Rental Shoes

[John_Galt]

Maybe this should be posted in the "employment" section but oh well,

Currently, all my centers buy Bob Wolf shoes. They are long-lasting, but are uncomfortable to many and have the infamous "cardboard sole." Also, they change designs from time to time. I have a good right that was matched with a bad left, but the top of the right was padded, the top of another left is straight, making the new pair unmatched.
Murrey makes a good pair of shoes, but does anybody buy from them? Are their shoes worth the dough?
Eastern Bowling used to make the best pair of shoes in the business - solid, good looking, comfortable. Now they are dead. Go figure.
We have the miscellaneous pair of AMF or "B" shoes in our arsenal, neither get rented unless we are out of all others.

I really hate this one desk clod who gives bowlers a pair of shoes that are not only unmatched, but are of entirely different brands! He'll give out a pair - one of which is a EB, the other is a Bob Wolf! What a maroon! You don't even want to know how he puts them back in the cubbies! He has thoroughly pissed off many other employees. It's a job-seeker's market presently...

[Ed Fox]

Re: Rental Shoes

Chaddy, from what I understand a couple of the ex-employees from EB are going to continue to run the ball, bag and shoe line that Eastren had. Call Bowl-Master in Conn.and ask for Bob Jr. 800-243-9778

later diaper boy

Ed [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif[/img]

[Larry]

Re: Rental Shoes

AMFmagic--we have bought murreys shoes for the last 2 yrs. So far most of them dissappear before they wear out. Conclusion: they must be somewhat comfortable. These shoes are built very well, they remind me of the "wolf' shoes.

[murreyinternat]

Re: Rental Shoes

Thanks Larry. Murrey shoes are the original Bob Wolf shoes with years of subtle improvements. Bob Wolf put me in contact with his Chinese factory in the early 90's after he sold his inventory to EB and the name to another company that uses only "Wolf" and a wolf picture. They do not use our factory.

Bob Wolf helped this industry "step up" to a better rental shoe. I like to think we're carrying on that tradition. That's the least we owe to Bob and our customers. Gordon

[John_Galt]

Re: Rental Shoes

Gordon-
I had no idea about the history of that name and HAD noticed the similarity of your shoes to the old ones, and the crappiness of new "Wolves." Wow! [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif[/img]
The boss lady came yelling at me waving pages of fax paper in my face, asking me why [BOLD]I[/BOLD] am getting faxes on her machine. Pardon me for trying to make yer dump a little nicer, ya broad! Pardon you good Murrey folks for good PR and doing yer homework!
She said that the reason she doesn't buy Murrey shoes is because so many walk out the door. I said, why don't you do some counter clod training and give an incentive for not loosing shoes. She said, simply, "forget it," and stormed off. I took another double shot and threw a nice 4-10 split. Whatever.
Funny, none of the old REAL Bob Wolf shoes we still have have walked out the door since I've been there, and they still look great!
Is the cost difference really that much?
At the awful dump I used to work at, they had WIB (I think) shoes, also a very nice shoe, with the glowing laces and all, charged $2/pair and $1/game, had those puppies disappearing faster than ya could order 'em! I've gotten better at shoe counting since then.
That place also had real nice shoe spray, smelled almost like razzberries and was quite combustible!
Sorry Gordo, will try to influence my other bosses, as this one is a lost cause. [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif[/img]

[murreyinternat]

Re: Rental Shoes

Chad, Glad you enjoyed the history info.Maybe we should put GPS tracking in the heels but then we'd have to change our ad from "as low as$14.95 to ...as low as $1495"-that way when they "walked out" you'd know where they went!Thanks for trying to make a difference. Cheers, Gordon

[Dutch]

Re: Rental Shoes

Chad,
I’m surprised that you didn’t notice that Murrey is the only shoe we have at the Hilton. It’s all we’ve used for over 5 yrs.
There’s a thread from almost a year ago about this topic. Check "House shoes" May 11 2000.
Dutch

[Guest]

Re: Rental Shoes

Just got a new supply of AMF shoes in...

Kinda nice except for one thing...

THEY ARE NOT SIZED RIGHT!!!!!

You wear a 9, get a 10. Want a 11 get a 12...

Kinda cool for the teen-aged boys who want to say they have big feet (cause ya know what that means?,...big feet need big Sheep..) ok I live in farm country...

But getting back to the shoes...it sucks for the desk people when everyone brings back their shoes for a bigger size...

[BG]

Re: Rental Shoes

As far as losing shoes goes, why not simply take the customers shoes and put them in the cubby holes in place of the rentals and then you give the customers their shoes back when you get the rentals back. Thats what we do and we have no loss of shoes.

[John_Galt]

Re: Rental Shoes

Gemini X (must be the racy deluxe version of the Gemini. I am a base model Gemini.)

You have a valid point but it is impractical at my centers because there is no room for shoe changing around the counter. It creates the funny "balancing act" as described by Bowl300 in a past thread.
Besides, do you really want to touch those scrungy peoples' shoes? Eww.

There are various methods of shoe counting. One, of course is mate a pair to every person on the lane. "Oh yeah, this guy had his own shoes..."
2. Otherwise, watch actions, they always seem nervous and are looking around with wide eyes and narrow mouth when they are trying to get away with something.
3. Watch them as they are leaving. I've become a bit too effective at this, I always look at a person's shoes before I look at their face.
4. Keeping the top shoe cubbies full, always take pairs from the bottom up. Helps to keep track of sizes, and inherently helps keep track of who is in what size shoes.

I tend to use a mix of all of these and probably some other methods I can't presently recall. You do whatever.

Oh, and if anybody balks at the cost of renting a pair of shoes, watch them like a hawk! Every time, by jove, the will try to show you up by "buying" the shoes instead!

Gordon, it may be a while, but when I'm finally in charge, it will be nothing but Murrey shoes in my cubbys and on my bowlers.
You might try marketing a version of your rental shoe (in different color scheme) as a non-rental version. Get in with Kmart, you will devastate Brunswick in that market for sure! Start making (or contracting) a cheapo ball, Kmart will dump the b and you will be on easy street!!! Not to mention all our new bowlers! Rid of the infamous Axis...? Ooh. Too much joy to handle....

[Mark Anderson]

Re: Rental Shoes

Hi All ,
Not sure if my Idea is worth the Set-up Costs Vs the loss value of Rental shoes that Up & walk by themselves , But I'll throw it in the moat & see if it floats [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif[/img]

Most clothing stores have those Magnetic "Buttons" on their apparel , that is removed by the salesperson AFTER purchase

If you leave the shop with the Magnetic button on the gear , the sensor bars pick it up & set the alarms off :p

So small mag buttons on top of rental shoes & sensors at exit area(s) would stop that in a flash [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif[/img]

Not sure of set up costs in terms of Materials , But I'm sure all us Techs/Mechs & Etc's could easily install this gear into venues .

Food for thought , Maybe [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shocked.gif[/img]

[John_Galt]

Re: Rental Shoes

Marky Mark-
Woah, I like that idea! Again, not sure about the cost, but I think Dutch's big house could afford it!

[murreyinternat]

Re: Rental Shoes

About 15 years ago an importer near NJ area started molding in the sensors in the heels and supplying the door jam detectors. That part worked but it was costly,was hard to police(we don't have security guards watching our exits like retail stores since rental shoes don't cost as much as jewels,etc.) and in general it made a negative statement about the customers. The best answer I have seen is to charge more and chalk up the periodic theft(how often does it really happen?)to the cost of doing business. Maybe there is a better answer however I have not seen it yet. Gordon

[Guest]

Re: Rental Shoes

Got a look at the new Dexter rentals this week. They are really a great looking shoe and appear to be very well made. The area around the ankle is padded and comfortable. The price is around $18/pair with volume but appear worth it. The trick will be to keep these from walking out. I do feel they will give a much stronger initial impression to rec bowlers than any other shoe out there. I am told they will be available after 6/1.

[Guest]

Re: Rental Shoes

We have been purchasing our rentals from World Impex Bowling. They hold up extremely well compared to AMF, which is the brand that was there when we took over the center. The colors scheme is ugly enough to deter theft.LOL