we're optimistic and see a clear need for more product innovation across the industry to keep footwear buyers engaged." What's Keeping this Retailer Up at Night… "What keeps me up at night is ensuring we remain connected to our customers. e customer has been at the heart of everything we've done for over 100 years, and as their needs, preferences, and expectations change, we need to evolve with them. We need to ensure that our product mix remains relevant, our messaging resonates, and that we continue to deliver an exceptional customer experience." JANICE ABERNETHY Founder and President Abbadabba's, Atlanta, GA "We are into our summer selling season. People are back to their pre- COVID travelling and purchasing shoes appropriate for everywhere they're going. Regarding tari price increases, our managers conrm what I have experienced in the stores: thus far there's no hesitation to buy at the higher retail costs. Atlanta has experienced above- average rainfall this year, which aects our strip center business. Our door count is down about 5 percent over last year, but our average ticket total is up 5 percent. us far, July is looking sound, up 25 percent over last year. Overall, our customers are coming in to buy and are leaving happy with their experience." Current Challenges "e shi in the 'Available to Ship' status with many vendors has been challenging. ey are simply stocking less inventory. We have always done a large special- order business, relying less on our ability to program out futures accurately. Now we are prebooking far more. While that does help ensure delivery of the product, it can also result in bulging inventories and markdowns when our predictions are faulty. We are in constant contact with vendors, checking stock, and shiing our pre-season orders based on sales." What's Happening on the Salesfloor "Fortunately, most brands have performed as expected. We are positioned to be able to take advantage of opportunities when we see an unexpected spike in sales and react when there is a downturn." What's Keeping this Retailer Up at Night… "e issues that keep me and my senior managers up at night are primarily HR related. Maintaining our standards with the happiest sta that unfailingly provide the best customer service demands constant monitoring and accountability. Making sure that we have the right people in the right place can make all the dierence in the world and can turn a store from good to great. We focus on our customer service because it's a primary goal: that each customer feels better having experienced Abbadabba's. You can't get that online. We're inviting people to adopt a lifestyle and feel better for doing it." "While our core brands continue to perform, innovation is stagnating, making it harder to keep assortments feeling fresh. We're addressing this by introducing emerging brands—some are gaining traction quickly, while others are still in the process of building." PAUL WEITZEL "The shift in the 'Available to Ship' status with many vendors has been challenging. They are simply stocking less inventory. We have always done a large special-order business, relying less on our ability to program out futures accurately. Now we are prebooking far more." JANICE ABERNETHY

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