TEDS wins top score in the country for the 2023 Gold Medal Service Awards!
FOOTWEAR INSIGHT MAGAZINE STORY
When Ted McGreer and his wife Heather founded Ted’s Shoe & Sport back in 1999, it was a sit-and-fit athletic shoe store, with some snowsports and sporting goods gear mixed in. Over time, the business model for the shop, located on a vibrant Main Street in a small city of 23,000 people, evolved to what it is today — a specialty shop offering elevated service selling footwear and apparel for running, walking, hiking, and orthopedic consumers.
“We needed to focus on what we did best, and we’re glad we did,” says McGreer. “While we’re considered a running specialty store by many of our customers and vendors, our customer base and demographic is extremely broad. We have about eight Podiatrists who prescribe our services to their patients, and many other medical professionals in the region who refer people to us.”
The store has 11 employees (three full time), including two managers. McGreer has high praise for his staff: “I can’t begin to say how fortunate we are to have a team of empathetic, conscientious, caring staff who truly understand we’re making our communities healthier, one pair of shoes at a time.”
McGreer adds, “We find it imperative to take the best care of our people, as they’re the secret to our success. That might mean offering a livable wage, bonuses, excellent benefits, and a work life balance, which is hard to do while working in retail.”
At Ted’s, customer service is a priority, with McGreer spending 300 hours training new employees before they go “live” on the floor. He has his employees read the book “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard, and he trains new staff with things such as mock fittings, mock returns, mock phone calls, and problem-solving scenarios. “However, the majority of our training is solely focused on making sure our team understands that customers are people first,” says McGreer.
With so much competition online and elsewhere, McGreer says, “We know people don’t have to come into our store to buy their shoes, so the key to keeping them coming back is simply making it easy to do business.”
As Ted’s approaches its 25th anniversary, McGreer says, “We’re really excited about the partnerships we’ve created with reps and brands who still believe brick-and-mortar, sit-and-fit stores are relevant.”
“While the vendor DTC channel is something we’ve grown to deal with, we’re still seeing [many] brands who want to be in our stores, want to support us, and give us incredibly innovative products. Everyone is making really nice shoes now, and it makes it so much easier to deliver great service when the product backs up what we’re trying to do.”
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