There’s no business like shoe business

Husband-and-wife teachers Ishmael and Karen Goddard took the path less well-travelled when they walked out of the classroom and opened a shoe shop.

Now the couple are celebrating their 50th year running the No. 1 Shoe Shop, based in a spacious 14,400-square-foot store in Hospital Plaza in George Town.

Karen, 77, said the secret of the company’s success was that “we’ve always tried to provide people with excellent service and tried to sell a cross-section of items so everybody can shop. You don’t need a whole lot of money to shop here.”

She explained she had taught Spanish and Ishmael was a mathematics teacher at the old Cayman High School, now John Gray High School, when they realised they did not earn enough to buy a home and provide for a family.

Karen said, “Teaching is wonderful as a vocation and it’s wonderful because of the impact you can have on the lives of young people. But, at that time, it didn’t pay enough to keep moving.

“We started a family and realised we needed to take care of them, get them educated, so we thought we better look at some kind of business.”

The shoe business

Karen said the two had helped out in her sister’s boutique at weekends and during holidays, so had picked up some knowledge of shoes and fashion.

She added, “My husband wrote down a whole lot of businesses and said to me ‘choose one’. I saw ‘shoes’ and I said, ‘that’s the one’.”

Karen added the couple also capitalised on contacts made as teachers and ensured parents knew they were starting a shoe shop and would be selling children’s shoes as well.

She said, even decades later, the start of the school year, along with Christmas, was the busiest period of the year.

The first premises was in a small store in The Village, in the centre of George Town behind the General Post Office, then regarded as a bit of a backwater.

Karen added, “I remember the first morning when we opened the doors … I said to Ishmael ‘do you think anyone’s going to come?’

“And then the people streamed into that little shop.”

The anniversary is being celebrated with 15% off offers and reductions of up to 50% on some items until the end of the month.

The couple have three sons, two of them involved in the family retail tradition, David in No 1 Shoe Shop and Christopher at sports and workwear store Winner’s Circle on nearby Walkers Road. Jeffrey, the oldest, works in the international business sector in Cayman.

Ishmael, now 81, said, “We had no doubt it would work. If you’re honest, supply good quality and give good service, people will support you.

“We never thought it would grow to this size. It’s a big shop. But we always knew we would survive.”

Ishmael added there were two secrets to success in the retail world.

“Service – people expect good service, and number two is quality. People don’t have time and they want quality. We stock good names and people are prepared to pay for quality.”

Ishmael added his business philosophy could be summed up as “DPE”; dream, plan and execute.

“Try and get involved in something you have knowledge of or like. And don’t be negative. You have to be positive.”

He said, “Respect your customers. The customer isn’t always right, but you have to respect them and try to have a rapport with them.”

Good staff a must

He added that a strong and motivated staff was also a major factor and that the store operated “like a family” which translated into employees prepared to do their best.

Ishmael said the Cayman economy had suffered ups and downs over the years and that the present increased cost of living had affected many, although the store had always weathered storms.

“There are three things that are recession-proof. One is food, the second one is clothes and the third one is shoes. People must have shoes, even if they might be cheaper ones.

“The most important thing for a business is to cut back on buying, because you will be selling less, and watch the economy because things always pick up again.”

The company also has a thriving in-store repair shop and have branched out further into sneakers, sportswear and bags.

Ishmael said, “When you’re not selling new shoes, people are getting their shoes repaired. These guys in repairs are busy all the time. I tell people we save their soles as well.”

And Karen confirmed the belief that women are more inclined to stock up with lots of shoes than men are.

“A lot of women tend to want many shoes, different colours, many styles, small heels, medium heels, high heels,” she said.

“Men come in and want the same shoes they have already. The manufacturers know that, because they keep making the same shoes for men.

“But many women are constant in their style as well. Not all women, but the majority.”

Karen added, “We have such a great following. Anything can happen, but we don’t see anything happening in our lifetime. The boys have great personalities and a great interest in the business and we think they will carry it all forward as well.”