Q&A
Independent Footwear Retailer of the Month
Cheryl Taylor talks to Sarah Decent, owner of Modish Q&A
Name: Sarah Decent Shop: Modish
Brands: Fly London, Skechers, Caprice, Tamaris, Geox, Softinos, Laura Vita amongst many others
Home town: Born in Toronto, now live near Cambridge
Family: Married with two stepchildren and a brand-new step grandson!
How did you get into footwear? Tell us about your background and your current business?
I’d been working in HR for almost 20 years and realised that it was time for a change. I decided to open a shoe shop mainly because I love shoes, but also because at that time internet shopping was just taking off and I thought that footwear would be relatively immune! In hindsight that was perhaps a tad optimistic!
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? I now have 2 shops, one in Cambridge and the other in Saffron Walden and employ 3 people. Happily, staff turnover is low these days – my most recent member of the team joined 6 years ago! My customers are mainly women aged from mid 30s, though in Cambridge we do also have quite a few foreign students. I put this down to the fact that I try to make my shop seem a little European, inspired by my favourite shops in Rome and Madrid when I was working there in the early 2000s.
How has Covid-19 impacted your business?
Tell us about your experiences, the difficulties you have encountered and how you have managed/are managing/trying to overcome these? Happily, we’re back to pre-Covid sales turnover, although the experience was stressful to say the least. We pulled through thanks to my team, two very understanding landlords, government support, and my loyal customers who made a real effort to buy from us as soon as we reopened!
Do you have an online shop/website, and do you use social networking for business? Was this active during the lockdown? Active-ish - in that I’ll have a burst of activity then nothing for a few weeks! I do have a shop online, but it’s main use has been as a showcase rather than to sell, as often shoes sold online come back. I find this a bit soul-destroying, not to mention expensive!
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What’s selling well? Any particular trends? Which are your best-selling footwear brands – and why? Colour is doing particularly well this season, both casual and smart. As for brands, the strongest start has been by three of our most established brands, namely Softinos, Caprice and Skechers. Having said that we started stocking Maria Lya this year and their colourful loafers have been flying off the shelves. And our Toni Pons espadrilles arrived last week, and they’ve had a great start too despite the weather!
How important is shoe fitting to your business? Are you or any of your staff members of the Society of Shoe Fitters? None of my team are formally trained, but we do focus on fit and comfort, and this is key to what we’re trying to achieve namely give our customers happy feet! Being a size 37 has certainly helped me in this – in fact I’d go as far as saying I’m not sure I’d still be in business if I didn’t have sample-sized feet!
Does your shop sell other items besides footwear, bags, gloves, tights, socks, below the ankle products?
Just a little bit of costume jewellery and a small range of shoe-care products, which help the till to tick over.
Do you use an EPOS (retail technology) system in your shop(s)? Yes - and it’s a godsend, though I probably still don’t use it to its full potential despite the fact I’ve had it for over 12 years!
What is your favourite ladies footwear brand/manufacturer and why? Tricky question! Last winter my favourite was probably Legero, a new brand to Modish. As you may be aware most Legero footwear is waterproof, which is unusual for something that looks that good. They also come in half sizes, are really comfy and have a great stock
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