Geoffrey Bailey Shoes

Thank you!

helen — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:55:28 +0000

We’ve had so many lovely messages over the last couple of weeks! It’s very nice to know we’re going to be missed. We are still here for a few months though so come in and see what we have for this season.

End of an era!

helen — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:39:27 +0000

2012 – The year of change for Geoffrey Bailey Shoes.

Geoffrey and Marie Bailey are retiring!

After nearly 110 years of the Bailey family trading as shoe retailers, it’s time for the final chapter to be written – Geoffrey Bailey Shoes will be closing in the autumn 2012.

Geoffrey and Marie are looking forward to some time for themselves (to be spent mostly fishing and shopping), and their daughter Helen – who has been looking after the shop for 12 years – is looking forward to moving on to new challenges.

The months ahead offer a unique and final chance to come and experience this wonderful shop with an incredible range of shoes and bags complete with the original wood panelling and flooring with the addition of complimentary coffee in the mornings.

And, as a thank you to all their regular and loyal customers look out for some very special offers over the summer.

It is the end of an era for Wantage and the Baileys, who have very much enjoyed being part of the community for so many years and at the same time an opportunity to celebrate four generations of shoe retail in and around Oxfordshire.

How to build a range of shoes for a shop!

helen — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:31:16 +0000

Just in case anyone’s interested how we do it!

Over the last 5 weeks or so I have visited 3 trade shows; 2 in London and 1 at Birmingham. At these exhibitions there are a large number of shoe suppliers, agents, and manufacturers. I start off with visiting the ones I know or already deal with, and I will take photographs of styles I like or think we will sell, along with all the details to order like style references and obviously prices. I then always make sure I wander around the whole show to see if there is anything new out there that I need to know about. There are some suppliers that for whatever reason do not exhibit (mainly cost!), and I will see some at my shop, where they bring the ranges here. (I try to discourage this as it’s impossible to do when the shop is open due to space, so I make people visit very early in the morning!)

After the last show (Monday just gone!) I have to shut myself away and go through all the photographs and details to select the range. Some suppliers will be crossed off my list completely if I don’t like the look they’ve gone for, or if prices are looking silly, or if they try and make me buy more than I want to… Some will dictate how many pairs I have to buy, and I don’t always want to buy that much from one place. Some will have let me down the previous season with deliveries, or quality, or fit, which makes me nervous.

I then need to make sure I have all areas covered; I look at the previous season, what worked, and what didn’t, and then try and make sure I have styles that are a move on from that.

And there’s obviously a lot of guesswork, and I do get swayed by shoes I desperately want myself even though they might not be particularly commercial.. And I do have a budget to stick to…

And I now need to get on and get this Autumn sorted as if I don’t get the orders in soon then delivery dates get pushed back, and Autumn is actually a short selling season as everyone expects Sales to start straight after Christmas, and if goods aren’t delivered until the end of October then even though Winter will have barely started, it only gives me 8 weeks to sell lines.

And there’s now just 4 months before I’ll have to start thinking about next Summer!

Why you should undo laces to put shoes on…

helen — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:37:46 +0000

If you want to prolong the life of your lace up shoes, then you really should take the time to undo them to take your shoes off… They are there for a reason! The idea of them is to pull the shoe up around your foot to hold it on properly. If you constantly force your foot in and out of your shoe without undoing them, you will stretch the topline out of shape, but more seriously you will break the back of the heel of the shoe down. This stops the stiffener in the back of the shoe doing its job and keeping its shape. This can cause the shoes to become uncomfortable as the back becomes lumpy, and they will also slide up and down as you walk, which can rub. This is relevant whether on childrens, men’s, or ladies shoes… It only takes a couple of seconds to do!

How to re-lace boat shoes!

helen — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:07:53 +0000

Proper boat shoes have a long leather lace that threads in and out all the way around the top-line of the shoe. This is all well and good, as it means you can pull it through to tighten and improve heel fit, but when you’ve been a bit too enthusiastic or just worn them a lot, the leather lace can break. I have a lot of customers come in to buy the laces, with no thought of how they’re actually going to put them in. The only way to do it is with a tool… This tool is a long metal pointy stick, with a hollow top and a thread on the inside. (I think imaginatively called a ‘re-lacing tool’.) You need to taper the end of the leather lace, and twist it into the tool until it holds, and then simply thread this through the eyelets, pulling the lace through.

In theory… In practice, the leather lace frequently pulls out, the padding inside the collar can have broken down so you can’t even push the tool through let alone pull a piece of leather lace through, and you can end up with bruised hands. And it’s always on the ones where the customer waits while you do it…

However it is a service I happily offer so long as you leave them with me so I can get my Dad to do them if they’re difficult.