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Peebles Expands Shoe Department
Peebles Expands Shoe Department
By Bill Walsh
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
Recent changes at Peebles Department Store in Warrenton are a microcosm of changes in the larger economy: Necessities continue to sell well. Luxuries are taking a hit.
Hence the local store moved its standalone housewares section — luxuries — back into a smaller section of the main store, and moved its successful and busy shoe department — necessities — into expanded space then available in the standalone.
And the process of selling footwear has changed along with the location.
"It is open-sell now," said store manager Cathie Fox. "Before, we had shoes out on display, and we'd have to go back to the stockroom to get the size and the style the customer wanted."
In the new digs, every size of every style — about 9,000 pairs of shoes — is out on the sales floor, though not duplicate styles and sizes, which are kept in a back room.
Open sell makes it easier for the customers to see everything, Fox said, and they can actually get out of the store and on their way a little quicker.
"You might wear a 7," Fox explained, "but shoes are all different, and a 6-1/2 might work in one style, a 7-1/2 in another."
Customers can try them all without having to wait on a clerk to make multiple trips to the stockroom.
Having customers help themselves, Fox said, is not an excuse for lowering the store's service. Just the contrary, in fact.
"Actually, we have to have more employees in the shoe department with this system," Fox said.
And they stay busy. Local competition is scarce, and Peebles carries a full line of casual, athletic and dress shoes, for men, women and children.
Fox and shoe manager Farjana Alam are trying to increase their offerings of size 5 shoes which, — as a stepping stone between girl's and women's sizes — they said are very much in demand.
The store has a good selection of wide shoes and has asked its vendors to increase the number of narrow shoes they supply. Items from Peebles' regular lines can be specially ordered.
The shoe store actually opened about six weeks ago and hosted grand opening festivities from April 29-May 4, with plenty of free gifts and other promotional items.
It's all working.
Only six weeks in, "We are now the number-one shoe store in the company," Fox said.
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