Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Maltezos.
Hi Alex, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Sam opened Tenni-Moc’s Shoe Store in 1962 to bring proper fitting shoes to his friends and family in Long Beach. He started with 16 colors of “Tennis”, and a couple of pairs of “Mocs”, and a dream to accommodate even the most difficult feet. Tenni-Moc’s Shoe Store has grown and changed amid retail adversity and family turmoil. Our family’s store has evolved to keep up with new foot problems, new shoes, and new people. We are one of the last remaining independent orthotic labs that offer patient care and hand crafted orthotics.
We promise to make shoe shopping fun, easy, and accessible. We have over 40 years of know how working in this shop and we’re ready to share our passion for shoes and compulsion to please.
Our staff has extensive experience with common foot ailments and finding the right shoes for the right person. We are highly opposed to up-selling and/ or commission based sales as we find these practices to be predetory on the consumer. In a high pressure world, we aim to take that pressure off with honest suggestions and fair trade prices. Many independents had to raise their prices since 2020, we remain competitive online and will match any retailer- not 3rd party sellers- but we respect the fellow retailers regardless of size.
Families have grown up wearing “Tenni-Mocs” and we are dedicated to being as much a part of your lives as you’ve been ours. Without amazing customers like you, our family wouldn’t be able to keep this dream going, shop small and keep your money where your hearts are.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My grandfather passed away much sooner than we assumed he would. In 2007, after a failed attempt at university my grandfather offered to open his last store with me and show me the ropes. Although this aligned with zero of my family members dreams or expectations, I was absolutely onboard and have always felt most at home in my grandfathers store. In 2008, my son was born, and my grandfather was suddenly unable to work in the store. His bout with brain cancer had taken a turn for the worse. Running the shop to his standards, with a newborn and little home support was becoming an inevitable hard decision of closing. The reality was that his long standing customer based was not happy with me, nor would they have much to talk about with a 20 year old, that being coupled with a recession forced my mother out of retirement to share the load. Although my mother could sign checks, we never saw eye to eye in business. We dragged that little store, sadly without my grandfather, into 2018. Through those 10 years I learned a lot, I also learned that my mother had been bleeding money out of the store, leaving us in a position of no profit, no available growth and no power to extend the lease. My mother also partially resumed her retirement By vacationing for 6 months at a time. By this time, my close family friend had been helping around the shop. I also met an amazing man that was willing to be a part of my, my son’s and the store’s future. One day the landlord stopped in to let us know the lease was up, and we should look at a bigger since no one was making any money we jokingly said ” we’re probably moving out to the desert and getting real jobs” he let us know the bigger end unit was actually cheaper. This really got me thinking, the reality of the matter was, my grandfathers model was dated and this unit couldn’t hold enough shoes to turn a profit. And we all dedicated ourselves to the store and opened our new model in the summer of 2018. By 2019 we were a massive success, we had plans to grow into bigger and better marketing, we had hired 3 new people that shared the vision and everything was looking up. We all know what happened in 2020 and the rug was pulled out from under us. Although we had grown we did not follow a traditional staffing model, as I had never learned anything of the sort from my grandfather. Since we didn’t have a staff, we qualified for no loans or grants through quarantine. Only one employee, our cousin, stayed on to see it all through. Fortunately my husband had the forward thought to get us online. We sold from our website and via phone, we crammed our little family into our Honda Fit and delivered shoes. We woke up every morning saying if we don’t sell something- we wont be able to reopen. So we really put it all out there, it was a lot of tears and a lot of crazy people. We are such a good refferal network for local podiatrists we were able to reopen as an essential business. My husband almost immediately went to Pedorthic School and started a lab in the back of the shop. Many independent labs were bought during the closure but this gave us an edge to turn out on top in our area. We grow our network constantly by demanding insurances open their policies up for diabetic patient care. The conglomerate that purchased all the labs doesn’t offer patient care and this has become a specialty of the store and my fitting practices. Although we broadened our reach, and managed to grow, Every year is a fight and we are still living month to month trying to keep the store open and staff fed. yes we have a staff now, that’s a challenge within itself, maybe for a different article
As you know, we’re big fans of Tenni-Moc’s Shoe Store. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a family owned shoe store upholding the retail standards of a dieng era. I believe retail workers should be able to maintain a living on retail wages, does that mean we work our asses off? Yes, yes it does. Does it mean that we do it for a consumer who has been twice removed from the glory days of retail, yupp. Do people walk out on our sales just to buy shoes online from their phone? Yes, that is a miserable reality of today’s consumer. We provide the utmost care and most specialized fitting WITH the best selection available. I made a point to make sure these comfort shoes weren’t ugly, I want everyone in cute shoes that are good for you. We hold the biggest independent collection of New Balance in Souther Calfornia in the biggest range of width. We have the biggest selection of OOfos in Souther California. We are one of 3 retailers to sell online brand Kizik in Southern California. Our orthotic lab is one of few that provides hand made orthotics and patient care. All patient care is overseen by myself, and my standards are as high as a man who built and incredible neighborhood, community driven shoe store
What matters most to you? Why?
The people, although they are frustrating and forget to appreciate what we are doing, they matter the most. We need them to come back, which is why I promote transparency and honesty. I hope to see the turn in consumerism back to the days of my grandfather. I try to approach everyone with empathy and assume everyone is doing their best. This has enabled me to take on apprentices from our local high school’s special needs work program. I am wildly proud of them working in the shop. In more recent years of being disrespected by the consumer, I lean on the students, they are beaming with potential and if I can just connect a little I can take that far.
Pricing:
High end luxury- 300
high end fit preformance- 200
mid range all shoes 140
lifestyle intro shoes 40-100
Contact Info:
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