Local shoe shop walking into golden year of business

Dalondo Moultrie The Seguin Gazette

For any business to last, leadership has to ensure the company adapts.

To survive three quarters of a century calls for evolution, but also a little something else. For 75 years, Vogue Shoes in Seguin provided customers what they want and need, and current owner Kandice Schmidt-Gigliotti said that won’t end any time soon.

“I’m carrying on what it’s been known for probably since the ’70s,” she said. “We’re a sit and fit shoe store. People come to us if they have foot pain or foot problems. We carry the good shoes, the good inserts.”

Schmidt-Gigliotti, a Seguin native, bought Vogue in 2015 from then-owners Robert and Sydney Burton after having worked as a clerk for several years at the store. She worked from 2006 to 2009 while she got her teaching degree at Texas State University.

Then while working as a teacher and coach for the Navarro ISD, Schmidt-Gigliotti sold shoes on her holiday breaks from the district from 2009 to 2015, she said. Around the end of that stint is when opportunity presented itself, Schmidt-Gigliotti said.

“They were talking about an exit plan,” she said of the Burtons. “I was on my Christmas break. I just kind of jumped in and said, ‘hey, what about me?’ I didn’t want it to close down. It’s been such a cornerstone business downtown. They were talking about either retiring or optimally trying to find a buyer.”

She jumped at the chance and offered to buy the store before the couple could advertise its sale, Schmidt-Gigliotti said. Hers is just the latest chapter in the 75-year-old story of Vogue Shoes, Schmidt-Gigliotti said.

The story began in 1947 with Fred Menelovitz, who opened the shop at the corner of Austin and Center streets at the time. Center Street was later renamed Donegan Street.

Reichman’s Department Store bought the shoe shop in 1953, Rodney Burton said. Bernard and Itta Lenowitz ran it at that time and in the 1960s, the store moved to its current location at Court and Camp streets, which once was the Turner Smoke House.

Near the middle of the next decade, Rodney and Sydney Burton took over the business.

“We bought it in December 1977, we moved here in 1976 and bought it the next year,” Sydney said. “The owners of the department store owned Vogue Shoes. He passed away a year before. We bought it from his widow.”

The Burtons ran the shop for 38 years. Seguin had a robust retail community in its downtown area, Sydney said. There were bustling department stores, shoe stores, five and dime shops, she said.

“It had been a thriving downtown for a long time,” Rodney said. “People from New Braunfels shopped in Seguin. People from Gonzales shopped in Seguin.”

Things began to change, including the way people bought shoes in Seguin and around the country, he said. Shopping centers became more popular and big box stores started to move into the landscape, Rodney said.

He had to find a way to stay relevant.

“All businesses change,” he said. “For a business to survive, they have to adapt to the change.”

D&D Texas Outfitters opened with its vast array of western footwear, Rodney said. Vogue sold cowboy boots but had to adapt to the competition’s hold on that sector of the market, he said.

Vogue stopped selling cowboy boots and focused on children, fitting for children’s shoes and offering corrective footwear, Sydney said. They called their method “sit and fit.”

“We sit on a stool, measure and fit (customers),” she said.

Then box stores got bigger, outlet malls made their way to the region and retail completely changed again, Sydney said. Again, Vogue Shoes adapted.

“We got into work boots rather than western boots,” she said. “The work boot business is 40% of business. Seguin is a manufacturing town the store supplies steel-toe boots. You have to adapt.”

Through it all, getting a good fit remained a constant, Sydney said. So that was one area of the business where Vogue could concentrate and capitalize. Throughout the years, the retailer has been able to continue doing what it does and serving the people of Seguin, which is a blessing, Rodney said.

“It feels great,” he said. “I feel privileged to have been a part of that 75 years.”

Business remains good and Vogue is still active in the community, Schmidt-Gigliotti said. Customers still come from multiple counties to patronize the long-running footwear outfitter, she said.

Many return because they like the service that Vogue has offered for decades.

And she wouldn’t have it any other way, Schmidt-Gigliotti said.

“We know shoes and feet and we know how to fit,” she said. “If you’re looking for a good fit and comfortable footwear that’s also fashionable — I think people think we’re only orthopedic — but we have a lot of good looking shoes the are good for your feet.”

View article on SeguinGazette.com