Saxon Shoes at Short Pump Town Center. The decades-old business has been sold to Comfort One Shoes, a Northern Virginia shoe shop chain. (BizSense file)
The time has come for a change of pace for Gary Weiner.
His family this week sold Saxon Shoes, the footwear retailer his parents founded 70 years ago.
The buyer was Manassas-based Comfort One Shoes, which intends to retain the Saxon Shoes brand and keep the Saxon store at Short Pump Town Center intact and open for business as usual.
Weiner, who got his start as a teenager stocking shelves at his parents’ shop, said he was ready to retire and found a kindred spirit in Comfort One, a fellow family-owned shoe company, to carry on Saxon Shoes.
“We’ve known of each other and we respect each other,” Weiner said. “It just made a lot of sense, while our business was on a nice upward trend, to make a deal with who we thought was a great match for our customers, community and staff.”
Saxon Shoes owner Gary Weiner in his Short Pump office in 2013. (BizSense file photo)
The deal marked the second time Comfort One had attempted to buy Saxon Shoes. Its first approach was seven years ago, but those talks fizzled out. Comfort One owner Garrett Breton said he approached Weiner again earlier this year and found him receptive to a deal.
“We walked the store, talked with him a bit but it didn’t make sense at that time. He wasn’t ready yet,” Breton said. “We reached out in March of this year and he was more interested.”
The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, included the Saxon Shoes store, brand and inventory. Breton said the plan is to maintain the Saxon Shoes name and the store’s varied footwear offerings for men, women and children.
Breton said Comfort One recently negotiated a new 10-year lease with renewal options on the Saxon Shoes space at the Short Pump mall.
But with the new ownership will come some changes, such as the introduction of Comfort One’s in-house shoe brand, Vaqay, and international brands that aren’t readily available in the United States outside of Comfort One’s 15 stores in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland. Breton said about a third of his company’s business is selling those in-house and international brands.
“It’ll be a little augmentation, some new brands and new technology but we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” he said.
Breton said that Weiner’s daughter, Amanda Weiner, will work for Comfort One as the company’s leader in its new Richmond market. The plan is that she will transition in three years from an on-the-ground director of the Saxon Shoes store to a member of the Comfort One executive team. She will split profits generated by Saxon Shoes with Comfort One.
Breton assumed leadership of Comfort One, which his father founded three decades ago, in January 2020. He said he’s zeroed in on acquisitions of independent shoe stores as a growth strategy. The Saxon Shoes acquisition is the second deal under his leadership, following the June 2021 acquisition of a Herndon-based firm.
“There are a bunch of people close to retirement, Baby Boomers with one or two stores,” he said. “We have known (the Weiner family) for years and I liked the idea of protecting the legacy. Saxon is special because it’s a 70-year institution.”
Gloria and Jack Weiner, Gary’s parents, opened Saxon Shoes in 1953 in downtown Richmond and later opened a store in the Libbie-Patterson area. Gary, the now-former president of Saxon Shoes, started to work at the company as a 14-year-old. In 1989, Saxon Shoes relocated to the Ridge Shopping Center in Henrico at a space now occupied by Fresh Market.
In 2005, Saxon Shoes moved to Short Pump Town Center. Saxon opened a store in Fredericksburg in 2009, but shuttered that location in March of this year. In August 2020, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after it took a beating from the disruptions to its business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It exited Chapter 11 a year later.
Weiner, 66, said he’s proud of his work at Saxon Shoes, and happy to move on from the business to spend more time with family in retirement.
“Yesterday was like graduating from college, or like having another child. It was such a happy occasion. You work hard for a long time and you want to see that success,” he said. “I’ve heard people use the word bittersweet, but this is 90 percent sweet, not 50-50.”
Saxon Shoes at Short Pump Town Center. The decades-old business has been sold to Comfort One Shoes, a Northern Virginia shoe shop chain. (BizSense file)
The time has come for a change of pace for Gary Weiner.
His family this week sold Saxon Shoes, the footwear retailer his parents founded 70 years ago.
The buyer was Manassas-based Comfort One Shoes, which intends to retain the Saxon Shoes brand and keep the Saxon store at Short Pump Town Center intact and open for business as usual.
Weiner, who got his start as a teenager stocking shelves at his parents’ shop, said he was ready to retire and found a kindred spirit in Comfort One, a fellow family-owned shoe company, to carry on Saxon Shoes.
“We’ve known of each other and we respect each other,” Weiner said. “It just made a lot of sense, while our business was on a nice upward trend, to make a deal with who we thought was a great match for our customers, community and staff.”
Saxon Shoes owner Gary Weiner in his Short Pump office in 2013. (BizSense file photo)
The deal marked the second time Comfort One had attempted to buy Saxon Shoes. Its first approach was seven years ago, but those talks fizzled out. Comfort One owner Garrett Breton said he approached Weiner again earlier this year and found him receptive to a deal.
“We walked the store, talked with him a bit but it didn’t make sense at that time. He wasn’t ready yet,” Breton said. “We reached out in March of this year and he was more interested.”
The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, included the Saxon Shoes store, brand and inventory. Breton said the plan is to maintain the Saxon Shoes name and the store’s varied footwear offerings for men, women and children.
Breton said Comfort One recently negotiated a new 10-year lease with renewal options on the Saxon Shoes space at the Short Pump mall.
But with the new ownership will come some changes, such as the introduction of Comfort One’s in-house shoe brand, Vaqay, and international brands that aren’t readily available in the United States outside of Comfort One’s 15 stores in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland. Breton said about a third of his company’s business is selling those in-house and international brands.
“It’ll be a little augmentation, some new brands and new technology but we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” he said.
Breton said that Weiner’s daughter, Amanda Weiner, will work for Comfort One as the company’s leader in its new Richmond market. The plan is that she will transition in three years from an on-the-ground director of the Saxon Shoes store to a member of the Comfort One executive team. She will split profits generated by Saxon Shoes with Comfort One.
Breton assumed leadership of Comfort One, which his father founded three decades ago, in January 2020. He said he’s zeroed in on acquisitions of independent shoe stores as a growth strategy. The Saxon Shoes acquisition is the second deal under his leadership, following the June 2021 acquisition of a Herndon-based firm.
“There are a bunch of people close to retirement, Baby Boomers with one or two stores,” he said. “We have known (the Weiner family) for years and I liked the idea of protecting the legacy. Saxon is special because it’s a 70-year institution.”
Gloria and Jack Weiner, Gary’s parents, opened Saxon Shoes in 1953 in downtown Richmond and later opened a store in the Libbie-Patterson area. Gary, the now-former president of Saxon Shoes, started to work at the company as a 14-year-old. In 1989, Saxon Shoes relocated to the Ridge Shopping Center in Henrico at a space now occupied by Fresh Market.
In 2005, Saxon Shoes moved to Short Pump Town Center. Saxon opened a store in Fredericksburg in 2009, but shuttered that location in March of this year. In August 2020, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after it took a beating from the disruptions to its business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It exited Chapter 11 a year later.
Weiner, 66, said he’s proud of his work at Saxon Shoes, and happy to move on from the business to spend more time with family in retirement.
“Yesterday was like graduating from college, or like having another child. It was such a happy occasion. You work hard for a long time and you want to see that success,” he said. “I’ve heard people use the word bittersweet, but this is 90 percent sweet, not 50-50.”
Congratulation Gary and to the whole family. Your family business has been an institution to the Richmond area for decades, always great service and a very excellent selection. Based on the article, it sounds like you were able to find another family oriented entity to take on the tradition. Again, Congratulations.
Saxon has been a great asset to the Richmond community. Too bad they sold out because I promise you the name and overall legacy will not stick around after a couple of years. This company has bought other smaller stores and eventually rebrands them all to the Comfort name.
interesting fact, the founder started at Hofheimer in Norfolk.
He didn’t “sell out”. The man deserves to retire.
I have no issue with Gary retiring and selling the business but why not work on a sale to his employees. Like so many others (and even those the claim to want to keep the local name) it will be absorbed and probably absorbed again to eventually resulting in a national chain space with little difference than its competitors.
You could’ve bought it if you didn’t like it. So much easier to stay in the boat, isn’t it?
My husband and I looked into the original Comfort One store in Alexandria a little more than 10 years ago. Since then, we’ve both bought shoes and accessories — Sockwell socks, wonderfully effective insoles, etc. — from CO in person. And I’ve bought a pair of shoes online — an experience that involved a screw up by me and excellent customer service from CO. Prices are high — as is quality. But discounts are often deep. From the beginning, we’ve never passed a CO storefront — whether in Alexandria, National Harbor, or DC — without going in for at least… Read more »
Glad to see this will remain a Virginia-based retailer!