Q&A
Independent Footwear Retailer of the Month
Cheryl Taylor, Associate Editor, talks to independent footwear retailer Mark Blaylock of Blaylocks Shoes in Swindon.
Q&A
Name: Mark Blaylock Shop: Blaylocks Shoes, Old Town, Swindon
Brands: Rieker, Remonte, Waldlaufer, Skechers, Ara, Maria Lya, Loake, Barker, Anatomic, Imac and Start-Rite.
Q: How did you get into footwear? Tell us about your background and your current business? A: I was pretty much born into the footwear industry seeing as it is a family-run business. I went through school looking to do something different at the end of it, but that didn’t work out. Then the opportunity of a full-time job became available in the shop so I took it thinking it might be a short-term thing… but I’m still here nearly 30 years later! The business was started 104 years ago by my Great-Grandfather
(Robert Blaylock) in 1920 as a shoe repairer. My Grandfather (Robert Arthur Blaylock) then joined the business in 1949 and he developed it into a shoe shop – although we do still offer a repair service where we outsource the footwear. My Father (David Blaylock) joined the business in 1974 and still works here now but in a part-time capacity. I became the fourth generation in
the business when I joined in 1997 full-time, but had already worked a year prior to that as a Saturday boy.
Q: Tell us about your shop, the local area, your customers and their requirements? A: We are situated in the Old Town area of Swindon. We have three other staff members; thankfully our staff turnover is very low as we try our best to look after our staff so they stay with us. We had one member of staff working for us for 50 years, another do 40 years and currently we’ve got another lady who has done 31 years so far! The shop is in a great location right on the corner of two main roads, so
everyone driving by sees us; we have a big shop floor with lots of space to walk around and to display the stock. It used to be three separate shops but we were fortunate to be able to take on the other units and make it into one big store. The local area is very different to when I started; back then we had
lots of independent retailers who complemented each other with a gent’s outfitters and a lady’s clothes shop. These have since moved on and now we are in an area which is very much a destination shopping area; people are either coming to see us, the jewellery shop or the butchers. We do have plenty of cafes and eating places around us so we pick up some business from that, but shopping isn’t like what it was. A lot of our customers are regulars who have been shopping with us
for a number of years. They appreciate the stock we carry, the personal service we offer from when they enter the shop to when they leave, and the relationship they have built up with our staff. When we have customers who maybe haven’t been in before and then
44 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • JANUARY 2025
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