granddaughter has excellent taste in reading material.
An unexpected theme arose in the making of our latest issue: third generation-run, primarily retail businesses. There’s our Q&A (p. 10) with Josh Habre, CEO of ERHCo, an Oregon-based company encompassing 14 comfort specialty stores under the Shoe Mill, Burch’s, and Footwise banners, combined with a burgeoning wholesale division featuring Django & Juliette and Ziera comfort brands. Next is our in memoriam feature (p. 16) on Bill Van Dis, long-time owner of V&A Bootery in Kalamazoo, MI, who passed away unexpectedly in late October and left a legacy of independent retailing excellence and deep community ties. Last but not least, there’s the latest participant in our A Note to My Younger Self series (p. 20): Mark Denkler, president of the NSRA and former owner of Vince Canning Shoes and Tootsies in Florida.
What’s noteworthy about our theme? Everyone profiled defied the third-generation, family-owned business curse. (The first generation launches it, the second generation grows it, and the third generation kills it.) Studies across a variety of industries estimate that only 12 percent of businesses successfully transition to the third generation, which marks a steep drop from the 30 percent that manages to pass the torch from the first and second generation. There are many reasons for this. There’s the argument that when you make a copy of a copy, it’s just not as sharp. There’s also a case to be made that a lot third gen-ers never learn the value of hard work. (They didn’t have to, thanks to the hard work of previous generations.) Thus, many aren’t prepared to take over when the time comes. They lack the skills and drive. When it comes to retail, your heart has to be in it to survive. As everyone reading this page knows, retail is an eight-days-a-week grind in a viper pit of competition and endless challenges, both expected and unexpected. Even if you have the skills, if you’re not passionate about your work, you’re not going to last long.
Habre, Van Dis, and Denkler all defied the odds with a winning combination of skills and passion.
Habre and his three brothers are in the process of turning the third-generation curse on its head. In fact, they’re well on their way to surpassing previous generations’ success in growing and transforming the family business. It’s a team effort with Habre, the eldest, serving as captain. He’s been in the retail game nearly his whole life, having worked his way up from the sales floor through just about every position possible. He’s got “mad” retail skills, as the kids would say. His decision to branch into wholesale promises to further diversify and grow the company. Ever the retailer, he knows that standing pat is a risky gameplan. But he isn’t just trying grow his family’s business. He believes his company’s acquisitions, new stores, and wholesale division will help the independent retail channel grow overall. Habre is dreaming real big, and it’s an inspiring read.
Equally inspiring, albeit profoundly sad, is the third-generation retail success story of Van Dis. He, his family, and the 101-year-old V&A Bootery, now in its fourth generation under the leadership of Dan Van Dis, are greater Kalamazoo institutions. The outpouring of condolences from industry colleagues extolling Van Dis’s retailing skill and community engagement is moving. His impact went far beyond selling lots of shoes. The sidebar (p. 17), written by Editor at Large Kathy Passero, is a beautiful tribute to the store, which played a significant role in her Kalamazoo childhood. You can practically hear the crinkling of the tissue paper in those shoe boxes. The only drawback to an article like this is that the person we’d most like to read it can’t.
Denkler’s third-generation retail run, from 1994 to 2020, also transformed the family business for the better, starting with embracing the computer age. While Mark’s uncle claimed he could “look at the wall and tell you what’s missing,” Denkler has always embraced technology. He could have entered the family business right out of college as GM at an attractive salary, but Denkler chose a harder path by working (for far less initially) in the corporate banking world. He gained invaluable financial skills and developed self-confidence by earning the trust of industry titans. When he returned to his deep shoe retailing roots, he arrived extremely well prepared. Fellow NSRA members saw his retail, financial, and leadership skills as ideal qualifications to lead the organization, which he has done dutifully since 2021. NSRA is dedicated to facilitating the successful transition of family-owned businesses from one generation to the next. Having a third-generation success story at the helm is like thumbing one’s nose at that old curse.
This issue marks our 34th year. It’s been 12 months of great division, discontent, and distraction—and I’m not just talking about our industry. While the election is finally behind us, the road ahead looks anything but smooth. Buckle up. We’ll do our best to provide traffic updates in 2025.
