Sole survivor
Spokane toddlers have been walking with the Berg family for 74 years.
Such longevity is attributable to customer service and loyalty at a time when small retailers have to fight off the one-stop convenience of chain stores.
“Quality product, good advice and quick service are important,” said Chris Berg, the third generation of his family to run the business.
The store’s history is a humble one. There were times of expansion and retraction, profits and losses. Yet a solid base of repeat customers willing to pay a little more for good children’s shoes has kept Berg’s operating.
Berg’s sells several brands including the dependable Stride Rite, the leading shoe for children.
“I have a good feel for what’s going to sell,” Berg said, adding that inventory selection and control are key ingredients to success. He has already placed the order for shoes and sandals that he hopes to sell next spring.
Though the Berg’s sign at 818 W. Sprague states the business has been around since 1932, Berg said the true beginnings stretch back to 1930, during the Great Depression. He produced his grandfather’s meticulously penciled inventory records on a crisp, albeit yellowing, notepad to retrace the company’s beginnings.
Oliver Berg started the business in downtown Spokane’s Peyton building.
Berg’s eventually moved into a storefront across the street from the Davenport Hotel, and it’s been there ever since.
When the elder Berg died, Berg’s grandmother Marguerite ran the business for about 20 years until her son, Jack Berg, took over.
The decades of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s were Berg’s heyday.
The family opened additional locations in University City Shopping Center and Shadle Center to serve baby boomers and their offspring as they learned how to walk.
Chris Berg came to the business in about 1978, but by then the times weren’t as good.
Berg’s had to close the store in U-City as shopping in the Spokane Valley pushed further east.
He also moved the Shadle store into NorthTown Mall, but said in his opinion such big shopping centers really want popular national chain stores rather than local retailers. Unable to renegotiate a favorable lease, Berg attempted to stay open in North Spokane with a shop in the Country Homes Boulevard area.
It didn’t work. Sales were slow and Berg said he had to cut his losses and refocus on the downtown store where it all began.
After a few rocky years in the mid-1990s, Berg’s is again financially healthy.
While the big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Shopko have formidable buying power and one-stop-shopping appeal for busy moms and dads, the main competition for Berg’s is Nordstrom, Berg said.
“That’s who I have to run against,” he said. “We carry many of the same things and they have a good shoe department, too.”
Berg strives to give special attention to each customer. He measures up children when they walk through the door with their parent and quickly steers shoppers to the right shoes for them.
“After years of doing this, I know what works,” he said, “and for us it’s the personal touch. Service is a big part of what I sell.”