Sally walks the talk for 60 years

Don Farmer | 24th July 2010

Sally Summers wants her customers to be able to walk far further than a mile in their shoes. That's why she has been getting repeat sales for just on 60 years.
Mrs Summers,79, has been with Saunders Shoes all that time and can claim to be the longest serving retailer in Masterton.
She says women she served when they were little more than children are still buying from her more than 50 years later.
Sally Simpson, as she then was, left Wairarapa College intent on becoming a nurse. But her dad Thomas vetoed it because she had shaken off diptheria as a youngster and he thought nursing would prove too arduous. He must have known something because that led her to respond to a newspaper advertisement placed by Saunders, who were seeking a shoe salesman, and she got the job.
That was in 1950 and the young woman's first assignment was a trip to Auckland for a week of intensive training.
''I had to start at the tannery to see how leather was made and go right through to the finished product,'' Mrs Summers said.
During her long tenure at Saunders, she has worked for only three owners.
She started with Trevor Wright _ who had bought the business from its founder Wally Saunders _ then worked for Gary Sims and, for the past two years, for Tracey Donald.
The secret to selling shoes is simple, she says _ ''you have got to give good, personal service and sell shoes that fit the wearer properly, and that suit them''.
One of the successes has been the opening of the outlet store, giving Saunders Shoes two retailing opportunities.
Mrs Summers said the outlet store was originally a six-month experiment but had quickly carved out a niche for itself and remained a big part of the business.
''I ran it on my own for three years but then we found we had to employ staff.