Business lore states that in family-owned companies the first generation launches it, the second generation grows it, and the third generation often runs it into the ground. Not so for Bill Van Dis, the third-generation owner of the 101-year-old V&A Bootery, who passed away unexpectedly in late October. Van Dis joined the operation in 1973 and kept V&A Bootery a vibrant downtown Kalamazoo destination over many years. He also helped the company evolve: V&A acquired Okun Brothers Shoes (also downtown) in 2017 and opened a V&A Bootery in the nearby suburb of Portage. That store is now housed in a 5,000-square-foot space with an adjacent 2,000-square-foot Mitten Running Company, which opened last year. The stores have separate entrances, but a walk-through connects them to make it easy for customers to shop both selections.
That was Van Dis in a nutshell: always adapting, evolving, and maintaining the highest standards for customers. He focused on having the right products and the right employees, two retailing tenets he learned from his grandfather and father. In fact, Van Dis was renowned for focusing more on meeting customer needs than on sales, believing the former takes care of the latter.
“Customer service has always been a hallmark of our stores,” says Dan Van Dis, now the fourth-generation owner. “My dad took pride in delivering great customer service, especially to those who had a difficult time finding the right shoes or suffered from foot issues.” His expertise spread across all relevant areas required to be a successful shoe retailer. “Dad was extremely hardworking and detail oriented. He was a sharp businessman with a great eye for product. He had a naturally friendly and outgoing demeanor. He had an innate curiosity about people and where they were coming from, and he loved to engage in that.” Last but not least, “No job was too big or too small for him. He often said he was the CEO, CFO, head plumber, head of IT, or whatever issue arose for the business.”
Van Dis was determined to do whatever it took to keep the business thriving. Matt Thibeau, channel director for Ecco, says Van Dis was tenacious. The two first came in contact in 1988—Thibeau’s first-ever wholesale appointment with V&A Bootery’s long-time buyer, Jeff Gibson. “Bill was a protector of his livelihood and the independent channel in general,” Thibeau says, noting that no product meeting was finished until Van Dis asked specifically what your brand was doing to improve its performance in his stores. “He also always came prepared with ideas for how your brand could improve operations. He always had the independent retailer at the forefront of his concern.” Thibeau adds that another notable strength of the company was Van Dis’s ability to retain talent. “Jeff has worked there for over 30 years, and many of the salespeople have been on the selling floor for 20-plus years,” he says. “Bill took care of them and created an atmosphere for them to excel.”
Van Dis’s jack of all retail trade skills made him a go-to source for many fellow independents seeking advice. Jill Snyder, owner of Snyder’s Shoes—a third generation–owned, two-store business based along the north shore of Lake Michigan—tapped him regularly over the past 18 years. “He was more than just a valued mentor; I told people he was my Shoe Dad,” she says. “I can reflect on so many phone calls that I made over the years, and he always took the time to pick up. I could run anything by him, and it wasn’t just me he did that for; there were many of us.” It was about more than just shoes, Snyder adds. Van Dis truly cared about the industry and everyone in it. “He served faithfully for many years on the NSRA board,” she says. “He had a ‘we’re all in this together’ mentality, believing that we’d all be better off for it. It was like family.”
Van Dis cites his father’s golden rules of retailing as keys to V&A Bootery’s longevity. They include honesty, customer service, and knowing your numbers. “Dad loved turn and margin, and trying to marry those two,” he says. “He taught me how to ‘not make a good shoe bad.’ Meaning, it’s easy and fun to keep reordering shoes when they’re turning but going back to the well too frequently or too late in a season can turn a great-performing shoe into an average one.” His dad aimed for a clean inventory at the end of every season. “He wasn’t afraid to mark down the shoes that weren’t turning,” Van Dis says. “He also loved to invest in the business, whether through store remodels, fun advertising campaigns, or in the employees who made our stores great.”
Van Dis’s advice often extended beyond the nuts and bolts of retailing. Adam Beck, CEO of Beck’s Shoes, a fifth-generation-owned chain of 27 stores in the western U.S., credits the man with helping him become less brash. They first met in 2012 at an NSRA NextGen conference and later served together on the organization’s board of directors for about five years. Beck, a high energy person with a lots of ideas, wasn’t always patient. “Bill taught me to bring a little more poise and calm into my professional life,” he says. “He taught me that perseverance, professionalism, and, most importantly, bringing your most genuine self into every situation will prevail.”
‘You Follow Me?’
That was Van Dis’s classic catchphrase. “Anyone who knew Bill would chuckle at hearing that,” says Snyder. Thibeau says the phrase was Van Dis’s way of confirming that you had heard and understood him. “Many retailers have mannerisms that become trademarks, and that was Bill’s,” he says.
Another Van Dis catchphrase: “What’s your best seller?” Whatever the booth and wherever the show, it was Van Dis’s opening question. Mark Denkler, president of the NSRA, and Snyder both recall a buying trip to Expo Riva Schuh in Italy where Van Dis hammered away with that opener. “We’d laugh because that might work with your local rep, but when importing you really need to have an eye for the right product for your store,” Denkler says. “Bill surely did. He was very successful with his curated collection of first cost shoes.” Snyder initially thought the brands would recommend best sellers for other countries that would not apply to Michigan tastes. “Bill politely disagreed and told me I was making it too complicated. As usual, he was right,” she says.
Michigan Shoe Mafia members: Bill Van Dis, Jill Snyder, and Bill Golden
Van Dis had a sixth sense when it came to picking winners. He didn’t just rely on recommendations. “Bill was raised in this business and very connected to his customers and understood their needs,” says David Ben Zikry, CEO of Spring Footwear Corp. “He always had the ability to select great product.” In his honor, the company is naming a shoe after Van Dis in its Fall/Winter ’25 collection. “We enjoyed working with Bill for more than 30 years,” Ben Zikry says. “He always appreciated our designs and quality. We feel like we lost a family member, but he’ll always remain part of our lives.”
Steve Mahoney, senior vice president of sales for Samuel Hubbard, worked with Van Dis for 20 years. He, too, praises Van Dis’s astute product eye, which was made even sharper by his willingness to look beyond his sightlines. “Bill was often curious about new trends and changes that I was seeing or hearing about,” he says.
Sylvia Jensen, vice president of Domestic Sales for Taos Footwear, concurs. “Bill was pragmatic, but not so cautious that it didn’t allow him to grow his business,” she says. “He understood relationships with vendors are important, and he knew a good shoe when he saw it.”
Van Dis says his father had a knack for making the stores beautifully merchandised. Products ranged from big-name brands to ones customers had never heard of. The mix included traditional styles that were staples in people’s closets as well as some edgy items. “He was a Shoe Dog at heart, and what one doesn’t love cool shoes?” Van Dis says, adding that his father was never afraid of change. “This business changed a lot over his 50-year career, and he was always on the cutting edge. He diligently watched trends, read industry magazines, and talked to people in and outside the business.”
Kind Soul
No doubt a great retailer, Van Dis will also be remembered for his kindness, generosity, and community philanthropy. The first word that comes to mind for Jeff Herrick, national sales director for U.S. independents at Clarks Americas, is “gentleman.” The two were close colleagues for 15 years. “Bill was the nicest guy. He was genuinely interested in you and what was going on in your life,” he says.
Ditto for Mahoney: “Bill was a gentle giant. He was always kind, gracious, and fair—somewhat rare qualities these days,” he says. “He had a booming laugh and was always fun to be around. Anytime you saw Bill, your day was a better one for it.”
Jensen describes Van Dis as a “great, big teddy bear!” He always made the time to talk to us, no matter how full his schedule was. “He wanted to touch base, learn, and get insights as to what was going on with hot styles,” she says. “And he was open, sharing a tough season, and how they would pivot and right the ship. He was a dear, sweet man, and he will be missed!”
Denkler concurs that Van Dis, an NSRA board member since 2013, had “a big heart.” He recalls one of Van Dis’s favorite activities: helping fit children with shoes during the Soles4Souls charity events that kicked off NSRA’s annual conferences. “It was his good nature and way of giving back,” he says, noting that Van Dis’s crowded funeral showed how much the community appreciated him. “He was known throughout Kalamazoo, as he served on many local boards and was involved with his church. People will smile when they think of all the good things he did for his family and community.”
Beck was on hand for those NSRA/Soles4Souls events, including one this past year in Hershey, PA, where Van Dis’s contagious enthusiasm stood out. Beck served as a shoe fitter and Van Dis greeted the kids. There were hundreds in attendance who received free shoes that day. “Bill was so eager and enthusiastic that about half the other greeters finally just stopped and watched him,” Beck recalls. “A smile never left his face as he walked the kids to the seats and had a chance to talk to them along the way. It showed his heart for people and his passion for our industry. He was a genuinely good human.”
An Ode to V&A Bootery
A childhood customer recalls the joys of shopping the store
Growing up in Kalamazoo in the late 1970s and early 1980s, V&A Bootery played an essential role in my annual back-to-school routine. In those days, the store was on the Kalamazoo Mall (the first outdoor pedestrian mall in the U.S., if you like historical tidbits). My mother and I always made our seasonal pilgrimage to V&A for new school shoes on a Saturday. In my memory the shelves are filled with Bass Weejuns, Sebago penny loafers, and velvety suede chukka Hush Puppies in shades of burgundy, chocolate, crimson, and copper—the same rich, warm colors as the leaves on the sugar maples, birches, and beech trees that filled my childhood neighborhood come fall.
In an era long before the internet, the cache at V&A held every must-have style for preteens and teens. I used to cross my fingers that my classmates wouldn’t snap up all the styles I wanted, in the colors I liked best, before I got there.
I remember the store’s layout perfectly. The smell of leather. The sound rustling tissue paper made in the boxes—the sound of anticipation. The sight of busy salespeople emerging from the backroom with towering stacks of boxes so tall they had to crane their heads sideways to see where they were going. The claret-colored Etienne Aigner wallets as lustrous as horse chestnuts in a glass class under the cash register, next to a metal stand that held smooth leather shoulder bags with adjustable buckle straps. And the thrill I felt when my mom splashed out for a pair of slouchy, knee-high leather Stone Mountain boots the color of old bones (and a matching Stone Mountain purse!) when I started high school.
We shopped at V&A Bootery in other seasons (patent leather Mary Janes for Easter were a must in my family), but our traditional fall visits are the ones that come rushing back in a flurry of memories whenever I hear the store’s name. Halcyon memories as glowing and vivid as the ones of football games, homecoming floats, bonfire parties, and other glorious autumnal rites of passage that were part of a Midwestern coming of age in that time and place. —Kathy Passero
