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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Still on their toes

Empire Dance Shop owners keep pace with ballet fashions, trends

Sally and Phillip Broadbent are the longtime owners of the Empire Dance Shop at 131 S. Sherman in Spokane, Wash. They have outfitted hundreds of local dancers and professionals around the Northwest.  (Dan Pelle)
Michael Guilfoil Correspondent

In the classic folk tale “Cinderella,” a lovelorn prince finds happiness when a glass slipper fits the heroine’s foot.

Phillip and Sally Broadbent have spent the past three decades matching local ballerinas with the proper slippers.

So it’s fitting that their Empire Dance Shop is co-sponsoring next Saturday’s “Cinderella” performances by the Eugene Ballet Company at the Fox Theater.

It’s easy to image the Broadbents themselves dancing the lead roles in “Cinderella” once upon a time. They met while performing with Germany’s Ballet Kiel.

After starting a family, the couple relocated to Spokane and bought their mom-and-pop business. Today they cater to ballet companies and clients throughout the West and beyond.

During a recent interview, the Broadbents discussed their transition from revoltade to retail, and the importance of customer service in the age of e-commerce.

S-R: Where did you grow up?

Phillip: Yorkshire, in north England.

S-R: When were you introduced to ballet?

Phillip: When I was 7. My younger sister started ballet because she had weak ankles, and I got dragged along.

S-R: When did you get serious about dance?

Phillip: When I was 16. I hated school, and my ballet teacher said, “If you want to make a career out of dance, you should go to London. I’ll get you into a professional ballet school.” And I was on the bus just like that.

S-R: Were your parents OK with that?

Phillip: My mother was, but not my dad. He was a policeman and didn’t like it.

S-R: Did he eventually come around?

Phillip: He did two years later. There was a popular children’s television program in England called “Jackanory.” One day they called the Rambert Ballet School looking for dancers, and I was chosen. I happened to be back home the week the shows aired, and I heard my dad boasting about me to his police friends, saying, “My son is going to be on TV.”

S-R: What was the ratio of girls to boys at ballet school?

Phillip: Thirty-to-one.

S-R: Was that a good thing?

Phillip: A very good thing for the boys, yeah. A fun environment.

S-R: When did you start dancing professionally?

Phillip: When I was 20, I got a job in Kiel, Germany, and I danced there for 12 years. That’s where I met Sally.

S-R: Sally, what brought you to Germany?

Sally: I grew up in California and started dancing when I was 4. By the time I was 10, I knew I wanted to dance professionally. I eventually joined San Francisco Ballet, then danced six months on Broadway in the musical “Gigi.” The director from Ballet Kiel saw me in New York, offered me a job, and I performed there for eight years. I retired when I was 33.

S-R: How did you end up in Spokane?

Sally: I have an aunt and uncle here. We were vacationing in California when they called and said Empire Dance Shop was for sale, and suggested we take a look. We came up in the summer of 1983 and liked what we saw. But I still had a year on my contract in Germany, so we bought an option, and moved here a year later with our 2-year-old.

S-R: What retail experience did you have?

Phillip: None. But we were very fortunate, because though the business was well-established, the owner had lost interest, so there was a lot of untapped potential.

S-R: How has it evolved since you took over?

Sally: The original shop in the Carlyle Hotel was 600 square feet. This store (at 131 S. Sherman) is 3,000.

Phillip: What’s generated growth is that we’re very specialized, and good at what we do. When we fit a customer properly, she tells her teacher, the teacher tells other kids, those kids move to other cities, and that leads to customers all over the country.

Sally: It’s really important that pointe shoes support the foot and fit closely without crushing the foot. Otherwise, dancers’ feet can develop serious problems.

S-R: How long do ballet shoes last?

Sally: For beginners, pointe shoes can last from six months to a year. When I was a principal dancer, I went through a pair a day.

S-R: Where do you sell beyond Spokane?

Phillip: Pacific Northwest Ballet (in Seattle), Eugene Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Ballet Tucson, Nevada Ballet Theatre, Ballet West (in Salt Lake City). We even have dancers at the Kennedy Center who order from us.

S-R: Do you travel to the regional ballet companies?

Phillip: Yes, travel is a big part of our business. Once a month I’m on the road somewhere in the West, from Alaska to California.

S-R: Have you ever worried the business might fail?

Phillip: Every day.

S-R: Did the recession have much impact?

Sally: A little. But a lot of our customers are young students, and people are reluctant to cut back on their children’s expenses.

S-R: Why don’t you sell merchandise on your website?

Phillip: Ten years ago, someone told us if we didn’t start selling on the Internet, soon we’d be out of business. But we’re still here. Partly we don’t do e-commerce because I’m old-fashioned and don’t want to deal with the technology. But also it’s because we like people to call so we can get to know their name, their daughter’s name and solve their problems.

Sally: Besides, we’re already maxed out in terms of space and staff. If we were to add Internet sales, we’d have to expand tremendously.

S-R: What’s your busiest time of year?

Sally: Back to school – August and September.

S-R: What do you like most about your job?

Phillip: When I properly fit dancers’ shoes, I give them tools that can help them realize their dreams.

S-R: Anything you wish you’d done differently?

Phillip: Not really. We’re lucky we didn’t get into the aerobics wave when that happened. We’ve stuck to what we know – dance.

S-R: What’s a good day at work?

Sally: One wonderful thing that happens now is that our early customers, who were 5 years old back in the ’80s, are bringing their own daughters into the shop to be fitted.

Phillip: What makes my day is when a mother drives her daughter up from somewhere like Portland, and we spend a couple of hours properly fitting the daughter. We keep records of each dancer we fit – her foot, her age and her expertise – so that first visit can lead to a relationship that lasts her whole career.

S-R: Do you encounter misconceptions about your business?

Phillip: Some people imagine owning a ballet boutique is all about froufrou. But there’s nothing froufrou about this business. It’s hard work keeping up with trends and inventory.

Sally: For instance, we carry one model of shoe in 13 sizes, and each size comes in eight different widths.

S-R: What’s the biggest challenge you face?

Phillip: Internet sales. We deal with it every day. People come in, we’ll spend an hour with them, they buy a pair of shoes, and the next 10 pairs they buy online.

Sally: But we do offer sales, and customers who buy six pairs of pointe shoes get the seventh free.

S-R: How do you relax?

Sally: Birdwatching.

Phillip: Fishing. That’s how I found this building. The previous tenant had a fly-fishing shop. I stopped by for his going-out-of-business sale, looked around and decided this would be a good fit.

This interview was edited and condensed.

Spokane freelance writer Michael Guilfoil can be reached via email at mguilfoil@comcast.net.