Change is afoot: new Birkenstock store offers more than just shoes in Grand Rapids' Eastown

Deborah Johnson Wood

To entrepreneur Michael Caine, a shoe store that has nothing but a hundred pairs of shoes on the wall is sterile and boring. So he and his wife, Gayle, decided to step out in a new direction when they opened their Birkenstock shoe store in Grand Rapids' Eastown – they added women's clothing, jewelry and accessories.

Foot Outfitters, 1411 Robinson Road SE, also offers a number of men's and women's shoe brands besides Birkies: Keen, Reef flip-flop sandals, Naot and Sanita Danish clogs. Haflinger boiled wool clogs will be in stock this fall.

"I was familiar with Birkenstock because my parents had two Birkenstock stores for 25 years in Tacoma, Washington," Michael Caine says. He moved here from Washington to be with his son; Gayle moved here from Ohio for a job with Johnson Controls in Holland.

"There used to be a Birkenstock store in Grandville in one of the strip malls, and the store closed," Michael explains, adding that he lost his job with Kodak when the company downsized. "I was looking for some different opportunities and I ended up picking up the phone and calling them one day."

To keep things interesting, the shop carries linen and natural fiber women's clothing from Flax and other companies, women's jewelry, socks and Keene bags.

"The bags are popular with both men and women because a lot of people walk or ride their bikes," Caine says.

"Business has been great," he says. "The neighborhood's been really supportive, a lot of people are buying locally and a lot of people want to support local. We looked all over, on 28th St. and in Saugatuck, and Eastown seemed like a Birkenstock-type neighborhood, that progressive artsy kind of community."

Store hours are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30, Saturday 10 to 5, Sunday noon to 4.

Source: Michael Caine, Foot Outfitters

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].