Gilmour’s Comfort Shoes

est. 1919

Address: 1187 Glenhuntly Road, Glen Huntly

From an interview with Joe and Leanne in 2021 by by Aron Lewin and Tatiana CC Scott from Tales of Brick and Mortar. Interview edited by Aron Lewin.  All Photographs © Tatiana CC Scott. Developed for Glen Eira City Council for the Talking Shops project.  

(Joe) My great-grandfather James Gilmour started the business.

He was based in Mordialloc and recognised that the train lines were going to be main arteries to trade. His family had been in business selling general supplies, but he opened Gilmour’s Shoes in Glen Huntly in 1919.

James had five daughters and a son. In 1919, the options for his daughters were basically nursing or teaching until they married. He wanted them to be more independent, and he observed that girls like shoes. He started a shoe business, engaged them in it, and eventually passed it on to them.

In the 1920s, the business was passed on to the girls and eventually to the youngest of the five, Hazel Gilmour, who is my great-aunt. She ran it for a long time – well into the 1960s – when my dad took it over.

My brothers and I are fourth generation and have all worked in the business. Now, my older brother Sam and I run it. Dad works here too – about two to three days a week.

My grandfather – who was the youngest of six – was born in 1907.

He worked in the business between different careers.

But James’ daughters worked in it for quite some time, especially Hazel. She never married, so it remained as Gilmour’s all the way through. We still get customers who remember Hazel, who was always immaculately dressed and had bright, red hair.

The shop used to sell all types of shoes, but it was mainly women's dress shoes. At the time, women only really wore dress shoes, with leather soles and medium, contoured heels. We also had a cordoned off area with a changing room, a seat and a curtain, because women wouldn’t show their feet.

They’d draw a curtain and be fitted in there. Then, they’d open the curtain and walk around in those shoes.

My dad, John, worked in the business and helped to look after Hazel in her old age.

Dad would come in on Saturdays as a teenager to work. Over time, he worked in the business a lot more, and eventually took it over. His main work was as a journalist, especially in finance, and he continued to write professionally well into the 90s and 2000s.

In the 1960s, Dad recognized the need to specialise. He was a big traveller and observed trends. He would go to the United States, and it was like a time machine. He'd see what was likely to happen here in five years’ time. At that time, the bigger department stores were making it hard for a lot of independent shops.

As the independents were dying, the ones that were surviving were starting to specialise. He decided to carry comfort shoes, extra fittings and widths, and that specialisation has kept us going until now.

Dad started off in news at 3AW overnights before he got into financial reporting with the Australian Financial Review.

He headed up the AFR Melbourne office and wrote a column in The Bulletin and The Age for a long time.

He did that while running the shop.

Especially when things were very difficult – like in the 1980s when there were high interest and inflation rates – his writing supplemented his income. It helped to put us through school. I have memories of him hand delivering a column to TNT, that would get posted up to Sydney. Later on, those articles would get tele texted, then emailed.

He used to write the stories on an old, mechanical typewriter. He was also a very early adopter of computers for book-keeping and writing. As a travelling journalist, he’d report on issues in different countries, but he worked hard on the floor when he was in the shop.

There were customers who would read dad's column. A lot of them still remember it. He would talk about the problems of small business. Everything from banking through to supply issues, landlords and local councils. He covered policies that would impact small businesses, and he could voice real concerns that they had.

I started working here when I was at school.

I went off and did my own thing before coming back when I was 24-25, which was 24 years ago. At first, I got involved in the technical side of the business. But, when you're busy, everyone's got to serve, and you never stop learning. Every season, new shoes come in, and you have to learn how they fit.

I know all the staff’s fittings. You test a shoe on them or yourself, and – if you know how it fits on their foot, or your own foot – you can see how it might fit a customer. We also measure using Brannock devices.

We are a ‘sit and fit’ business. We will bring the shoes to you, make sure it fits and double-check it. We get customers who come in and say, “No one has measured my foot since I was a kid.”

“It’s kind of fun.”

Dad became very passionate about shoes, and so did I.

Although I grew up in shoe shops, the passion for footwear comes with experience. You start to appreciate them more when you develop an understanding of the materials, manufacturing and so on. The biggest problem is when you're out and about, you’re constantly looking at people’s feet and shoes.

Growing up, I didn't think I'd get into the business so much. But there's a certain level of freedom that comes with running a family business. Us three brothers all did different things, but we came back to it.

With family, you can't just say, ‘this is how it has to be.’ You have to compromise.

But you can trust them to do the right thing.

It’s the same with long-term staff.

We all have different areas of specialisation.

My dad enjoys doing a lot of the bookkeeping but, in his absence, I’ll do it. My brother does a lot of the marketing and planning, and I do the IT. When there are customers, we all serve them.

Since the 1960s, the business was more size and width focused, and less comfort focused, but over the years the comfort shoe side of things has become much more important. Comfort shoes are anything that’s a little bit more supportive and cushioned. They're less likely to irritate your toes, and you don't feel the need to kick them off at the end of the day.

Over the last 10 years, the internet has also changed some of the requirements. For example, we used to do a bit of business in the transgender market, but that has gone away as the online marketplace has expanded. We also sold lots of work boots and bowls shoes.

The former dried up as Bunnings became more popular, and the latter disappeared as local clubs started carrying that stock.

We have customers of all ages and genders, but our average customer is female, aged 45+.

We also sell to school kids with special size needs or an orthopaedic device.

We consider ourselves a destination retailer. Less than five per cent of our customers come from the local postcode area. You get people from the country who will come in when they do a big trip into the city. They’ll come to town with an empty car and do a big shop. That might include 5-6 pairs of shoes.

For a lot of our customers – if they’ve bought a shoe from us once – they’ll buy the same pair again. With size and width, you don’t want to buy a fashionable shoe that you’ll replace the next year. Customers might discuss the nice red shoe in the window, and walk out with the black shoe, same as last time.

Some customers will buy our shoes online; others will call up. We also have customers who will send a photo or draw an outline of their feet to us. We’ll measure it up or look at the outline and know what’s going to work.

Around 1987, we opened another store in Ivanhoe.

We outgrew that store and bought a place in the West Heidelberg Mall. In the 1990s we opened a third store over in Ringwood. Then, about eight years ago, we moved from West Heidelberg to Heidelberg, and from Ringwood to Mitcham.

About 17 years ago, we opened our first interstate store in Brisbane. We opened another shop in Sydney, a second shop in Brisbane, and one in Adelaide. When I was interviewing for staff in Brisbane, I received an application from someone who said that she worked for us in Melbourne. She had a reference that my dad had written for her. She worked for us until last year, when she retired.

Three staff members – Liz, Malka and Raynor – have been with us for over 40 years. Malka loves it because the work keeps her physically up to the task, and fit enough to get down on the floor with her grandkids.

For us. It's experience that you can't buy. They’ve been in the business for such a long time, and their memory of different shoes and fittings is amazing. Customers have known them for years and years and years.

(Leanne) I’ve been here 8 and a half years. Laureen has been with us for over 21 years, and Ron has been with us for 22-23 years. A customer came up to me recently and said, “I’ll see you in ten years.”

I replied, “hopefully.”

(Leanne) What I get out of the job is I get to help people.

Customers come here with an orthotic, and we can generally get them something that fits them. Others might come here in pain, and say,” I can’t wear anything else.” It gives me satisfaction when I find shoes they can walk out in, and they're happy. I love my job.

(Joe) We have a relatively low staff turnover. I think it's because we treat everyone the way we want to be treated. (Leanne) There’s no real hierarchy. Everyone cleans the toilets, and people will come from upstairs to help customers.

You don’t get treated differently no matter how long you’ve been here.

(Joe) Like with any business you have to keep moving forward.

We’re 103 years old, but it’s no different to a business that's two years old. You’ve got to watch every cent, and make sure you're looking after staff and customers.

I've worked with a lot of these people for decades and feel very responsible for them. When COVID hit, we had all these orders that were still in the pipeline. I was worried about how I was going to pay my staff and pay for next season's orders.

As a retailer, during lockdown we could still do mail order and online sales. We had a skeleton crew of staff at each store, and I was handling online orders and deliveries. I started printing lists of customers and their phone numbers at each store. We turned each store into a call center, and were calling up customers to ask, “How are you?”

The history of the business also adds a sense of familiarity – you really get to know everyone involved.

(Joe) We all get something different from this job.

For me, solving people's problems is a great thing, and each day there’s a new challenge. Sometimes it's a bit of a drag, like when you get difficult customers who come in when the full moon is out. You wouldn’t think that it makes a difference, but all our staff will tell you that it’s harder.

But there’s a real challenge when you have 10,000 pairs of shoes in stock, and you’ve got to find that one pair that's perfect for the customer. When you do it, it’s a great feeling.

I also get a bit of a buzz out the IT side of it. For example, I put our phone system together. I set up the software, bought the handsets and put together a working phone system in all seven stores.

Solving problems like that – which help to make the business more resilient – brings a lot of satisfaction.

My youngest kid is nearly 15.

He’s keen to work in the business, and my eldest has worked here a little bit. My second boy is at Uni and isn’t that interested at this stage. Sam has two girls, but they're not terribly interested either.

So there’s definitely potential for a fifth generation, but I'm not pushing them to do anything.

If they choose to come in, great.

If they choose not to, they can follow their own path.

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