Footwear Retailer of the month Cheryl T
aylor talks to Andrew Roberts of David Roberts Limited Q&A:
Name: Andrew Roberts, MSSF. Shop(s): David Roberts Limited, Knightsbridge House, Gloddaeth Street, Llandudno, North Wales – since May 1922.
Brands: Van Dal, Ara/Jenny, Waldlaufer, Mephisto, H.B. shoes, Cefalu, Josef Seibel, Barker and Maybury.
Home town: Llandudno, North Wales. Family: Married to Hilary since 1974 with two daughters, Jo who lives at home and works in Care and Security and Nicky who is married, living in Telford, Shropshire and works as a ruminant technician at Harper Adams Agricultural College.
18 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • MAY 2012 011
1. How did you get into footwear? Tell us about your background and your current business? Back in April 1967, when I was a 16-year-old school boy, tragedy struck the family. My father David failed to come home from work one evening. In those days a curtain was placed over the door at the end of the day, so as people could not look into the shop at night time. He had just locked the shop at 5.30 pm from the inside and put this curtain up, when he had a stroke and collapsed onto the floor. From the family's side, we did not know where he was, he was a very punctual man by whom you could set your watch. As we became more anxious as to why he had not arrived home I was dispatched to the shop which was all locked up and closed. After frantic calls around the town to the various clubs of which he was a member, there was still no sign of him. We eventually got in touch with his brother in law who operated a dental surgery above the shop. He said that he had seen David when he left work at 5.00pm and closed the side door. He immediately came down and opened up that door to give me access to the shop side door. I went inside with my uncle to find my Dad unconscious on the floor, from where he was rushed to hospital and put into intensive care. The next morning the family were faced with a dilemma over the shop, eldest daughter Judith was training to be a secretary and elder brother Michael was training to be an accountant, I was approaching my O Levels. I said that I would go down and see the staff and see what I could do to assist. I then went to see my head master on the Monday to get special dispensation to miss the first lesson of school so I could go and open the shop, and returned there each day after school. Finally, leaving school in June to work full time in the shop, in the hope that my father's health would improve and we would work together. Sadly, that was not meant to be, as the stroke had left him unable to walk.
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