ALTUS – With more than two decades of retail under her belt, Krystal Martin thought she had seen everything. But that all changed in 2020 for the owner of Altus’ Booterie Inc.
For the past seven months Martin has watched as her city dealt with a coronavirus pandemic, social unrest and a slowdown in the economy. It all could have been overwhelming for someone who hasn’t been in the game as long as Martin.
“I’ve been in retail now for about 22 years,” Martin said. I can honestly say this has probably
one of the strangest years that I’ve ever seen since I’ve gotten started.”
However, instead of letting the situation fully dictate to her, Martin decided to make the best of the moment. After years of being a mom-and-pop style small business, Martin dragged Booterie into the new age.
“I just feel like from this point forward, the normal as we used to know it is no longer there,” Martin said. “And I feel like a lot of businesses already have.
Martin describes Booterie (120 N. Main St.) as a true sit-and-fit shoe store. It’s one where customers actually come through the doors to look at footwear and try them on.
With the growth of online giants like Amazon and eBay, where customers don’t even have to leave their bedroom to order shoes, Booterie, which didn’t even have a website, was considered old school. But that was fine with Martin. She liked the fact that she knows her customers so well that many have her cell phone number.
However, when the coronavirus pandemic came and community members were stuck at home, unable to patronize local businesses, Booterie felt the hit even though they were able to stay open after getting a waiver.
“So, we were able to stay open during the pandemic, but I can honestly say there wasn’t very much business at all,” Martin said. “Because most people were in and there wasn’t a lot of business, my employees were all off. I worked in the store each day, six days a week, all day by myself. I’ve looked at the numbers for say the first half of the year and we’re down probably about 50 to 55 percent over the same period 2019.”
Martin said she was able to stay afloat with the help of the SBA loan from the government’s Paycheck Protection Program. It allowed her to bring three staff members back on payroll. But Martin also credits her longevity in the community as the main reason she has been able to weather the rough stretch.
“I’m so thankful that I have had 20 years under my belt to get things done, to pay for things, to get a little bit more established,” Martin said. “Some of us more established businesses have got- ten ahead, and we’ll weather the storm, but I worry more about new businesses that are just starting up.”
Yet, Martin knew she had to make changes to the way her company did business if she planned for it to last going forward. She began remolding the entire store. She also utilized her time to work on projects she had been too busy to care of.
“One of the things we’ve been wanting to do for a long time was to build a website,” she said. “With the current situation that became even more and more important.”
Martin had all the hardware and POS software updated and built the website.
Booterie also had to change its philosophy. With the majority of customers being middle age or older, it could no longer just be a sit and fit store when people were still fearful of walking into buildings. Martin added curbside and porch deliveries to the list of services they now offer for the first time.
Even with all the new updates, Martin admits business is still slow. Originally she had thought that when the shutdown ended things would be back to normal by now. Especially after Booterie had a great June as far as sales. However, Martin says, the COVID-19 mandates for the city government instituted in July slowed everything back down.
Now, Martin doesn’t think business will be back to normal by the time the new year begins. Yet, she is confident Booterie will be able to survive partly because she was willing to adapt to new business practices.
“I have visited with other businesses, smaller mom- and-pop specialty stores that have built a website and already had it up and running,” Martin said. “They said that prior to the pandemic, it was mostly in-store business and not a lot on their website, but they have seen a spike in the website. I think all of that will continue to be important in the future. That will be our new normal.”