Shoe store

“ In Chicago there is a woman in the shoe department of a large store who has built up a large following of customers in much the same way. She has gone a step further, however, in that she remembers also their special preferences, when they made the last purchase, and, if there are children in the family whom she has served, she remembers also their names. ”

“ Most people live in their shoes about sixteen hours a day and during that time subject them to a variety of conditions of cold, heat and dampness. From the standpoint of sanitation, it is as important to provide sufficient ventilation for the shoe as it is to do so for the rooms in which we live.
CLOSING THE SALE IN THE STORE Satisfaction on the part of the customer is the basis of successful merchandising. Every wide-awake salesman and dealer realizes this fact, and makes it a part of his selling policy to insure the customer’s entire satisfaction, as far as it is humanly possible to do so. ”

“ We believe, however, that the record fully supports the District Court's findings that shoe stores in the outskirts of cities compete effectively with stores in central downtown areas, and that while there is undoubtedly some commercial intercourse between smaller communities within a single 'standard metropolitan area,' the most intense and important competition in retail sales will be confined to stores within the particular communities in such an area and their immediate environs. ”

“ CUSTOMER WHO DOES NOT BUY No store, no matter how perfect its organization, has ever been able to make a perfect score in selling. In the course of a month or a year there are many people who come into the store with the intention of buying but who are unable to get what they want, regardless of the quality of salesmanship. People who have a very definite idea of what they want in a shoe may not find what is desired in style, fit, wear, or price—or possibly a combination of these. ”

“ A woman about thirty enters the store carrying a baby in her arms and leading another child by the hand. Her clothes are shabby. She is evidently tired and makes her way to the nearest chair. She looks discouraged.
The salesman on considering these facts realizes at once that such a customer cannot be served in the same manner as the care-free schoolgirl. If he places himself in the position of the tired woman he will realize that her problems are different and that she requires in a shoe not 119only service but quality, fit, style and price to meet her own circumstances. ”

“ But a man does not have to be one-legged nor to have feet of uneven sizes or shapes to make him ask the dealer to break a pair of shoes for him. A man with two perfectly good feet came into the store where he was accustomed to buy and wanted one shoe. ”

“ The control of a stock section given over to a salesman does not mean simply that the stock is to be kept clean and salable. Depending on the volume of business and the size of stock carried in the particular store, there are 151a minimum number of pairs of shoes that constitute a profitable line. Assuming that the business cannot operate profitably any one line of shoes when there are less than twelve pairs, as soon as any one of the lines in the salesman’s charge is brought down to that number he should at once take sizes and report the facts to his manager. ”

“ The salesman put the shoes in shoe boxes and Mother paid him for them.
[103]
Then they went into the dry-goods store, and Mother bought each of the children two pairs of new stockings.
For study and play:
“Little Blue Apron,
How do you do?
Never a stocking
And never a shoe.”
Little Blue Apron
She answered me:
“You don’t wear stockings
And shoes by the sea.”
“Why, little Blue Apron,
It seems to me
Very delightful
To live by the sea.
“But what would hatters
And shoemakers do
If everyone lived
By the sea like you?”
—An Old Story Book
[104]
Any shoes to buy? ”

“ The whole range of footwear styles is created in order that the customer may find in the selection something to meet his particular preference. 137The conservative, middle-aged salesman, although he may not care for the sport models, recognizes that it is the customer who is to be pleased, and therefore he will put in the background any individual preferences. He will not concentrate his efforts on any certain few styles but will make selection to meet the tastes of his customers.
Many stores have certain short-profit lines or leaders for the purpose of attracting trade to the store. ”

“ That same shoe must attract the approving attention of the wearer’s friends; it must wherever worn give the sensation of snug sufficiency; it must help the chest to expand a little with pride of possession and the shoulders to straighten up as that “well-dressed” feeling asserts itself. Every shoe salesman has noticed these things, that spread of honest joy on the customer’s face as he stands up, stamps his foot into the shoe and strides up and down a few feet, erect and confident, and then reaches into his pocket for the price. ”

“ There are close on to 250,000 men and women engaged in the retail selling of shoes, most of whom spend their entire effort in the work. Billions of invested capital is required to furnish the means of carrying on this enormous business.
From the standpoint of cost as well as importance as part of a man’s wearing apparel the shoe ranks second only to his suit of clothes. With most women this is true also. ”

“ He should be able to consider himself sitting in the chair, he should look at the shapes and colors submitted, through the eyes of the customer, and he should feel the shoe on his own foot as he adjusts it to the customer’s. Pure imagination, of course, but how else can he successfully work along in the sale with his customer—how else can he hope to work in harmony? ”

“ Boxing, running, football, tennis, baseball, are all forms of strenuous exercise, but they do not call for the same endurance as the busy eight-hour day of retail selling. In spite of this, how many shoe salesmen are there who actually make it a part of the daily program to get and keep in condition for the business game? ”

“ When we consider that her income is two or three times as great as that of other salespeople in the same department, who will say that it isn’t worth the effort?
61 NO GEOGRAPHY IN SERVICE The summer resort shop requires a special style, color or material in a shoe in order to satisfy the needs of its customers; the professional man prefers one style above another; the laboring man has his preference; the Westerner has his choice, which is altogether different from what the city man in the East requires, and so on it goes, each man for his own needs and preferences. ”

“ In women’s factories where sole leather is not cut, they do not have a complete sole leather department. Instead, they have what is called a stock-fitting department. There are independent cut sole houses, etc., in the trade, which supply the soles to manufacturers. The same system of buying supplies also applies to many other parts of the shoe, as in the top lift, half sole, welt, rand, etc. In the upper leather department, manufacturers of both men’s and women’s shoes often buy trimmings and other parts of the upper all prepared. ”

“ The simplest and the clearest way of showing how the various kinds of shoes are made is to explain the manufacture of a Goodyear welt and afterwards bring out the points in which this method of shoemaking differs from the others.
Shoes are manufactured in up-to-date factories, employing hundreds of operatives. The modern shoe factory of to-day is divided into six general departments: the sole leather department, upper leather department, stitching department, making department, [104] finishing department, and the treeing, packing, and shipping departments. ”

“ At our Whitechapel Factory there is one shoemaker whom we picked off the streets destitute and miserable. He is now saved, and happy, and cobbles away at the shoe leather of his mates. That shoemaker, I foresee, is but the pioneer of a whole army of shoemakers constantly at work in repairing the cast-off boots and shoes of London. Already in some provincial towns a great business is done by the conversion of old shoes into new. They call the men so employed translators. Boots and shoes, as every wearer of them knows, do not go to pieces all at once or in all parts at once. ”

“ We refer in these remarks to the manufacture of what is known as “sale work.” There are many, very many, “custom workers,” who proceed by correct rules, and upon scientific principles; men who understand how to adapt the shoe or boot to the foot, so that when the customer first draws the boot or shoe on, it fits naturally and easily, adapting itself to any, and every deformity or slight irregularity which the foot may present. We make general statements, which every intelligent shoemaker, or large manufacturer, will at once acknowledge. ”

“ It remains for the retail salesman to meet the customer face to face and upon the ability he has to move the stock is determined the success or failure of the whole undertaking. This, surely, is a big job and it carries with it a big responsibility. Amid present-day competition no longer can we sit back in hopeful anticipation for the best. Selling is mainly a matter of brains, and success comes in proportion to the amount of ability mixed with effort.
RETAIL SHOE SELLING The annual shoe business of the United States is estimated at more than $1,500,000,000. ”

“ Some stores, when it is found that a shoe has not moved within thirty or sixty days, immediately make inquiries to determine the reason. If it is found that there have been objections to the shoe, expressed by the customer, and if the management decides that these will permanently interfere with sales, the goods are at once classed as P.M.’s and arrangements are made to dispose of them promptly. The truth is that the longer goods of this kind remain in stock the more difficult it will be finally to get rid of them. ”

“ One day being near to a manufacturer of the wooden shoes worn by the peasants, our party of four slips within the shop, and are fitted after trying on at least a dozen pairs, to the apparent delight of Meinherr. It is necessary to wear a heavy woollen stocking to secure comfort in these shoes. 120 The ordinary American stocking would soon be rubbed into holes by the hard surface of the shoe. Indeed it is quite a feat to be able to walk rapidly and gracefully in this clumsy footwear. ”

“ Such a customer would expect shoes that would give her the maximum of wearing quality for the money she has to spend. Her appearance indicates that she is poor. She wants the greatest possible wearing service and comfort that she can get. She deserves the best fit that it is possible to give her, and she will generally be glad of the salesman’s suggestions concerning the shoe she should wear. The matter of pattern and style is not a prime consideration. Talk quality and supply a strong, serviceable shoe. ”

“ On this subject of Ersatz, or far-fetched substitutes for the real thing, many pages might be written, even without trespassing for the moment on the forbidden territory of food. The department stores were veritable museums of Ersatz articles. With real shoes costing about sixty dollars, and real clothing running them a close race, it was essential that the salesman should be able to appease the wrathful customer by offering him “something else—er—almost as good.” The shoe substitutes alone made the shop-windows a constant source of amazement and interest. ”

“ The stitching department is often called the fitting department; the making department, the bottoming department; and the sole leather department, the stock-fitting department. The departments are popularly termed rooms for brevity.
A shoe factory is designed so as to have a width of about fifty feet for each room, while the length is according to the number of shoes to be produced. A width of about fifty feet gives plenty of daylight and ample room in the center of each department, which is very essential in shoemaking. ”

“ And once the manufacturers acquired retail outlets, the District Court found there was a 'definite trend' for the parent-manufacturers to supply an ever increasing percentage of the retail outlets' needs, thereby foreclosing other manufacturers from effectively competing for the retail accounts. Manufacturer-dominated stores were found to be 'drying up' the available outlets for independent producers.
Another 'definite trend' found to exist in the shoe industry was a decrease in the number of plants manufacturing shoes. ”

“ Convince the customer that you are sincerely working for his interest—tell him so. The style and fit of the shoe called for will serve as an indication of the kind of shoe wanted. Proceed at once to get the stock nearest to it and start selling it on its merits. Nothing will be gained by considering any further the merits of the shoe that is out of stock. Remember that one of the important features of salesmanship is that of creating a desire for the merchandise you have. Fit properly the shoe you have in stock, dwell upon its good qualities, its workmanship and its value. ”

“ On the other hand, if her foot is of such a shape that it could not wear the new style, it would be better business for the salesman to say nothing about the new styles and to give his whole attention to the shoes he has to fit the particular foot. To be prepared to meet this situation when it occurs requires that all shoes in the stock be studied with the idea of learning their points of advantage or limitation as applied to different classes of feet. ”