Up Against The Wall Run retailers talk smart, savvy ideas to create a better shoe wall. / By Daniel P. Smith
To add a bit “more flair” to its shoe wall and create a more dynamic visual, Confluence Running in Goshen, NY, used iron pipes installed against a brick wall.
I
t was time for a change at the Cape May Running Company. In March, the five-year-old store located in Cape May, NJ, proudly introduced its new shoe wall. Ditching the generic shoe holders that tucked into slat wall, the store used wooden shelves placed on iron piping against a wood background matching the shop’s custom dressing room doors. “It’s now a much cleaner, more cohesive look that better maximizes the space we have and improves visual interest,” boasts Cape May Running Co. co-owner Harry Back. The importance of the shoe wall cannot be underestimated in run specialty shops. 40
runninginsight.com
Displaying a running store’s core product, the shoe wall is most often the main focal point in a run shop, the frequent destination of guests and a sales and marketing tool capable of helping run shops showcase variety and drive interest. “Quite simply, a shoe wall helps to get people excited about what they are investing in,” says Lance Muzslay, who owns a trio of Sole Sports Running Zone shops in Arizona. While there are points and counterpoints to shoe wall mechanics and no hard-and-fast rules that apply to every situation, here are 11 ways that run shops are attempting to maximize the shoe wall and generate interest.
1. Favor the back. When designing run shops, Holly Wiese and her team at 3 Dots Design put a lot of thought into the placement of the shoe wall on the showroom floor. As much as possible, the preference is to place footwear in the rear of the store. Much as grocery stores station staple items in the rear, the idea is that run shop customers will peruse other items while venturing back to see the store’s primary attraction. “This way, the customer is drawn through as much of the store as possible,” Wiese says. When Confluence Running put the shoe wall at the back of its new store in Goshen, NY, in fact, apparel sales tripled.
© 2021 Diversified Communications
