FILING SYSTEM KEEPS NOTE OF YOUR FEET

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29992, 29 November 1962, Page 12

FILING SYSTEM KEEPS NOTE OF YOUR FEET

One hundred years ago a London bootmaker became one of the first businessmen to sell “do it yourself” kits —the uppers and soles for shoes, which customers took home to fashion their own footwear.

Todav his grandson, Mr L. C. H. Suckling, is in business in Christchurch as a specialist in the sale of men’s shoes, and he has some original ideas too.

One service he provides may be unique in the retail shoe business. It is an index system for his customers, providing a comprehensive record of who his customers are, what their feet are like, and what sort of shoes they buy.

MR SUCKLING began his filing system almost as soon as he opened his shop in 1934, and it has grown so large that it fills a bank of fifing cabinets with more than 20.000 cards. Looking through them, Mr Suckling can find a bunch of six cards for one of his oldest customers. It shows that the man has made 85 purchases since 1935—when his first pair of shoes were chrome black Derby shoes with studded rubber soles, costing 13s 9d.

Each customer’s card shows the date of each purchase, the style number of the shoe, the colour, the last, the size, the fitting, the price and the name of the sales assistant.

Periodically Mr Suckling culls through the files

to make sure they contain only the records of “active” customers, not the casuals.

“The index system is a lot of work,” said Mr Suckling, “and it would be almost impossible to build one up again from scratch. But we have certainly found it worth while, from the points of view of sales and customer satisfaction.” The store has the distinction of being only the second shoe store in New Zealand to sell men’s shoes exclusively. Mr Suckling said he was told by the footwear sages in 1934 that he could not possibly make a living from men’s shoes only. But from small beginnings he proved them wrong, and has had to expand repeatedly.

He started off in a shop further down Colombo street than the present one, and bought the present premises 13 years

ago. It was a drapery business and he went to Australia to pick up some ideas before having it converted to a shoe shop. Five years ago he pushed out the brick wall at the back to give more display space, and now he has removed the old shop frontage completely to rebuild on modern lines. The main window has been set back to give windowshoppers room to look without being jostled on the footpath.