Longtime Newport News shop Adams Shoes set to close after more than 85 years

Faced with big retail competitors and the effects of the pandemic, a Newport News institution, Adams Shoes, plans to close its doors this month.

Tucked in the middle of a shopping center on Warwick Boulevard stands the last remaining location of Adams Shoes — the original store on Washington Avenue opened in 1935 and expanded to the current site in 1966, according to store employees. Customers say they returned to the family-owned business over the years due to its emphasis on superior fit and quality.

Judy Davis, 77, considers herself Adams Shoes’ best customer, having shopped there for more than two decades. The shop has supplied, Davis guesses, 95% of the shoes in her two closets. When Adams put on sales, Davis would buy as many as eight pairs at a time.

“As soon as I come in, they go, ‘OK, here she comes,’” Davis said.

The store’s closure comes at a time that many brick-and-mortar stores are struggling. Bob McNab, an economics professor at Old Dominion University, said small businesses were most adversely impacted by the closures associated with the pandemic. As reopening began, the market for labor became more competitive, and supply prices rose.

“The last two and a half years have really just been a tidal wave of economic events that have pushed many small businesses over the brink,” McNab said.

Customers have moved toward online shopping for convenience, and even when stores like Adams Shoes have loyal customer bases, it’s difficult to replenish that customer base over time when competing with online retailers, he said.

“The younger generation, they’re shopping in Target or Walmart,” said the store’s front manager Kristy Mayfield, who’s worked at Adams Shoes for 23 years. “Until your feet hurt, you don’t realize the type of shoes we carry are the type of shoes you truly need.”

For loyal customers like Davis, the closure is heartbreaking. When her husband died 16 years ago, she would take her lunch to the former Grafton location that closed in 2014 and sit inside for hours, talking to Mayfield and her sister, who worked there part-time.

“They sent me a text (with the news) and I said, ‘Who is going to support my shoe addiction?’” Davis said. “I could probably go the rest of my life and not buy any more shoes. I would be unhappy, but I would have enough to last.”

Vickie Concilus, the store’s business manager, said the store’s been struggling to pay for the shoes they have coming in. The owner, Norman G. Shields Jr., decided to pull the plug on the business after realizing the store was losing money. Shields has Parkinson’s disease, Concilus said, and hasn’t been well enough to work.

The current owner inherited the store from his father, Norman G. Shields Sr., who died in 2010. But the store is named after the original owners, the Adams family.

Concilus and Mayfield said it was Shields’ passion and kindness that made them stay for as long as they did.

After all, not many jobs are likely to let Concilus bring in her constant companion, a 9-year-old black retriever named Yogi who follows her every move.

This is one of the things Concilus and Mayfield said they’ll miss most about working in the store — the owner’s understanding that the job wasn’t their only priority, and the job’s consistency. When Mayfield’s husband was deployed with the Navy, her job gave her the freedom to take care of the kids if they were sick or pick them up for school.

Pondering what’s next for them, Concilus and Mayfield wondered aloud about getting jobs as school bus drivers.

“It’s so tempting because you don’t work in the summer and I could be home with my grandkids,” Concilus said.

Concilus said for the little guys like Adams Shoes, customers are paying prices for high quality, and that’s important to family-owned businesses.

“It’s gonna be really hard, going out, starting all over with new people,” Concilus said.

To get rid of the nearly 500 pairs of shoes left, Adams Shoes is offering sales of at least 75% off for all merchandise before closing July 30.

Jewel Lee, 72, has been shopping at the store for decades, and bought seven pairs on Tuesday morning during her last trip to the store. Lee guesses 90% of the shoes in her closet come from Adams, and it’s hard to find other shoes that fit her narrow feet very well.

“You go to some stores and they try to push things on you,” Lee said. “Here, you can trust their opinion on something ... They’re not about making a dollar, they’re about customer service.”

Lauren Girgis, lauren.girgis@virginiamedia.com