Cheryl Taylor, Editor, talks to Mark Richardson, Managing Director, Wynsors World of Shoes. Q&A:
Name: Mark Richardson Shop(s): Wynsors World of Shoes
Brands: Various “in-house” brands. Our top brands are: Skechers, Kickers, Nike,Ben Sherman, Earth Spirit and K-Swiss
Home town: Rawtenstall, Lancashire.
Family: Lives with partner Gilly and has 2 teenage children.
How did you get into footwear? Tell us about your background and your current business? I applied for a job as “Management Trainee” at the Group Head Office aged 18. I was aware that the business did have a policy of promotion within the business and I was ready for the challenge. I started off in the Stock Control Dept. of the retail division which was a
combination of the trading names Medina Shoes (smaller stores traditionally within Kwik Saves) & Wynsors World of Shoes (larger out of town sites) and progressed over the years, working in various areas of the business. I was made a Company Director in 1998 and gained my current position of Managing Director of Wynsors World of Shoes in 2006.
34 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • MAY 2018 We are a retailer that provides footwear for all the family at affordable
prices. We stock footwear for all genders, both branded & un-branded product – in sports footwear and shoes. We try to look after our customers from the cradle to the grave. With many of our sites we own the freehold but more recently we have rented more properties within schemes, malls and on smaller retail parks.
Where are your premises located and how many people do you employ? Do you have a high turnover of staff? Tell us about your shop(s), the local area, your customers and their requirements? Our stores are based throughout the north of England. We employ circa 500 staff across our current portfolio of 46 stores. We tend to keep our staff as I believe we are nice people to work for with a family business ethic. The Head Office is based in Bacup, Lancashire. This area was a traditional
manufacturing area with large factories, but over time this has declined and is now full of importers who mainly source product from the Far East.
Do you have an online shop/website and do you use social networking for business? Yes, we have had a fully transactional website now for some years and are seeing good annual l/like growth. PR & Social networking is again something that we have embraced and it is important to get our brand and product out there on every platform and getting people engaging with us.
How are you finding the footwear market currently? Extremely difficult. The CEO of Next PLC said a couple of weeks ago that it’s the most challenging retail environment for 25 years and I would agree with that. Retail is changing so fast and you have to adapt to this and try to keep ahead with both product and technology. The consumer has so much choice and everything is a click away. You have to fight so hard for every sale.
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