‘Arcadia has been good to us’

It’s not that business isn’t good or that the future of the industry isn’t bright. But after spending 55 years selling shoes, Craig Bawek is ready for the next chapter in his life. 

Bawek’s Shoe Store has been an institution in Arcadia for 50 years, but it won’t quite make it to 51. Craig Bawek has been selling shoes since he was in third grade, he bought into the business as his father’s partner in 1982 when he was 22 years old and took over ownership a little more than a decade ago. Selling shoes is all he has ever done but now, it’s time for something new. The store will officially close by the end of the summer.

“People ask me what I’m going to do, I have no idea,” Bawek said. 

Selling shoes has been a part of Bawek’s life since before his family moved to Arcadia and opened the store in 1974. His father, Glen, owned a shoe store in Stacyville, Iowa — where the Bawek’s sign still stands today — but, with seven children, he needed to grow his business.

Glen Bawek worked with a salesperson who helped narrow down two locations in Western Wisconsin and the shoe expert picked Arcadia over Black River Falls. Part of the reason was the growth of Ashley Furniture, the other part was because of everything else Arcadia had to offer.

“Dad saw the potential in the increase in manufacturing and thought that would be a good plus,” Craig Bawek said. “And he just loved the countryside here. He loved to fish, hunt and trap and you can’t find a better area than here.” 

So, Glen Bawek purchased Abts Shoe Store from Bernard and Hilarian Abts — a family that had been in business for 70 years. The Baweks began in the former Abts Shoe Store building before constructing the current store building in 1978. 

“Arcadia has been good to us,” Craig Bawek said. 

While Craig Bawek is still hopeful that someone will buy the business, he realized the 120-year run of having a family owned shoe store in Arcadia is likely coming to an end. 

“It’s just an absolute shame that it probably won’t end up being a shoe store any longer,” Bawek said. 

The Bawek family prided itself not just on fitting customers with the latest trends, but prioritizing comfort. Often people would come in with foot pain and Bawek said helping was important to he and his father. 

“We try to solve your foot problems instead of just trying to sell you shoes,” Bawek said. “When people come in with foot problems, we don’t just try to take care of the issue at the time, we try to find out why they have the problem in the first place.” 

As many in Arcadia and the surrounding area know, purchasing shoes at Bawek’s isn’t just matter of taking something off a rack. Bawek sits customers down, measures their foot and tries to make sure they have the right shoe for them. He said 87 percent of people who are fitted for shoes in the United States are fitted incorrectly. 

“It’s getting to be a thing of the past, to go and have a sit-down measure of your feet first,” Bawek said. “There’s a reason we’ve been in business for 50 years.” 

Another reason is because of the way they have treated their customers. Craig Bawek recalled a lesson he learned from his father, who passed away a little more than a year ago.

“It doesn’t matter what walk of life they’re in, respect them,” Bawek said. “They’re humans, they’re all individuals who deserve as much respect as anybody else. That’s how you get customers back.”

While he doesn’t push back with the “customer is always right” mantra, Bawek said it’s also important to educate customers about the proper fits, arches and durability. 

“Shoes shouldn’t last more than a year,” Bawek said. “If they do, you’re not getting enough support. If you don’t replace them often enough, that’s when you start getting your knee pain or lower back pain.” 

Offering quality shoes has also been important to the Baweks. Craig said they considered offering cheaper shoes, but “we just want to sell the products we believe in and that’s the higher quality stuff. We tried to build our reputation on that.” 

Bawek said he recently had a 70-something-year-old customer tell him that he has never purchased shoes outside of Arcadia. While Bawek was being interviewed by the Times, that customer’s son purchased a new pair of shoes. 

But it has taken its toll on Bawek. In the 55 years he has been selling shoes, he has only taken seven weeks of vacation. He worked six days a week every week until last year when the store started cutting back its hours. Now, he’s down to three days a week. Putting in the work was important to he and his father.

“Dad and I just made a decision that if we’re going to make it, we’re going to do it ourselves so we had hardly any help all those years,” Bawek said. 

Most of the help they did have, however, had the same blood running through their veins. 

“We always considered that one of our biggest blessings of having a family business. It wasn’t just a business, it was a family business and everybody was involved,” Bawek said. 

He said working in the store helped his own children. His oldest son, Cole, helped customers in the store and is now the vice president of public relations and communications for Ashley Furniture. His daughter, Brandi, helped him pick out styles at shows and now sells high-end men’s and women’s apparel in Chicago. Their youngest, Sawyer, works with the public as a doctor in Buffalo, NY. 

“They started out here playing hide and seek and having a donut in Myers Bakery. That was an enticing way to get them down here,” Craig Bawek said with a laugh. 

He added that it was a blessing to work with his father for so many years. “We always worked well together.”

A retirement sale will officially begin on March 12, but the store will offer discounts even before then. Currently, the store’s last day is set to be June 28. 

The customer base is still strong, Craig said. He noted that the store has customers coming from a 65-mile radius. 

“We’ve got some great customers, just absolutely great customers that are very loyal,” Bawek said. “Many of our customers became friends.”

Now, it’s time for a new chapter. Not because business is slow, but because Bawek is ready to slow down and enjoy the next chapter of life.

“The internet didn’t kill us and living in a small town didn’t kill us,” Bawek said.