Roberts Shoes

By Cathy Shouse

Robert’s Shoes in Fort Wayne is a family-owned business that keeps on keeping on, like in the children’s book, The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper. The store opened in 1962 and continues to thrive.

Sue McBride became owner in 2004, but she has worked at Roberts Shoes for 52 years.

“I think the reason we’ve made it this far is I am a bullheaded person,” McBride said. “We try to give our customers personalized service. If they want to mill around on their own, we let them do that. I would have to say our store is more oriented to middle aged to older clientele.”

The store remains at the original location in Statewood Plaza at 3915 East State Boulevard, although McBride expanded it to the 14,000 square feet she currently has. Employees are either family members or like one of the family. There are four of them, including McBride, her two daughters and another employee, who has worked there for 32 years.

Rather than offering trends and competing with the average shoe-buying experience, they’ve carved out a place to carry sizes and widths that aren’t available in other stores. “We do more specializing,” McBride said. “We do carry a few things that appeal to the younger crowd.”

The store consists of three rooms. The first room tends to be aimed toward young to middle aged customers. The middle one is more about comfort and fit, which becomes more of a priority as one ages. The third room has special sales. Plus, they offer coupons and have major sales throughout the year.

“We have three sales a year where we concentrate on cleaning out our inventory,” she said. The May sale just ended and the next will be in August and another happens every October.

The store caters to men’s and women’s shoes only, and doesn’t carry any children’s shoes.

“We try to feature a few things you don’t see in shoe stores, something unique,” she said. McBride offers L’Artiste, which is known for unusual styles of boots and shoes. There are too many brands on her shelves to name them all, but Florsheim, Timberland, Rockport, and SAS are among them.

McBride has intentionally sought to distinguish Roberts Shoes from the more generally self-service stores. “You’re not just walking to the shelf and taking the shoe to the counter,” she said. “We tend to be more old-fashioned than other stores. We’ll measure your foot and suggest ideas. We try to stay with you.”

So, with a family shoe store, it begs the question, is it true what they say, that the shoemaker’s children have no shoes? For McBride’s family members, anyway, the opposite is true. Her daughters have an abundance of footwear. “It’s more a business for me,” she said. “Both my daughters are shoe-a-holics but I’m not.” a Roberts Shoes, Fort Wayne, 260.483.3812, roberts-shoes.com