After more than four months of construction, J. Michael Shoes has reopened in its original storefront on Marshall Street and is attracting a slew of customers, new and old.

‘It’s good to be back,’ store owner John Vavalo said. ‘It’s like we never left.’

The store was forced to close after a Jan. 21 water main break flooded the basement, damaging the foundation and destroying nearly all merchandise in the downstairs storeroom. It is still unclear what caused the break, which occurred in the pipeline to the sprinkler system, Vavalo said.

While crews were busy cleaning up the mess on Marshall, Vavalo and his staff of 12 set up shop in Marshall Square Mall. The temporary location — ‘Mini Mike’s,’ as Vavalo affectionately called it — was just a few hundred feet away, but it was a third of the space of the original store and lacked the prime business location. Vavalo said business was about 20 percent of what it is on Marshall, so they were barely breaking even.

‘We’re very fortunate to have had that place to stay in some sort of business for four months, but it’s just nothing like Marshall Street,’ said Erik Hicks, an assistant store manager. ‘It’s so close, but there’s so much more foot traffic here.’

Hicks said the staff began moving merchandise back into the Marshall storefront after commencement in mid-May but never held an official reopening. Customers were able to walk in the store while staff members were still setting up, he said, but only if they knew exactly what they wanted because the place was a mess.

Since then, J. Michael has added new carpet, shelving, LED lighting, flat-screen TVs, mannequins and glass countertops to the store, Vavalo said.

‘Business has really picked up since students have returned,’ he said.

Lifelong Lover of Shoes

Vavalo has always worked with shoes — it has been his one and only job.

In eighth grade, Vavalo was hired as a stock boy at a small shoe store in Bradford, Pa., his hometown. Vavalo said he worked in the children’s department, where they kept Itchy the monkey, one of the store’s very successful gimmicks.

When children came in with their mothers to buy new Keds, the store would give away painted turtles as another gimmick. Vavalo said it was his job to punch holes in the shoebox and place the turtle inside.

Vavalo said he learned so much at the store that it seemed only fitting for him to become a shoe salesman.

In May 1983, Vavalo established J. Michael, which he almost named J. Daniel, after himself. But he quickly changed his mind, deciding it would be better luck to name the store after his 1-year-old son.

At first, Vavalo sold only women’s shoes, but he later expanded and added clothing, accessories and men’s apparel to the mix, he said.

Now, 28 years later, Vavalo said the one thing that hasn’t changed is his love for his job.

‘Here I am, still stocking shoes and not feeding monkeys anymore,’ he said with a smile.

‘If it’s hot, it’s here’

The motto for J. Michael has always been ‘if it’s hot, it’s here.’ And Vavalo lives by that. He does his best to keep up on the ever-changing trends and stock his shelves according to what SU students really want.

Vavalo can talk to customers about subjects as varied as the best model, make and color of his name brand shoes to how Michael Jackson made the penny loafers so popular in the 1980s.

He also knows that every few decades, trends are recycled, and you have to keep your eyes peeled for what will come back in style, just as leg warmers and aviator glasses did.

‘This year the North Face raincoat and Hunter boots are kinda the uniform,’ he said. ‘It’s got the look.’

Vavalo also keeps track of when trends go out of style. He is no longer supplying Vera Bradley products in his store because, he said, they are ‘so last year.’

In preparation for the winter weather, Vavalo said he keeps a ‘never out of’ list, a reminder that the store can never run out of the most popular merchandise, which he sells almost every day.

‘It’s like white bread in the grocery store,’ he said ‘You don’t wanna be out of white bread.’

But, beyond the basics, Vavalo said some of his hottest items are new. J. Michael recently stocked the store with OPI Shatter nail polish, which has been selling at an incredibly fast pace, said Jim Hicks, an assistant manager. The female employees even wear it, Vavalo said.

Leaving a Legacy

Over the years, Vavalo said the staff at J. Michael has become a family. Many of the full-time employees have been working there for more than ten years, and they’ll be the first to tell you the reason is Vavalo.

‘There’s a lot to learn from him; he’s a great teacher,’ Hicks said.

On the other hand, Vavalo attributes the store’s success to the golden rule: treat everyone the way you’d like to be treated. He said this is a principle the staff tries to live by. Vavalo said the staff treats customers with the utmost respect, which is why they keep coming back.

Even after this year’s hardships, Vavalo said he believes the shop is successful and will continue to be successful as long as they take one day at a time.

His next course of action is to start making sales from the J. Michael website, he said.

Vavalo said: ‘If ya don’t keep swinging, you’re never gonna hit a ball.’

egsawyer@syr.edu

Published on August 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer