DULUTH, Minn. – “Ever since we came to Duluth we’ve had really good customer interaction. They’ve been really happy with the service we provide and the products we bring,” Benders Shoes Owner, Craig Bender says.
Benders Shoes has made the jump to a new location on Maple Grove Road in Duluth. The new space is much larger than its previous spot on West Central Entrance and allows the business more room to grow.
“At our previous location we were strictly men’s and women’s shoes and some accessories. Now we’ve added children’s shoes, clothing for men, women, and some for kids as well as gifts,” said Bender.
Being in business for nine years now in Duluth, Owner Craig Bender wasn’t sure how customers would react to the move.
“I mean we’ve been through it all. I mean truthfully, going into it, you don’t know how busy you’re going to be or how the customers are going to react, but they’ve reacted very favorably,” said Bender.
Benders Shoes is a company originally from Grand Rapids and has operated there for 46 years. The idea for the new store in Duluth was to present a fresh experience by providing a state of the art shoe store and adding all the accessories and clothing to go along with it.
“This is a different experience even than our other stores just because the other stores are not merchandised quite the same way. We’re mixing the clothing and the footwear, and the gifts, interacting them together so we think we have a good quality product mix, but we also pride ourselves in providing a good service, attentive to the customer, and answering their needs individually,” Bender says.
The new store operates seven days a week and opens at 9 AM Monday through Saturday and 11 AM on Sundays.
“It’s been exciting, I mean for sure for us, the staff is excited, it’s a new store, it’s new things, staff from the other stores have come down and helped us prepare to open and they’re excited to see the new things, the new products, and the new layout of the store which we think functions a little easier to shop and we’re still tweaking little things here and there and that will come as we learn what the Duluth customers other products they want us to have,” said Bender.
