Sneaker Barn owner to retire after 41 years, with son to take over

Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) From left, Betty and Bill Blount stand with son Rick and daughter-in-law Terra at the Sneaker Barn, after announcing Rick and Terra would be taking over the store when Bill retires. Bill has run the store since 1982. (Right) Bill Blount, left, give son Rick pointers on stocking the shelves at the Sneaker Barn, 10640 Ridge Rd., Medina.

MEDINA – Changes are taking place at the Sneaker Barn, located at 10640 Ridge Rd.

Owners Bill and Betty Blount have announced he will be retiring and turning the business over to their son and daughter-in-law, Rick and Terra Blount.

Bill has been in the footwear business for decades, having worked as a full-time sales representative for Reebok.

Having a store grew out of garage sales he had to get rid of his samples. They sold so well, he decided to put up a small building for the summer, but people began stopping all winter. In 1987, he built the current store. In 1989-90, he opened a store in Brockport, which he ran for five years. When staffing became a problem, he closed it and concentrated on his store in what he calls “the boonies.”

“This little store always outperformed the other one in Brockport,” he said.

This year, Bill will turn 79 on July 22 and he decided it was time to retire.

“I was ready to close and started liquidating,” he said.

Then Terra came to him and said she and Rick would like to take over the store.

“I had the brakes on, and now it was full steam ahead,” Bill said.

He put in new carpet and new furnace, added a coffee bar and expanded his merchandise line. The Sneaker Barn will soon add a new line of sneakers made so the wearer can slip his foot in with no hands. He also added Merrell footwear and Teva to the Skechers he already carried.

Other merchandise includes Wigwam socks made in America, and men’s and women’s slippers which Bill said are big sellers. Footwear comes in sizes up to 16.

“We have a huge demand for wide sizes,” Bill said. “If it’s made in wide sizes, we order it.”

He said during the pandemic they had some of their busiest days.

“We opened for people who were diabetic and needed wide sizes,” Bill said. “Because we were small, people didn’t worry about being around crowds.”

Bill likes to tell the story about the size 23 shoes he saw somewhere and bought them as a conversation piece. He was using them as a door stop when a very tall man from New York City stopped in and asked if he could try them on. They were a perfect fit, so Bill sold them to him.

Rick, who is head of maintenance at St. Mary’s Cemetery, cares for several others and runs an excavating business, will keep his cemetery jobs and scale back on the excavating. Terra formerly did child care in Holley and will run the store with Rick’s assistance as time permits.

The store is currently open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but after the Fourth, Rick and Terra will expand hours to include Tuesday and Wednesday. Both plan to shadow Bill for the rest of the year to learn the ropes.

Having Rick and Terra take over was perfect, Bill said, as they live right behind the store.

He said over the years, all three of his children worked at the store, along with some nieces and nephews.

For now, retirement means scaling back. He enjoys being in the store and talking to people. Betty’s goal is to keep the home fires burning and spending more time with Bill.