NEWS
His loyal staff have nicknamed him the Doc Father. At work they affectionately call him Dad. Yet Valley businessman Barry Toombes’ days as a much-loved employer may be numbered as his Ann Street shoe store battles the growing trend towards online sales.
Shoes have been sold from his store for over a century, and Barry has retailed new shoes there and repaired old ones since he bought Downes Reliable Shoes in 1985. But the 64-year-old now admits that his days in the trade might be numbered – condemned to follow the trend of nearby fashion, book and music shops that have closed in recent times – but he issues a strong warning to those who think there’s no reason to mourn the loss of yet another old-fashioned retail outlet.
“In five years time if this trend [to online buying] grows, unemployment in Australia is going to go sky high,” said Barry, who says he has seen his sales dip by up to $10,000 a month over the past year as on-line sales eat into his earnings.
And his store manager Leah Fischle chimes in: “And there won’t be kids having jobs after school either.”
If you think Barry is upset about what is happening to a business he has devoted decades to, Leah and his other staffer Chloe are close to ropeable, especially store manager Leah. The cusswords fly as she talks about the unfair advantage of online selling sites including the store’s own wholesale suppliers of their Doc Marten and Blundstone products, and the air just gets a little bluer when she talks about the plugs given by Channel 9’s A Current Affair to an online shoestore that she says is part-owned by Nine Entertainment.
You quickly get the impression, though, that Leah and Chloe are far more concerned for their boss than their own jobs down the track. “Barry is a great employer,” Leah says. “He pays us above the award and really looks after us. Yet he hasn’t made a fortune. In fact we’re going to struggle to give him a pension-sized income when he retires. It makes us sad that after being so generous to the community, now it looks like he won’t get back what he has given over the years.”
Barry says that his wholesale suppliers have offered to provide footwear at lower prices to help him compete with online sites, but with rented premises and two fulltime staff wages to pay this was not a realistic solution.
“We’re expected to put our prices down to compete online but we can’t put our costs down. Rent goes up all the time.”
“They [the federal government] needs to do something about putting a tax on online buying to bring it back a level playing field.”
Leah reckons the number of customers who now come into the store just to get the right shoe or boot size before walking out and buying online is close to 10 per cent. “It’s offensive,” she says.
“They use our expertise and experience and abuse our time.” Leah admits that rightly or wrongly the competition from online sales has giving some retailers a bad name – and some bad habits.
“Online buying has polarised people,” she says. “While some people conscientiously support “honest” business in Australia that promote good service and professionalism, there are other people who perhaps have been jaded by the large department stores. And that is as offensive to retailers that genuinely care about their customers.”
But she does see some light at the end of the tunnel. She says the online threat should make retailers lift their game, and that would see a return to supporting traditional shop outlets that provide good customer service.
“If we can last that long,” Barry adds.
