As Barbara Darkoch was shopping for dancewear for her daughter, she noticed that the store was going out of business. Seeing an opportunity to start a new type of dancewear store for the Northeast Ohio community and having an extensive background in marketing and buying, Barbara purchased the fixtures and computer systems, and founded Footsteps Dancewear in North Olmsted in November 2004. We visited with Barbara recently, and listened as she provided this overview of Footsteps Dancewear's offerings;
Footsteps Dancewear offers almost anything that dancers or those who know a dancer could hope to find. We carry a wide range of dancewear and shoes for both children and adults for all types of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, ballroom, lyrical, and pointe, as well as gymnastics and ice skating wear, praise wear, and cheer wear. We also carry a large assortment of dance bags, tights, hair accessories, and a selection of dance related gifts. Footsteps is the only retailer in this area that carries Irish dance shoes. Customers come from as far away as Pittsburgh, PA to find Irish hard and soft shoes, Irish socks, Irish dance bags, and Irish dance glue.
Footsteps works closely with local schools to supply complete packages for their cheerleaders. The cheerleaders not only find everything they need when they need it, but also receive very favorable pricing on their cheerleading supplies. If needed, we will also special order items for them.
We host pointe shoe fitting parties and will open outside regular business hours so the students will have the store to themselves. Footsteps provides refreshments, and has three professional pointe shoe fitters to ensure each student receives a perfect fit. It's a festive, party atmosphere, and after the students are fitted we take photographs of them in their pointe shoes for the first time.
For local dance studios we host private open-houses so their students can shop as a group for their back-to-school dance needs. The dancers get to visit with others they haven't seen over the summer, refreshments are served, and the mothers enjoy the savings of our special open-house pricing.
Footsteps is deeply committed to providing the very best customer service possible. Everyone working at Footsteps Dancewear has a dance background, whether they are a dancer themselves, a dance teacher, or the mother of a dancer, and we strive to treat each customer as we would like to be treated.
Currently we are in the process of expanding the store to about twice its present size. This will provide us with the ability to stock more gymnastics, skate, cheer, and praise wear, and will give our customers more room to shop. When the expansion is complete we will have an in-store TV/Video where we will play on-going ballets and recitals from local studios. In addition, we will carry information about local dance studios to assist customers searching for a dance teacher.
Footsteps Dancewear carries everything a dancer could desire. Stop by Footsteps Dancewear today, and don't forget to tell them The North Olmsted, Ohio Community Advocate
sent you!
