ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512150003
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: YOUR PART OF TOWN LABEL
SOURCE: LAURA ZIVKOVICH STAFF WRITER
Marvin Brooks can find the tip of a toe through the rounded, leather top of a shoe.
He's been fitting feet for nearly a half-century. O{REST} Brooks, owner of Simmons Shoes, remembers his first day in the business - Jan. 1, 1948.
"I helped them [Hanover Shoes] take inventory New Year's Day and didn't know what I was doing," he recalled.
Brooks, 68, will end his shoe-biz career 48 years from that day, on Dec. 31, when the lease to his Williamson Road Plaza store expires.
"We still have a good clientele that likes to be fitted," he said. "We're just getting out while things are still good."
In 1971, the Bedford County native and his wife, Lucinda, bought the store from Kenneth and Anne Simmons, keeping the name that had served the former owners well.
They offered a selection of women's, men's and children's better-quality and prescription shoes. "We never got into real high fashion," Brooks said.
He has seen a lot of customers come and go, and he has learned along the way to serve them all.
"Men are easy," he said. "They say 'Give me another one just like it,''' as they pull up their pants legs to reveal worn shoes.
"Children grow. You've got to measure their feet so you don't misfit them." Most importantly, you have to "please their mothers."
It's a few of the women that the Simmons' staff had to work so hard to please, said Brooks.
They come in to the store looking for a shoe that will fit comfortably over a bunion, he said. "They say they inherited it from their mothers. They didn't. Their mothers wore tight shoes, and they wore tight shoes."
Brenda Ringley, the Brookses' daughter, has managed the store for the past 19 years. "Part of me will always be here," she said, although she looks forward to having more time to spend with her husband, Michael, and 6-year-old son, David.
"I want to be there when he gets home from school," she said.
The closing will affect its longtime customers, too.
"With three girls with narrow feet, it's hard to even think about," said Susan Osborne, who has shopped at Simmons for eight years. "Brenda went out of her way to find shoes for my children, and that is a lost art."
"They greet us by name and know the children," said customer Karen Lowdon "I've been happy to support their business."
Although larger, discount retailers have affected business in the past few years, Brooks said, they haven't driven him out. "They may be lower-priced, but [the customers] are not getting fitted. They've only got one width. A shoe is worthless if it doesn't fit."
Over the years, Brooks reduced the inventory from nearly 10,000 pairs of shoes to between 3,000 and 4,000 pairs and focused on children's footwear. He put the shoe boxes out on the floor, so customers could look for their sizes without having to ask for help.
"It's completely different than it was 25 years ago," when service was a key part of the purchase, he said. "People came in and waited their turn."
Shoe-buying rituals are different now, too. Selecting school shoes and snow boots used to be seasonal events. Now, "kids play in the snow in their tennis shoes," said Brooks. "It's a changed world."
Some of the changes Brooks can live without. In order to have a going-out-of-business sale, he had to go downtown and buy - for $10 - a going-out-of-business sale license. That's not the worst part, he said. "I had to pay $1 to park!''
Brooks' future plans are simple. "We're not going to Florida," he said.
He looks forward to working with Lucinda in his Blue Ridge home and the surrounding yard.
He'll have plenty of shoes. He just bought seven new pairs - size 8 1/2 AA. "I'll be all right till I'm 85.''
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Marvin Brooks will end his 48-yearby CNBcareer in the shoe business at the end of this month. His daughter,
Brenda Ringley, has managed the store for the past 19 years.