Superior Shoes to close after 9 years of business

A second business on Walnut Street has decided to close its doors within the month.

After almost nine years of business, Superior Shoes has decided to close as the result of an owner’s divorce.

Earlier in November, William’s Jewelry began its closing sale after 102 years in
business.

Rachel Hubbard, co-owner of Superior Shoes, said the store is officially closing today, but they plan to be open next week as they continue to clean the store and sell the remaining merchandise.

Hubbard and Rich Raade are siblings and co-owners of Superior Shoes and also own Superior Shoes in Ironwood, Mich.

“My brother, who is my business partner, is getting a divorce and even though the sales are good here, just with him being in Texas and me being in Michigan, it’s just too hard with him having to leave the business because of the divorce for me to be able to run it all myself,” Hubbard said.

The store has sold everything from Toms to Sperry’s to Dansko, Raade said.

Hubbard said they have primarily marketed to college students and their parents.

“Every time we had our sale, the same faces I would see over and over, and you’d just get to know people and you would know their ups and their downs,” Hubbard said. “Its just amazing, just the connections you make with people.”

Hubbard said business has been really great during the last nine years.

“The Bloomington community has always been really supportive of the local stores and the local shoe brands,” she said.

Hubbard said some of her favorite memories are from the parent weekends and when college students would come to the store in the spring to buy shoes for interviews.

Superior Shoes will continue to have their shoe store in Michigan where their headquarters are located, and they will continue to operate their online business.
 
Hubbard said she hopes to come back to Bloomington within 12 to 18 months and open a shoe store in the downtown area.

“We are going to consolidate, take a couple years and figure out, okay, how can we come back strong again,” Hubbard said.

Valerie DeWar, Bloomington resident, IU alumna and customer at Superior Shoes, said she appreciates their selection and quality of shoes.

“I’m very sad in terms of the fact that the store’s closing because I’ve lost the shopping option, but also I’m concerned about what this says about the downtown square and the fact that two stores are closing right next to each other concerns me because I would like to focus on downtown,” DeWar said.

Hubbard said the atmosphere of Bloomington is different from anywhere else in Indiana.

“It’s just this haven of really accepting, diverse aggressive people that will be hard to get over. I’ll really miss that,” Hubbard said. “I love the community because it’s diverse, it’s accepting of everyone. It’s so great because everyone is just nice. The downtown is the place to be.”

Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @afreedz.