A lifetime in shoes: Celebrating 75 Years!

This blog entry shares the history of Sucklings Shoe Store since it was opened in 1934. Please note that all the information below will soon be posted in our About Us page with additional images for the rest of 2009, as part of our 75 year celebrations. We hope you enjoy reading the story, and viewing the images - and we look forward to your comments and memories. The Sucklings name has been associated with footwear in Christchurch since the founding (by John Suckling's great-grandfather John and his brother Nathaniel) of the Suckling Brothers factory in the city in 1871. In 1934, Len Suckling opened his first shoe shop in Colombo Street, initially selling men's shoes and exclusively Suckling Brothers brands sourced from the local factory. The 'Monarch' brand was made from NZ leather and the 'Landmark' brand was made from more expensive imported leather. Only one pair of each shoe in each size was held in shop stock, and a message boy was kept busy running to the factory for more shoes as each pair sold. <img height="353" width="500" src="/uploaded/Sucklings%20first%20store%20len%20and%20boy,%20pic%201.jpg" alt="" /> Len and his message boy in the original store. Len was an innovative and forward thinking marketer, forced to work harder by the introduction of import licensing in 1939 which made it difficult to grow his product range. Database marketing was unheard of in those days, but Len started keeping a card index record of every customer purchase, and regularly sent out individually named, printed letters to his customers. Len always had a keen eye for design and style, investing in ticket writing classes to help create eye catching window displays, which he photographed over the years. John remembers, "There was a very limited range (of men's shoes).  You had the plain front shoe, and the toe cap shoe.  I remember Dad being excited when the ‘mudguard’ range came out.  Really it was very limited." <img height="345" width="500" src="/uploaded/shoe%20shapes%20pic%202.jpg" alt="" /> Also limiting rapid growth of the business were customer buying habits; men were frugal with their footwear and usually made do with two pairs. In fact, right next door to the original Sucklings shop was a shoe repair and grindery shop owned by Len's father John (who had retired from the Sucklings Bros factory). Len frequently made use of the additional window space to increase the size of his own product displays. Typically once a pair of shoes had to be re-soled it was relegated to second string casual wear and a new pair – usually of the same style – was bought and used for more formal occasions. In 1948 Len bought the building of a former haberdashery shop at 627 Colombo Street, refurbishing the interior completely with a clean modern look and adding fitting cubicles so customers could try on their shoes in privacy from the street. <img height="287" width="500" src="/uploaded/scklng-1949%20-%20pic%203.jpg" alt="" /> The fitout of the new Colombo St store From the 1950s the shop gradually introduced other brands of shoes, and started to develop a reputation for quality, comfortable and stylish men's shoes, sourced from some of the leading European and US brands. The new shop also featured a foot x-ray machine, designed to enable the perfect fit – at a time when stiffer leathers and construction made it difficult to feel where the toes were sitting at the front of the shoe. The radiation dangers of x-ray were soon discovered however, which meant this innovation was shortlived, with the machine being donated to Christchurch Public Hospital (and now resident at Ferrymead). In 1977 the business was taken over by Len's son John Suckling, who had built a career in the public service as an economist before deciding that his passion was to work with people on a more personal basis. <img height="338" width="500" src="/uploaded/scklng%20pic%204.jpg" alt="" /> John's first re-fit of the store, late 70s John's focused approach on running a world class business has helped the company continue to build on the reputation Len developed and on its relationship with individual customers, many of whom have been shopping with Sucklings for generations. Soon after taking over the business, he saw the opportunity to convert Len's much used customer card files into a computerised database, which was also quite revolutionary for the early 1980s. At the time, suitable off-the-shelf software wasn't available,  so John worked with local software programmer Mike Wall to develop a unique software system which continues to work well today. Having a computerised record of every customer purchase makes it very easy to look after customers individually and ensure that even customers outside of Christchurch can call and see if new styles would be suitable for them, based on past purchases. Moving into the digital world took a major leap forward in 2008, when John took the company's entire stock online, meaning customers from anywhere in New Zealand can easily view and buy the full range of shoes through the company's website. Of course in the last decade, John also added women's shoes to the range, and they now make up a significant percentage of sales. Over the years, John Suckling has become highly regarded within the NZ shoe retail sector for his specialist footwear expertise, is a well known figure in Christchurch's central city retail world,  has held national positions with the NZ Retailers Association, and is currently on the board of the Retail Institute. His approach to business continues in the footsteps of his innovative father, continually exploring ways to meet and exceed the expectations of Sucklings customers. <img height="500" width="392" src="/uploaded/johns.jpg" alt="" />

2009-04-09T17:07:51+12:00

We are very proud to be celebrating 75 years of selling quality footwear in Christchurch, sharing with you some of the history and images since we opened the doors in 1934. 7 2009-04-09-a-lifetime-in-shoes-celebrating-75-years published A lifetime in shoes: Celebrating 75 Years!

2009-12-07T13:01:15+13:00