
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994                   TAG: 9404070233
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LOYAL CUSTOMERS FIND SHOE TIME A PERFECT FIT

"A small independently owned shoe store can't stay in business in the Roanoke Valley without two things to offer: a variety of sizes, and personal service," says Steve Anderson, manager for the past two years of Shoe Time, a store in the Lakeside Shopping Center in East Salem.

Shoe Time, owned since 1989 by Bob and Betty Ferry of Moneta, specializes in those two needs. Though in competition with half a dozen large chains and discount stores, the small business has enjoyed steady customers, Anderson said.

The business was moved a year ago from smaller quarters at the Lakeside location, Ferry said in a telephone interview. He and his wife, who lived in Charlotte, N.C., moved to the Smith Mountain Lake area in 1978. A career salesman, Ferry said he wanted a change of product five years ago and started Shoe Time not long after the old amusement park property was opened up for a strip shopping mall. His wife has her own business in the lake community.

Today, having found a good manager in Anderson, Ferry's still on the road selling gift shop items such as miniature houses, glassware and ceramic vases. He's in the shoe store on Saturdays.

Anderson said the day of personal-service shoe stores is passing. Some shoe lines have been bought out by overseas interests, including a brand Shoe Time used to sell. Cities like Lynchburg, where shoe making was long a major industry, "have seen a 180-degree turn" in the making of shoes by American workers. That's a sad trend to Anderson, because shoe factory workers are highly skilled, well-paid employees.

He considers Rack Room, a chain serving the high-income Hunting Hills area, his major competitor. Shoe Time is one of only a few independently operated shoe stores in the Roanoke Valley, Anderson said.

Chain shoe stores, Anderson said, offer consistently lower prices, but in a warehouse atmosphere without personal attention to fitting. They often do not stock sizes for the man or woman with an unusually wide, narrow or large foot. Shoe Time takes pride in serving those adults, Anderson said.

A Shoe Time clerk will help a customer find exactly the right size, Anderson said while discussing this problem with a woman shopper. It has shoes for men, too, though women shoppers outnumber the men about 9 to 1, the manager observed.

"Everybody in the Roanoke Valley expects a sale in midwinter, and we have those where you can buy name brands with a big reduction, but we can't sell expensive shoes at a discount all year. I'd say we specialize in comfort-fit shoes."

To stay in business with so many "big boys," Anderson said, "You have to be like a juggler of three apples and sharpen your pencils all the time to find the bottom line in your buying."

Shoe Time is at 163 Electric Road, Salem. The telephone number is 986-1202.

by CNB