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What’s selling well? Any particular trends? Which are your best selling footwear brands – and why? Rieker continues to be our bestselling brand, due to the breadth of style and design – its appeal goes from an 18 year old wearing a lace up trainer to a 75 year old who loves the Velcro comfort shoe. Skechers continues to grow as the range moves forward and we had a good reaction to Birkenstock last summer, with it being its first season for us. We have found, on the whole, that it is design and quality above price which has been key to our customers.


How important is shoe fitting to your business? Are you or any of your staff members of the Society Of Shoe Fitters? Having a good understanding of how shoes fit, each individual is key to our business and we intend to have all our team members qualified in this area as one of our objectives this year.


Does your shop sell other items besides footwear, bags, gloves, tights, socks, below the ankle products? Yes, we are experimenting with add ons, such as gloves, scarves, hats, socks and bags. Again, we feel there is some growth to be had in this area.


Do you use an EPOS (retail technology) system in your shop? No.


Any tips on stock offers, novel ideas for clearing lines or advice for independent shoe retailers who might be feeling the pinch? My main advice would be to keep a fresh head and to remember every day is a new day and to treat your business as a new business every day – this enables you to stay focused and move positively forward. Always look to other retailers for inspiration, even if they have entirely different products, you may be able to adapt their ideas to your own use. And never be frightened to ask for help. Having an excellent relationship with my suppliers has made my job role so much easier, knowing I have their support behind me.


What is your favourite men’s footwear brand/manufacturer – ditto ladies/children’s brand – and why? We are only just dipping our toe into men’s footwear, so as yet we have no outright winners. On a personal level, I love the new SS18 Fly that’s due in and feel that Lunar have some great inexpensive holiday sandals on offer this season.


How do you select your products – which criteria do you use / what are your customers looking for? We collect data weekly on any lost sales and we analyse size ratios to see what size breaks work well for us. Myself and Cheryl, the store manager, will sit down and cover the immediate needs of the business allowing 30% of the budget for newness, be it new brands, shapes, colours etc.


Which footwear/fashion shows do you attend, how do you rate them? We attend Pure and Moda – my preference is Moda as it has a far bigger collection of brands to see and is a much more comfortable trade show environment. I enjoy being able to meet other retailers, where we swap ideas and have a general catch up about the industry and what’s working well for us all.


Do you have a favourite footwear agent you can tell us about? This is a question I feel I couldn’t possibly answer as I have such good relationships with my suppliers – I feel they do an amazing job for me and have always supported my ideas and thought processes. A good example of this is when they helped me open The Shoe Room in a two week window, pulling stock from everywhere to help me get my doors open!


Have you always had a passion for footwear? How many pairs of shoes do you own? Do you have a favourite pair? Yes I’ve always been a shoe addict! My current count is 60 plus! If I had to pick a favourite pair, it would be my red knee high Caprice boots – unfortunately I think they’re coming to the end of their reign and I’ll be heartbroken to lose them!


Any famous customers? Not to date, however watch this space as Herne Bay will be the place to be!


And, the next step? Any plans for the future, new lines, retail systems/new technology, etc.? I intend to develop the menswear collection and as mentioned before, the website is key. But my main aim is to be the number one footwear retailer in the area.


Contact: The Shoe Room 131 Mortimer Street, Herne Bay, Kent, CT6 5EX 01227 367676


MARCH/APRIL 2018 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • 33


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